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diary writing



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Mon May 02, 2016 4:06 pm
thegirlwithcp says...



hi , im writing a book in the style of a diary . Its about a girl with a disability and I want to know how I can use the diary style to its full extent .

can you help me
  





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Thu May 26, 2016 3:41 am
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Rosendorn says...



Diary style was what I devoured from ages 10-14, mostly in the form of historical stories, so this is my best crack at it. The proper term for this is an epistolary novel, where the story is composed of various documents.

It's the ultimate unreliable narrator

Meaning, this is basically straight up 'here is my perspective on things objectivity be forgotten'. While everyone is unreliable, diaries are where character voice shines through even stronger than in regular old first person. The only diary novel I've read where the narrator actually tried to be objective was her purposely keeping a diary for police record work, so it was practice. Even then, she'd still toss in asides about the situation you'd really only say to some place that will never be read.

Figure out the diary voice

Everyone speaks a little differently in different circumstances, and a person's innermost voice is probably going to sound much different from their outer voice. So you have to figure out both how they'll react to the events as they experience them, and as they recount them. Figure out their objectivity level and how much you want them to twist events or say they wished they had twisted events.

Use a variety of entry lengths

I find this is a very under-utilized aspect of diary writing. Often, the focus is on getting in as much in an entry as possible, capturing key events, finding the most dramatic moments, but the diary entries I remember even years later are the ones where the character leaves brief notes. Talking about how they sat down to write and are suddenly drained of energy, saying something finally happened and only describing it later, or that they just wanted to leave a quick note that the day happened. Of course, use the long entries as well— a story wouldn't be a story without the key events playing out on a page— but never underestimate a short, punchy entry to really showcase the character's voice.

Hope this helps!
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  








Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
— C. Northcote Parkinson