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When my colleagues discover that I interview writers, musicians, and artists using tarot cards, they usually ask if I try to tell the future. I wish. For me, a tarot deck is a stack of seventy-eight gorgeously illustrated, but entirely unpredictable editorial prompts on non-magical cardboard. Each pull of the Major or Minor Arcana throws a new image onto the table. All I do is show that snapshot of chance to the person across from me, and we change chaos into a good conversation.

I call this approach aleatory journalism. The word comes from the Latin for dice, and I first came up with it after my early interviews were met by the dreaded shield of PR. If you regularly interview people, you know exactly how this feels: you sit down with a fascinating person, but they speak to you from inside a highly controlled publicity machine.

They arrive with cosy key messages, media training, and stories they have practised across a dozen previous interviews. The trouble is, we journalists have helped build this trap. We're always pressed for time, so we fall back on our usual routines: ask about their inspiration, their creative process, what they plan to do next. The result becomes rehearsed theatre where recycled questions meet recycled answers. Buffing away at a polished story means the shield gets stronger. Being prepared to invite chance into the moment can end up with the shield being put down to hold your tarot card instead.