The Story of a Novel – where’s the story arc?

My time is fragmented into small slices these days – see recent post Writing While Caregiving – and it might not surprise you to know that small bits of time are not conducive to creating a novel. However, I have now accumulated many potential plot points and difficulties for my heroine to face. What’s not yet working is the overarching story arc and its corresponding character arc.

Source – https://hunterswritings.com/2016/03/31/character-and-plot-arc-resources/

With so many novels set during WWII, and many recent ones featuring female spies or women working with the resistance, I want this one to be different. And yet readers enjoy characters who are larger than life, who face danger and impossible odds and yet survive. What is the right blend for Claire – my protagonist. Who will be her friends and her foes? How will her biological father factor into the story? Will he have a large role or a minor one?

And then there’s the question of how the war will change Claire. Will she experience a love affair? An unexpected betrayal? A brush with death? The loss of a parent or brother or sister? The destruction of her home? Will she be wounded? If so, how? Those of you who have read of the plane crash I survived might not be surprised to know that I’m toying with that idea.

As you may have guessed from an earlier post, D-Day will play a role in this story. The planning and build-up to D-Day was a phenomenal feat with the British, the Americans, and the Canadians playing significant roles. Interestingly, despite being leader of the free French, Charles De Gaulle was kept out of the planning for D-Day. In fact, he didn’t even know the timing until the last moment. Not surprisingly he was furious with Churchill, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower. How might that bit of history factor into the story?

I have a feeling that tunnels will be involved in some way. Miles and miles of underground tunnels were built during World War One. Many of these underground passages survived into World War Two. I’ve also discovered that there was a hidden tunnel complex inside the White Cliffs of Dover that formed Britain’s first line of defence in World War II. Such interesting tidbits are hard to ignore.

So, you see, I have lots of work to do to flesh out both the story arc – drawing on real historical events – and the character arc. I’ll be back when there’s more to share.

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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel, TIME AND REGRET was published by Lake Union. Mary’s other novels, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from AmazonNookKoboGoogle Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on FacebookTwitter and Goodreads or on her website www.mktod.com.

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