Keeping a Journal #writetip
In Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life by Elizabeth George, she explains the value of writing in a journal. I’ve never kept a journal or a diary, but thought I’d try it.
My first timid entries focussed on writing. I can’t seem to get away from that, but a more valuable thing to focus on might be daily observations. I decided to behave like a writer and keep track of interesting or odd things I noticed during the day.
Over the past few days, I’ve recorded funny or critical words people said. I’ve recorded how I feel about what went on during the day. And I’ve recorded ideas for novels.
The first thing I learned from writing a journal is that there is not a lot of me in my characters. When writing a novel, I write in a completely different voice than in my journal. My characters thoughts and feelings are nothing like mine. I have to say, I’m quite pleased about this.
Do you keep a journal? Have you discovered anything interesting by doing this?
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My own personal journal doesn’t help me write novels but when I write journal entries from my characters POV, it does:)
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That sounds interesting. I’m going to have to try that.
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I actually do morning words as a journaling exercise, and find it to be a good way to chart my mood, and how my writing correlates with what is going on in my life. It’s also a great catch all for any stray story ideas, or writing road blocks I might be encountering.
I’ve kept journals all my life as a way to relieve stress and I think that has helped me a lot with writing fiction, because I got into the habit of being painfully honest with my words.
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It’s an interesting process and new to me. I’ll see how long I keep it up for. It does seem to get my mind working.
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