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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/24433
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/24433
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The diary format gives you a lot of liberty, as Lauren suggests. But I believe that there is a reason that this format is seldom used in fiction. It can be difficult to make a set of diary entries into something with story shape and still have them be sufficiently convincing as diary entries.

Stories have a very definite and well documented shape, and they have it for a reason. You want to unfold a complex history that leads to the climactic moral choice that is the crux of any story. Without the history, the difficulty and the poignancy of the moral choice are not apparent and the story falls flat. But in order to get there, you have to keep the reader's attention while you unfold that history.

This is what makes storytelling difficult. You have to keep the reader's attention at each step along the way. You can earn some indulgence from the reader along the way to get them to persevere through some of the necessary exposition, but basically you need to keep the engagement high throughout. Stories have the shape they do because they need that shape to maintain engagement.

But diary entries are all flashbacks. They all occur after an incident is over and the narrator sits down to record their thoughts. The mood is reflective, which means that they begin with what is the ending emotion of the incident they are about to tell. That inversion is a challenge to story shape. It could be an immensely effective tool in a certain kind of story, but difficult to wield well and consistently across an entire novel.

Without the reflective tone, however, there is little to distinguish a diary entry from ordinary first person narration. And without that distinction, the diary format is likely to just be a distraction.

An interesting variation, and one that might give you similar liberties with fewer difficulties, is the tale told in old age. In this form, an elderly character tells the story of something that happened in their youth. The beauty of this form is that the narrator can assume either first person or third person POV as it suits the needs of the moment. They were there and they experienced things for themselves, but they also have the historian's perspective as well and have had the chance to learn what others thought and felt and did. Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian books strike me an a good example of this form.

Original score: 4