Forum: Author Hangout

Some people may like it.
However, like stories that don't use the proper tense (past, unless your narrator is a play-by-play announcer and you're doing a MPT3K treatment) or stories where every sex scene has a running play-by-play by the female who is obviously faking enjoyment due to her being comprensible, or first person narratives by a non-lesbian female MC, I'd have zero interest.

I think this could completely work, Eddie. I don't think I could write it either since I love writing dialogue so much too.

(I'm struggling with a couple of story ideas since there isn't much dialogue - yet)

If you don't care about realism, it might work.
Real diaries are intended to be read by the person writing them, and are -- consequently -- devoid of context.

What are your thoughts on readability/interest in that style?

It doesn't sound like a diary. Those usually contain thoughts or reactions to things that just happened on the day the entry was written. Unplanned and unstructured.

Tues: OMG! My life is over, Freddy called and said he can't see me any more! I was so angry, I blocked his calls. The Rat!

Wed: Freddy's mom called, wanted me to see his new room, which is on the other side of their house. He can't see my window from there. I feel bad. Should I apologise?

Thu: At lunch today, I was sitting alone, worrying about having to apologise, and Thad sat down and asked me why so sad. He goes, "You know what always makes me feel better?" I go, "No, what?" "A blowjob", he says. I didn't know how that would work for me, but he's real smart, being quarterback of the football team and all, so we tried just to see.

Fri: Now Freddy is mad at me. I don't know why, he started it all.

The example given is more like a "describe yourself" assignment in writing class.

"Dearest Diary, I am a the very happily married wife of my husband Gary, for going on forty years now (so you can guess I'm not a young gal!).

Just like the many so-called "True" stories that are anything but, most "Diary" stories seem overly trite. I mean, who the hell writes like that in their own diaries. Do you begin every single entry, for 40 or 78 years, stating who you're married to? The assuming is that anyone reading your diary already has some idea of who the hell you are, otherwise you'd be so busy recapping your entire life, you'd never jot down anything new.

Dialogue based stories are best told straight, starting out with dialogue and interspaced with descriptions to ensure readers know who's speaking, what's going on and how everyone's responding.

3rd-person Omni, by the way, is great when you want to interject references to what your characters are up to. It's currently highly unpopular with most publishers, but it's also what distinguishes most GREAT books from those that you toss once you've read them once. 1st person, in general, isn't terribly memorable, though it drags you along so fast you often don't remember WTH is happening.

But the key with dialogue is creating rich characters, and that means learning who they are (i.e. how they'll likely react) before you start writing!

A diary is not an autobiography, where the writer recounts and reflects upon his life experiences.

A diary records day-to-day events and thoughts.

Perhaps someone would write in a diary:

Well, for the past 40 years, I *thought* we were happily married. Today I found out that he has been a lot happier than I have been. Maybe the succession of young, good looking "private secretaries" he's had over the years had something to do with that.

How did I find out? Last week, I called a plumber to fix the kitchen sink. He said he knew my husband, in fact, had installed the hot tub at his office. "Hot tub?" I asked. "Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said anything" he replied.*

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*True story: I did, in fact, install a hot tub in a hidden room at a prominent stock broker's penthouse office suite once upon a time. Press a button under the desk, and a panel in the wall slides open to reveal a cozy place for some "oral dictation".