Picking A Format for Your Dear Diary Project
April 30th 2010 12:22
This workshop is called the Dear Diary because in each of my experiments, every entry started with “Dear Diary”. You don't have to write your character's diary that way. In fact, your format should depend largely on your character.
Formal characters are more likely to use “Dear Diary”, as are modern day children being made to do a diary in school. More informal characters and modern adults might just date their entries and start writing. Some might give it a title, date it, and then start writing. Characters who lost a loved one might write it as letters to that person (Ex. My 'Dear Daddy'). Creative types or voracious readers might start their entries with quotes they read, were reminded of, or thought up that day.
If your character is a poet, they might write a poem and a short paragraph each day. If your character is a naturalist, they might describe a beautiful natural thing they saw that day. Don't be afraid to let go of your preconceived notions of your character or of journaling.
Once you've picked your format, decide on your word goal for each day. If you're going to be writing a lot of poetry, you might only want to aim for 300 words. If your character is very observant and tends to go on tangents-don't be afraid of those; they'd get written in a real diary-you might aim for five hundred or even a thousand words each day.
What format will you be using next month?
Formal characters are more likely to use “Dear Diary”, as are modern day children being made to do a diary in school. More informal characters and modern adults might just date their entries and start writing. Some might give it a title, date it, and then start writing. Characters who lost a loved one might write it as letters to that person (Ex. My 'Dear Daddy'). Creative types or voracious readers might start their entries with quotes they read, were reminded of, or thought up that day.
If your character is a poet, they might write a poem and a short paragraph each day. If your character is a naturalist, they might describe a beautiful natural thing they saw that day. Don't be afraid to let go of your preconceived notions of your character or of journaling.
Once you've picked your format, decide on your word goal for each day. If you're going to be writing a lot of poetry, you might only want to aim for 300 words. If your character is very observant and tends to go on tangents-don't be afraid of those; they'd get written in a real diary-you might aim for five hundred or even a thousand words each day.
What format will you be using next month?
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Comment by RedParrot
Oddly, the characters I most want to get to know better are the dark, brooding type. Diaries seem rather foreign to them. It's like trying to imagine Snape writing anything down.
Having said that - I am leaning towards Elgin (who names their kid Elgin) Valois. I am curious to discover what a vamp writes about.
In terms of format - I think less will be more. In my little corner of the universe vamps don't sparkle and they don't write poetry. However - I do believe them to be sharply literate and unwilling to suffer fools gladly. I think less than - oh say - 100 words should force the issue.
Because of my belief of the character's disinclination to diary, I have needed to figure out WHY he would do such a thing. At present, I have a) loneliness and b) egotistical (ie wants history of himself written down for posterity ...)
I will investigate methods for putting the material on-line. Again - we shall see how long it lasts ...
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
Your character might never journal again-but he might experiment out of boredom. And Lestat wrote a book about himself, so why can't Elgin? A history of vampires, focused around him, would be fascinating both from a characterization perspective and a worldbuilding perspective, showing how vampires behave with one another, and how they've acted through the ages.
There are lots of places online to put a few words. You might even consider making a twitter account and tweeting it if your entries are short enough.
~Dianna