Back to Basics: Is your story arc eluding you?

 

If you’re struggling to pin down your memoir’s story arc, please don’t be discouraged. (If you missed our recent posts, click on Your memoir’s all-important story arc and Your memoir’s middle and end.)   

 

Most of us struggle to find our story arc, but believe this: You can figure it out!

 

Rebecca Ramsey’s experience will give you hope. She spent years searching for her story arc. (And writing and editing her memoir, The Holy Éclair, took ten years! And it’s on my list of books to read.)

 

She says to ask yourself this about your memoir’s rough draft:

 

“What is your journey, the big change you experienced

that you want to share with the world?

 

“What were the little struggles and big struggles

that got you from the beginning to the end?”

 

Rebecca says, “That wasn’t clear at first to me . . . [but] the writing itself revealed to me my own transformation.”

 

Read that again:  

“The writing itself 

revealed to me my own transformation.”

 

That can happen to you, too. Hooray!

 

It might take a long time but doing so is probably the most important part of discovering your real story.

 

Take a closer look than you ever did before. Recognize—maybe for the first time—the ways you changed. Then tell readers what you learned, how you transformed, and how you became a stronger, better person.

 

• Dig deep and deeper.
• Reflect.
• Inspect.
• Analyze your experience and yourself.
• Stand back and ask yourself what God was doing.
• Discover details you might have overlooked before.
• Pray for God’s help.
• Join a good critique group (in person or online) and ask for help.

 

Keep writing and revising.

 

Rebecca also said, “Once I figured out my story arc (which I should say took years, all in the back of my head) and started editing, I made myself do the hard job of throwing out the stories that didn't advance the arc. This sounds reasonable but it's tough when you love them. Do it! The voices will thank you later.”

 

You can do this!