Diary Entry

5bcarnies · Jul 30, 2009

So here is the situation...

...In Birth of a Vixen the heroine has a diary. The reader doesn't read any entries. In the early part of the book it is mentioned as a go-between for the heroine and her short-lived alternate personality.(Just a slight case of multiple personality syndrome that isn't founded on anything psych related. It's mystical in nature.) Through some bumps in the road my MC loses the diary. Then about 3/4 in the hero gives it back to her. He didn't steal it. He found it. Anyway, she makes one last entry before heading into the climax. Not to give too much away, it turns back up in the second book, Vengeance from the Shadows. She reads the last entry. I know it will be rather cathartic and helps her to break down a wall(figuratively speaking) so she can live with what she has done.

I think my problem is that I am have a hard time not making it a summary of the first book. The entry was made four months after she lost it and a lot happened in that time. Any suggestions?

Lisa Cox · Jul 30, 2009

My only suggestion is imagine its your own diary -- one you assume (at the point of writing it) no one would see. You don't summarize events to yourself. You don't need to, seeing as you were there. Focus on her feelings, let her write from the heart, not from a synopsis (this happened, then this happened, then that).

Practice with your own diary. Write an entry about the last week. See how you tell it to yourself. Try to make it seem as natural as possible. A real person wouldn't list events in their diary -- they would talk about how those events made them feel.

bonitakale · Jul 30, 2009

Could you, maybe, show the entry in the first book? I guess it would need to be, not a summary of what's happened, but a really strong, resonant image, if it's to awaken her memory or heart or conscience or whatever. I know you don't let the reader read the diary, mostly, but maybe you could make an exception near the end? Just a paragraph, maybe.

So if you had this strong image that would bring everything to the forefront of the mc's mind, and it was the paragraph from the last book, that would tie them together nicely. New readers and forgetful ones would wonder what's going on, but they'd be reassured that the whole story, or as much as is needed, will come out as the book moves along.

You don't want a summary, but something more like a movie trailer, if I'm understanding you right.

Bonita

5bcarnies · Jul 30, 2009

Bonita thank you so much. I think you nailed that on the head. My brain is firing on all cylinders fueled by creative juices. A certain character finds the diary in the epilogue. I do believe that would be a great place to put it.

Diary Entry

5bcarnies

Lisa Cox

bonitakale

5bcarnies