Diary format

Discuss the December 2016 Book of the Month, Nightlord by Garon Whited.
mewsmash
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Re: Diary format

Post by mewsmash »

I've never really enjoyed the diary format. In my opinion, it seems very contrived, and the tenses of the story often don't line up. I didn't finish reading the book for this exact reason...
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Post by Guppy »

Diary format doesn't work for all books. Combined with the incorrect tense it really doesn't work for Nightlord. A third person omniscient perspective with more showing action than telling would have been better for this book.
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Post by Kdonegan91 »

I enjoy the diary format. I believe it makes the character more relatable and the events more realistic.
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. - Wayne Dyer
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Post by dosenron877 »

I was comfortable with this. I understand the comment about the tenses but I rationalized it away by saying he wrote at the end of the day so he was describing past events. Admittedly, this rationalization doesn't work with quoted dialogue.

Here is an excellent set of novels that I think are written this way. There are six novels in the "Coma Girl" series, one for each of six months. Short entries are made for each day of the musings made by a girl in a coma. She can hear, but at least in the first five parts that is the limit of her sentient self. She is visited by family, so called friends, and an assortment of people associated with her case. They freely reveal their secrets to her, she won't tell anyone. Talking to her is a form of confession for them. Written by Stephanie Bond, the daily musings were available each day for free. There was no provision for accessing archives; at some point each month that month's story collection was available on Amazon for USD 2.99

For those that feel comfortable with the style this is worth a look.
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Post by dhwanis »

I really like the diary format..as it helps me develop a special one to one bond with the protagonist.
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Post by Mark Johnson »

Usually I don't like the diary format unless it is there to briefly set the stage and then move right into the story. One series that we did like in the diary style format that we read with our daughters was Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Those books were a lot of fun.
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Post by psychopathycathy »

I totally get what you mean! I've had a habit of skimming diary entries or letters in other books, but when the entire story is made up of that, it's no longer an option. I do think that the conversational tone of this book helped me get into it, but I still wonder what it would be like if it was written regularly.
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Post by eelavahs-jay »

I'm not very fond of book written in this style. I'm one of those readers who prefer to be "shown" what's happened and I think using a format like this to tell a story kind of dulls the experience. I don't think I'll be reading this book.
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Post by Anjum »

I don't mind reading diary format as long as the story is good.
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Post by inaramid »

The tense problem is concerning, but I'm not very proficient in tenses anyway so I might not notice them. Not a fan of the diary format though, because it doesn't seem very genuine.
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Post by Mailis »

I think diary format is suitable mostly for light reads and make best with comical/sarcastic inner monologue. Or for some children's book, because it makes it more easier for them to read, if the text is sparse of long descriptions.
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Post by Nikita_sharma »

I actually liked the diary style in this book. It brought out Eric's humor and morality. His "stream of consciousness" style entries really chalked out his character for me - his doubts, flaws, reasonings (or lack of them) making him more relatable. Seeing the world through his eyes, and learning about the concepts and the workings of magic from his POV made the world more believable for me.

The changing tenses didn't even stand out for me because that is, atleast for me, how it happens authentically when I journal. Sometimes I write "this is happening with me right now" and sometimes I write "this happened today"

As far as the entries being a clue to him being alive, seeing how deep this book goes into the fantasy realm, I would not have been surprised if an entry came from the afterlife even!
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Post by Mellino Itz »

I think this is the first book book I have read in this format and I felt lost at some points while reading. This style really took so much from my experience with this book.
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Post by Odindi Omo »

No, I think it's quite correct. He didn't write it the moment it happened. He probably wrote it at the end of each day so whatever happened would be in last tense.
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Post by Micheal Ukewuihe »

I don’t think I can tell the difference in taste from the format I might actually enjoy them both if you ask me.
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