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How to Do Novels in a Journal Form

Write a novel in a journal form as a first-person narrative, meaning use the forms of "I", "my" and "me" to describe the consciousness of the person telling the story. Journal writing reflects the thoughts, desires and dreams of the author of the journal, so an author of a novel written in a journal form will introduce a character that will tell readers a fictional story in the character's words and from the character's personal perspective.

Instructions

    • 1

      Develop a character that will be the narrator of your story. You will need to write the novel through this character's thoughts and emotions, so develop their traits by writing and sketching the protagonist's physical and emotional characteristics with a pencil on a notepad.

    • 2

      Visualize yourself as the protagonist character and narrator of your novel. Use your notepad or a computer word processor to begin writing journal entries for the character. You can date these entries, and can be as formal or informal as you choose. A novel journal entry could look like this: "June 4, 2011. I have never seen such an amazing sunrise... Sincerely, Lucy."

    • 3

      Use the journal entries to create a story line where the protagonist narrates through a triangle structure of rising action, climactic moments and resolutions. Have the character interact with other characters and express emotion and plot details within the journal entries.

Fiction

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