Has anyone written a diary novel before?

[[deleted user]]

I'm reading one of The Princess Diaries books to get an idea for my novels. The chapters are short enough to be detailed to the point, but not too detailed that it gets overwhelming with a massive wall of text. I think diary-type novels make the "show don't tell" a lot more challenging because dairies are used to tell, not to show. Hence, the biggest disadvantage. But if I tell too much, then it will become one of those creative non-fiction type of books.

Does "show don't tell" still apply or the rules are different?

[Catherine]

That's an interesting question. I'm currently working on a first person narrated novel (it's the longest thing I've ever written in the first person) and I find I have the same dilemma.

Thinking of diary novels that have been successful in the UK, obvious examples are Bridget Jones and the Adrian Mole books. Both are comedic and I think a diary works really well if the narrator is humorous.

I would say, your main character needs to be engaging and interesting and their voice needs to be distinctive. But I think the showing comes through still having a lot of dialogue, which is contrived as a diary wouldn't, but I think successful novels that are written like diaries do contain a lot of dialogue so that characters other than the central one come to life.

[Robert]

I’ve had a vague concept for one, but not yet. Epistolary novels work, so I think a diary novel would be along those lines. In some ways, you can bend the SNT “rules” precisely because it’s all about the telling.

I think it will sound genuine and avojd the SNT problem if you don’t spend paragraphs on exposition and description that you might need or want to do in another format. You don’t need to describe the ornate lacquered oak tables at your character’s favorite bar because he goes there every week, just say “So I went to Joe’s tonight...” or a page describing the city/town/space colony, since your character lives there and she already knows what it looks like. So the world-building is more terse, but dialogue and internal monologue may be more expansive.

If I remember right, just about all of Dracula is a series of journal entries.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

I'm working on a novel that is part epistolary and part oral history. It's told through the entries of two journals and an audio diary (the character records herself talking) and the rest is filled in with interviews.

I think diary-type novels make the "show don't tell" a lot more challenging because dairies are used to tell, not to show. Not necessarily. It all depends on the diarist. You can create a character who does more showing than telling in his /her diary. That said, while I see the point of "show don't tell", I don't treat it like a hard, fast rule.

One thing about writing a book as a diary - don't do it because you think it would be an interesting way to tell a story and try to force a story into it. Do it if it serves the story best. In my case, it's important that the reader see this tale from multiple points of view, and in this case third person feels too impersonal.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Robert wrote: "If I remember right, just about all of Dracula is a series of journal entries. "

It's been years since I read it, but I think part of it was in journal entries and part in letters.

[[deleted user]]

My books are written in diary-style because their stories demanded them. Plus, they're written in first person point of view making this a perfect combination. I just need to focus more on the dialogue, opening, character introductions, and heavy scenes. World-building will be minimal. So Catherine and Robert's advice is spot on.

[Robert]

Dwayne wrote: "It's been years since I read it..."

Me too. I think you're right.

[Catherine]

Glad the discussion's been useful, Amelia!

I think what's been said about Dracula relates to the idea that it was a convention of Gothic novels that their narratives were convoluted, with diary entries and letters included and with the reader being presented with scenes out of order of their chronology. Frankenstein is another good example of this.

My favourite 'Gothic' novel is Wuthering Heights and I remember a literature tutor I had saying that it was inconceivable that Nellie Dean, the housekeeper who narrates the story, would have had so much intimate knowledge of Cathy and Heathcliff's relationship. He was right but I don't think I'd ever worried about that when reading the book as it's such an absorbing novel.

So I would say don't worry too much about the feasibility of how your main character relates events; if it's engaging, the reader will probably accept it.

Also interesting what you said, Amelia, about 'minimal world-building.' I've thought this about my book, which is a Regency novel - having a first person narrator could be viewed as a lazy way for a writer to avoid historical research as, as far as she's concerned, my main character lives in the present day! But I think the point is that you are world-building in a more subtle way than with a third person narrator who describes things. You still have to think about how your character feels in their world and convey it somehow in their thoughts, actions or dialogue.

[Justin]

Interesting topic I've wondered myself. My third book in the Wax Factory series will be like this, diary/journal of past events. I imagine it will be challenging and a different way to write a novel