The problem with diary-entry novels
Plus one more week of suspense and TONS of writing resources!
*For writing news and resources, scroll down*
Dear Diary…
I’ve done it, my critique partner has done it, and judging by the fact that this old post is BY FAR the most popular article on my blog, many other people have done it, too: written a novel composed entirely of journal entries.
And I get it. It feels like such a natural way to tell a story: a character sitting down to write an intimate, confessional account of an important time in their life (perhaps as it’s unfolding). However, as I describe in my popular article, there are many hidden challenges to writing a novel as diary entries.
It’s not that you can’t or shouldn’t do it (there are some great diary-style novels out there), but at the end of the day… do you really need it to be in diary entries? If what you want is that close, first-person narration; if what you want is to write in the voice of your character; if what you want is an intimate, confessional tone and your character’s innermost thoughts and feelings…. well, you can do all of that with plain-old first-person narration. It doesn’t have to be in the form of diary entries. Trust me.
Writing diary entries from the POV of your main character can be a great way to get into their head and discover their voice (as well as their thoughts, feelings, and motivations). It can be a super helpful writing exercise. Heck, you could write the first draft of your novel as journal entries then switch it to regular first-person narration in the revision. (That’s what I ended up doing with my diary novel.)
At the end of the day, your story should be composed of connecting scenes, and those scenes should be created using dialogue, description, action, narration, and internal thought. So if you can and want to do that through journal entries, go for it, my friend. But know that you can also get the same intimate first-person storytelling without using a diary format. Because really, isn’t ALL first person narration simply a character telling a story about themselves?
I’m thinking about this because I recently did some Story Coaching for a writer who is working on a novel composed of journal entries. And this was not the first time I’d done story coaching for someone with a diary-style novel. I was struck by how this must be the first impulse for a lot of writers (including myself). And it’s not a bad impulse! In fact, my advice for this particular writer (who had such a great, funny narrative voice!) was to do a hybrid: start each chapter with a page from the protagonist’s journal before going into non-diary first-person narration.
Do you have a favorite diary-style novel? I do love several books that use diary entries as a storytelling device without the entire novel being in diary entries. (Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon come immediately to mind.)
One more week of suspense
Through November 30, Lesson 3 of my Souped-Up Suspense Course (Setting the Mood) will be available to anyone and everyone. (In December it will go back to being for paid subscribers only.) This lesson, in audio and written format, is about using setting, word choice, and description to enhance the suspense and/or spookiness of your story. (If you have trouble accessing for any reason, going to my Courses page and clicking on Lesson 3.)
Why am I offering Lesson 3 instead of Lesson 1? Honestly, because it’s my favorite lesson. But also because it includes several assignments you can do even if you’re not writing a novel. This is a great lesson for people writing mystery/thriller/suspense novels, of course, but it’s also a great lesson if you simply want to practice your setting and description skills.
Where’s Everyone Going?
People are fleeing Twitter, but so far the site is still working. I’m still there, for now. I’ve heard mention of other social media sites like Hive and Mastedon but haven’t checked them out yet. I’m on Instagram (and very bad at it), so if you’ve left Twitter you can follow me there (and maybe give me some pointers?)
Writing News & Resources
For All Writers:
Nothing says “the holidays” to me more than the movie Home Alone, and I loved this essay in Catapult Magazine by my friend Nancy Reddy: The Mom in ‘Home Alone’ Is a Messy and Magnificent Model of Motherhood.
Check out this list of FREE writing events (both virtual and in-person) for the month of December, hosted by The Writers Center.
I recently watched the popular video lecture Endings: The Good, the Bad, and the Insanely Great from screenwriter Michael Arndt (he wrote award-winning Little Miss Sunshine.) Though it’s geared towards screenwriters, it has a lot of lessons in what makes good storytelling.
The Hunger is open for submissions! They want your weird and wild poetry, prose, and hybrid work Nov. 1 through April 1. They also accept submissions without fees for the month of December!
Fractured Lit pays authors $50 for original Micro-Fiction and $75 for original Flash-Fiction. Both categories are open year-round with NO submission fees! Submit now!
New Pages is a great place to research literary magazines and find submission opportunities and writing contests. They also have a newsletter so you can stay updated via your inbox.
For a special issue, The Rambling is inviting essays (1500-2000 words) that document & reflect on your experiences re-reading a favorite or formative book from your youth. Deadline February 3, 2023. Send submissions to theramblingonline@gmail.com.
The Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize is now open — deadline February 8, 2023. The Prize is for a novel by a woman over the age of 18 that marries literary merit with unputdownability.
Be a Bestseller 4.0, the free online interview series for writers from Emma Dhesi is happening in January 2023. More info coming soon!
For KidLit Writers:
On December 1, The Good Story Company is offering a free Picture Book Pitch Battle webinar. Receive live PB evaluations and learn how to stand out from the crowd. Register to watch live or receive the replay.
The Ultimate Craft & Business of Writing, Illustrating, & Publishing Children’s Picture Books is an excellent, interactive online course from the Children’s Book Academy that will run from Jan 9 - Feb 13, 2023.
The Voyage YA Best Chapters Contest is now open — deadline January 15, 2023. First place wins $1,000, publication in Voyage, and a consult with an agent. Fifteen other winners receive agent feedback on five pages.
From now until to December 31, WriteOnCon’s Critique Boutique gives you chance to buy critiques on your manuscript pages or submission materials from industry professionals, including agents, editors, and traditionally published authors. You do not need to have attended WriteOnCon to buy a critique, and the prices are very reasonable (starting at only $29). Open to all genres of kidlit, from PB to YA.
You can’t be a writer without being a reader. Sign up with Multicultural Children’s Book Day to be a Diverse KidLit Reviewer and receive a free children’s or YA book. You don’t have to be a blogger as long as you’re willing to share your review on a site like Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Sign up ends Dec. 31.
For Querying Writers:
On December 8, The Good Story Company is offering a FREE Writing an Irresistible Query webinar with live query editing and feedback. Register to watch live or receive the replay.
Every Friday, Operation Awesome offers one free query critique through their #QueryFriday contest.
If you have the bandwidth for it, check out this insanely comprehensive spreadsheet of successful queries. Learn the details and read the actual query letters for books that got agent representation.
Looking for feedback on your submission package? You can nominate your query or first page for a critique on Nathan Bransford’s blog. Also helpful? Reading his past critiques.
Writing Conferences
The Murphy Writing Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway will be January 13-16 at the historic Seaview Hotel near Atlantic City, NJ. Early-bird registration available until November 20!
The Writing Day Workshop “How to Get Published” Conferences continue to be held virtually...for now. I attended one of these conferences in person a few years ago, and I thought it was fantastic. I can’t vouch for the virtual version, but there are some benefits: recorded classes, no travel expenses, attend in your comfy pants. Plus, you can sign up for Zoom pitch sessions with agents for $29 a piece. Check out the upcoming conferences (and remember, anyone can attend from anywhere; just keep the time zone in mind).
Registration is now open for the enormous AWP Conference (Association of Writers and Writing Programs). A great conference for literary and academic writers, it’s being held in March 8-11, 2023 in Seattle.
The Washington Writers Conference will be held in Bethesda, MD May 12-13.
Super Early Bird tickets ($359) include FOUR agent-pitch sessions and are available through Dec. 31, 2022.
Early Bird tickets ($369) include three agent-pitch sessions and are available Jan. 1, 2023, through Mar. 31, 2023.
For more writing conferences, check out this list or this list of 19 Writing Conferences for Emerging and Established Writers.
Oh yes, I forgot that Are You There, God, It's Me Margaret has diary excerpts... but it isn't written ENTIRELY in diary entries like, say, The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz. FYI, when I googled Are You There God..., I found it it's been turned into a movie -- the film is coming out in Spring of 2023! Exciting!
Two novels that did diary-entries well both come from my childhood: "Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl" and "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret." I can't remember if either of them had non-diary chapters, except for Anne's sad epilogue. The only adult novel I can recall is "Gone Girl," one of the examples you mentioned. It does seem like a challenging way to write an adult novel.