Arc, What Arc?

I have been working on my writing of a very long time, reluctantly. Now I know why. My WIP is an uncoordinated mess. I found this out from a wonderful new friend who lives in Sydney, Australia. We exchanged bits and then she asked for my whole WIP and that is when I am sure I heard sniggering clear over here in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Don't get me wrong, she is a very polite lady and she didn't come right out and give me a cyber belly laugh, I think I only imagined it, but it was obvious from her emails that my work was not what she expected.

She mentioned that silly word I have heard before but never knew what they were talking about...arc. She pointed out that my WIP lacked arcs of any kind. No story arc, no character arcs and from what I gathered that last one was a biggie. So living up to my blogs name I reluctantly jumped on the old PC and googled my fingers off.

I have seen the error of my ways.

Wrongly under the impression that what I thought people wanted to read was the "life and times" of my historical characters I just blithely typed my heart out. All of my research was great for a thesis project but even a thesis needs a start a middle and of course a conclusion. So I need to go back to square one and take a long hard look at what I have and see if I can salvage any of it. Or, I could just chuck the whole mess and start from scratch. I do know that a whole bunch of new authors never sell their first book because the first one is the mess they put out when they are learning what NOT to write about.

So here I go again. Starting from scratch again, not because my computer died but because what I put on paper was better used for bird cage liner. *loud bone racking sigh* If you are interested in my journey you can follow me because I am going to give you a blow by blow of my process. If this helps even just one person then maybe what I have done will be worth it.

Different Decisions

Two different novels, two different feelings, one decision. OK, which is the better book? Which do I like better, whose characters do I feel more sympathetic towards? Ack! I need advice and know not where to turn. I feel that I am imposing on anyone when I ask advice. When I read my work to my mother she scrunches up her face into this tight fist and acts as if I am speaking in a language better left for dogs. Also, the story is not about her so why should she listen after the first sentence anyway? Even when it is about her she seems distracted with her own memories. *Sigh*

Lauren Haney is the author of a series of mysteries set in the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Her main character is Lt. Bak. She was lucky enough to have a mentor in Dennis Forbes the publisher of KMT magazine. I wish he were my mentor... Another wonderful person is Stephanie Thornton. She just recently had her book picked up by a publisher (actually several publishers bid on the right to publish her books! Woo Hoo! Steph!!!) and she would be a good person to read my tomes, but alas... I feel that she is reluctant due to the fact that she has had to suffer through my writing on Panhistoria. Suffer through... yeah, I don't think much of my writing, do I?

Last but not least is another Panhistoria chum. But I feel he has too many eggs in his basket as it is, adding my omelet would be too much to ask him. Hmmm, there might be one more person to ask. Hey, what is the worst she can say? No?

I just recently dumped a chunk of my Amarna book on an unsuspecting writers forum. I got two critiques, one from a lover of Ancient Egypt and the other by a man who knew not what the heck I was writing about. The first liked my style but thought the chunk needed a chunk of work. The other didn't like my main character and thought the story was hooey. So, there you are, two opinions. *Sigh*