What do you think about diary-style stories?

[AliceMoonvale]

Now, to anyone who has the misfortune of knowing who I am, you're likely thinking things such as:

• Stfu retard. No one likes you.
• Are you trying to gain attention to your story? Cringe.

And you might be right.
But am I actually trying to draw attention to my diary-formatted story?
Not really, surprisingly.

I wanted to know if anyone else has ever read any books/web novels that were written like diaries/journals. And as niche as it is, you've seen it a lot actually. You've likely seen stray pages to collect and read in video games that hand-feed you lore. Little notes, crumpled diary entries, audio logs, etc.

Best well known examples from games I've played that you probably know:

• Resident Evil - all the diary and lab notes detailing the outbreak
• Silent hill - letters and personal notes
• Bioshock - audio diaries
• Dead Space - audio logs, video/text
• SCP Foundation - those fake reports/documents
• Doki Doki Literature Club - (for all you gay anime fans) - lot of unreliable perspective, journal-ish meta fragmentation

From movies/books/other media I can think of off the top of my head:

• ARGS - pretty much all of them, some better than others
• Dracula - journals, letters, telegrams, newspaper clippings
• Frankenstein - letters & testimonies
• The Color Purple - letters
• Stephen King's Carrie - news reports, documents weaved in
• The Martian - mission/journal logs
• The Blair Witch Project - found/recovered footage
• Paranormal Activity - home recordings
• As Above, So Below - expedition footage

This type of storytelling essentially weaponizes intimacy. No, not that kind.

I love found evidence/footage. Especially when it's done right and feels authentic and or immersive. So whether you like it or not, there's likely been at least one time where you've had the voyeurism 'interest'.

Don't lie to yourself, you like some of this shit.

 

[MFontana]

Now, to anyone who has the misfortune of knowing who I am, you're likely thinking things such as:

• Stfu retard. No one likes you.
• Are you trying to gain attention to your story? Cringe.

And you might be right.
But am I actually trying to draw attention to my diary-formatted story?
Not really, surprisingly.

I wanted to know if anyone else has ever read any books/web novels that were written like diaries/journals. And as niche as it is, you've seen it a lot actually. You've likely seen stray pages to collect and read in video games that hand-feed you lore. Little notes, crumpled diary entries, audio logs, etc.

Best well known examples from games I've played that you probably know:

• Resident Evil - all the diary and lab notes detailing the outbreak
• Silent hill - letters and personal notes
• Bioshock - audio diaries
• Dead Space - audio logs, video/text
• SCP Foundation - those fake reports/documents
• Doki Doki Literature Club - (for all you gay anime fans) - lot of unreliable perspective, journal-ish meta fragmentation

From movies/books/other media I can think of off the top of my head:

• ARGS - pretty much all of them, some better than others
• Dracula - journals, letters, telegrams, newspaper clippings
• Frankenstein - letters & testimonies
• The Color Purple - letters
• Stephen King's Carrie - news reports, documents weaved in
• The Martian - mission/journal logs
• The Blair Witch Project - found/recovered footage
• Paranormal Activity - home recordings
• As Above, So Below - expedition footage

This type of storytelling essentially weaponizes intimacy. No, not that kind.

I love found evidence/footage. Especially when it's done right and feels authentic and or immersive. So whether you like it or not, there's likely been at least one time where you've had the voyeurism 'interest'.

Don't lie to yourself, you like some of this shit.

As a full narrative, this kind of thing wouldn't appeal to me. Primarily because I'm not overly fond of reading narrative fiction written in the first person perspective.
As supportive story bits / interludes, this kind of thing has a completely different feel.

Imagine, you've just finished reading the climax of a story arc, and finished the chapter, but one of the characters happened to find an old journal that they started reading.
And before the next chapter, you're treated to an interlude that is the journal entry the character was reading.

My own approach, inspired by R.A. Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt, utilizes journal entries, letters, and the like written from the perspective of one of the characters in the story, usually a PoV character. Or I'll tie the interludes in as lore beats between narrative arcs to add an extra bit of flavor to the coming narrative thread.

So, these interludes are usually, intended to come across to the reader as their own "found-footage" type content tucked away in the pages of the story itself.

 

[Madkins]

• Stfu retard. No one likes you.
• Are you trying to gain attention to your story? Cringe.

My favorite part of the rant. Alice you should know you are one of my favorite people here, no sarcasm.

Plus, i genuinely enjoy your story.
It's good stuff all around.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

As a full narrative, this kind of thing wouldn't appeal to me. Primarily because I'm not overly fond of reading narrative fiction written in the first person perspective.
As supportive story bits / interludes, this kind of thing has a completely different feel.

Imagine, you've just finished reading the climax of a story arc, and finished the chapter, but one of the characters happened to find an old journal that they started reading.
And before the next chapter, you're treated to an interlude that is the journal entry the character was reading.

My own approach, inspired by R.A. Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt, utilizes journal entries, letters, and the like written from the perspective of one of the characters in the story, usually a PoV character. Or I'll tie the interludes in as lore beats between narrative arcs to add an extra bit of flavor to the coming narrative thread.

So, these interludes are usually, intended to come across to the reader as their own "found-footage" type content tucked away in the pages of the story itself.

I can understand that, it's not for everyone.
I personally just love it so much that I wanted to turn it into a whole story and make it work that way.

Found footage in general is fun. I think it's great games, particularly horror games.

My favorite part of the rant. Alice you should know you are one of my favorite people here, no sarcasm.

Plus, i genuinely enjoy your story.
It's good stuff all around.

Thank you, if true.
And thanks for reading as well, I appreciate it!

And despite you liking me and my story, this will not absolve you from my occasional cyberbullying of your often terrible, tone-deaf jokes that make me cringe as if my skeleton became flaccid like cooked spaghetti.

 

[Madkins]

Thank you, if true.
And thanks for reading as well, I appreciate it!

Definitely true

And despite you liking me and my story, this will not absolve you from my occasional cyberbullying of your often terrible, tone-deaf jokes that make me cringe as if my skeleton became flaccid like cooked spaghetti.

I wouldn't have it any other way

 

[Nevafrost]

The only one I have read is Dracula and I LOVED it. Can't say if I like the diary-style writing tho, but I loved that book.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

The only one I have read is Dracula and I LOVED it. Can't say if I like the diary-style writing tho, but I loved that book.

I'm re-reading it right now, actually.
But via emails! On the days things happen.

https://draculadaily.substack.com/

It's sooo fun. I love it.

 

[Nevafrost]

I'm re-reading it right now, actually.
But via emails! On the days things happen.
View attachment 48920

https://draculadaily.substack.com/

It's sooo fun. I love it.

Lol what's that? Seems interesting!

 

[AliceMoonvale]

Lol what's that? Seems interesting!

It's dracula. You get chapters sent to your email that are posted as the day things happen in the story.

 

[Nevafrost]

It's dracula. You get chapters sent to your email that are posted as the day things happen in the story.

Woah! I'm signing up!

 

[MFontana]

I can understand that, it's not for everyone.
I personally just love it so much that I wanted to turn it into a whole story and make it work that way.

Found footage in general is fun. I think it's great games, particularly horror games.

It can definitely work in the horror genre. Especially for survival-horror video games (IE: Resident Evil, Alien: Isolation) and movies (Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch Project, and so on).
In fact, you just gave me a good idea for the survival-horror story idea I had filed away as a "maybe later" story project that would incorporate bits of this found-footage type thing.
Over the course of the story (main narrative written in third person limited), the character(s) stumble on various clues. Old research notes. Torn documents. Old journals or diaries. And those notes are injected into the story itself for the readers to read. Not as interludes, but within the narrative itself.

I'm not sure if, or when, I'll ever get around to writing it though.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

It can definitely work in the horror genre. Especially for survival-horror video games (IE: Resident Evil, Alien: Isolation) and movies (Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch Project, and so on).
In fact, you just gave me a good idea for the survival-horror story idea I had filed away as a "maybe later" story project that would incorporate bits of this found-footage type thing.
Over the course of the story (main narrative written in third person limited), the character(s) stumble on various clues. Old research notes. Torn documents. Old journals or diaries. And those notes are injected into the story itself for the readers to read. Not as interludes, but within the narrative itself.

I'm not sure if, or when, I'll ever get around to writing it though.

Sounds like a fun read, always a fan of that type of thing cause of all the specific games I've played.
Some people get annoyed by all the like 'telling' not showing, but I enjoy it when done right and not just info dumps.

 

[LiteraryWho]

Now, to anyone who has the misfortune of knowing who I am, you're likely thinking things such as:

• Stfu retard. No one likes you.
• Are you trying to gain attention to your story? Cringe.

Self loathing is cringe, ironic or no

As to the topic. The only story I can think of that's 100% logs/diaries is The Magnus Archives (a "radio" play). It has its flaws (changing from an anthology to a serial made a bit of a mess in the lore, and the final season is mid), but none of those stem from the story being told as a series of recorded interviews.

I personally always enjoy "journaling" sprinkled into a story, it's a fun way to inject "third party" analysis into the narrative (e.g. in pokefics, it's a common trope to include "forum posts" with colorful commentary on the MC or w/e).

 

[Makimaam]

There are some epistolary format books that have been adapted into mainstream media, like The Princess Diaries or The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

Self loathing is cringe, ironic or no

As to the topic. The only story I can think of that's 100% logs/diaries is The Magnus Archives (a "radio" play). It has its flaws (changing from an anthology to a serial made a bit of a mess in the lore, and the final season is mid), but none of those stem from the story being told as a series of recorded interviews.

I personally always enjoy "journaling" sprinkled into a story, it's a fun way to inject "third party" analysis into the narrative (e.g. in pokefics, it's a common trope to include "forum posts" with colorful commentary on the MC or w/e).

It's a low-effort joke, hope you enjoy the next one~

Magnus Archives was pretty decent, but sadly I got bored after the first season. I do love the idea of recorded interviews, but it felt silly after awhile? Idk. Also, first time I've ever seen someone reference 'pokefics', especially in relation to epistolary themes.

There are some epistolary format books that have been adapted into mainstream media, like The Princess Diaries or The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Ayyy thems some classics. It also reminds me of Gone Girl too.

 

[LiteraryWho]

It's a low-effort joke, hope you enjoy the next one~

Magnus Archives was pretty decent, but sadly I got bored after the first season. I do love the idea of recorded interviews, but it felt silly after awhile? Idk. Also, first time I've ever seen someone reference 'pokefics', especially in relation to epistolary themes.

I'm sure you're very enjoyable.

As for MA, I think being "content" really dragged them down. And pokefics are the shit! No, I'm not sorry (even though I only read "How to Train Your Rattata" (not it's real name, lol, but iykyk)).

 

[AliceMoonvale]

I'm sure you're very enjoyable.

As for MA, I think being "content" really dragged them down. And pokefics are the shit! No, I'm not sorry (even though I only read "How to Train Your Rattata" (not it's real name, lol, but iykyk)).

I'm a delight. Many can agree.

It really did, it's a shame. I tried so hard to get into it better past the first season but it just felt like another kind of episodic thing like black mirror. Vast difference, but that similar vein that makes me lose interest after awhile.

As a literarywho, I was half expecting you to have more profound tastes than pokemon fanfiction.
My day is ruined and my disappointment is immeasurable! I will never mentally recover.

 

[Dawnathon]

Among the other popular examples you gave, the only one that comes to mind is Flowers For Algernon. It's one of the few examples where the diary style is essential for the story it's telling. A major component of the tragedy is watching the protagonist's mental state improve and degrade over the course of the entries.

I think it's an alright storytelling method myself, but it works better for unreliable narration. Hearing about the diary owner's perspective and opinion on things, including parts they misunderstand or get wrong, even if they're too full of themselves to realize it. It's when the story is trying to tell more objective, unquestionable facts in the format that it falters. Usually leading to the the diary writer getting way too specific and factual in an unbelievable way, like a lot of creepypastas end up doing. The other problem is that diary entries have to make sense when they're being written. Typically, people are going to write in the downtime between big events, not during them. A lot of people being chewed on by The Monster are probably not going to pull out the pen and paper to write "Aaaagh" unless it's a comedy. You'll have some writers wanting to have in media res entries, but it's usually pushing the suspension of disbelief.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

Among the other popular examples you gave, the only one that comes to mind is Flowers For Algernon. It's one of the few examples where the diary style is essential for the story it's telling. A major component of the tragedy is watching the protagonist's mental state improve and degrade over the course of the entries.

I think it's an alright storytelling method myself, but it works better for unreliable narration. Hearing about the diary owner's perspective and opinion on things, including parts they misunderstand or get wrong, even if they're too full of themselves to realize it. It's when the story is trying to tell more objective, unquestionable facts in the format that it falters. Usually leading to the the diary writer getting way too specific and factual in an unbelievable way, like a lot of creepypastas end up doing. The other problem is that diary entries have to make sense when they're being written. Typically, people are going to write in the downtime between big events, not during them. A lot of people being chewed on by The Monster are probably not going to pull out the pen and paper to write "Aaaagh" unless it's a comedy. You'll have some writers wanting to have in media res entries, but it's usually pushing the suspension of disbelief.

Yeah, very true. A couple diary-style stories I came across would have entries being written during times that wouldn't be very natural or feasible? Like as if an entry was happening during a fight? lol

For my own story, my MC writes both between events and while they happen, but in believable ways. At the beginning, she's holed up in a room and panic writing/scribbling, freaking out. She's safe from immediate danger but tries to cope by writing haphazardly. Then in later chapters, she'll write casually while watching something like other people pass by through her street. Things that can still make sense.

 

[LiteraryWho]

I'm a delight. Many can agree.

It really did, it's a shame. I tried so hard to get into it better past the first season but it just felt like another kind of episodic thing like black mirror. Vast difference, but that similar vein that makes me lose interest after awhile.

As a literarywho, I was half expecting you to have more profound tastes than pokemon fanfiction.
My day is ruined and my disappointment is immeasurable! I will never mentally recover.

Well, I was hoping for charming, but I guess I'll have to settle for traumatic

As for MA, that's fair. I didn't mind the "episodic" nature, but I watched at lot of sitcoms and "old" sci-fi growing up (okay, fine, TNG and SG1 are just old old), so I'm more accustomed/desensitized to it. I actually got to witness the transition between episodic and serial style entertainment, though these days I kinda miss when japan was your only source of long form media.