Questions/concerns about a framing device for a story

Crowned in Fireflies

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EDIT: thanks for the answers.



There is a 1st person fiction manuscript I'm going to start writing soon. I want the book itself to diegetically be text logs of thoughts and memories extracted from the protagonist's mind. I want to give a sense that the characters actually exist, and that the readers are going to see a record of true events from an alternate world that is wrongfully being passed off as fiction in ours. Essentially, I want to invite the reader to play along in a way that makes them a character in the world.

I'm thinking of going about it with starting and ending each scene or chapter with some bracketed text addressed to an in-universe organization the logs are actually meant for. For example:

[Subject 77 - 1/12/2015 - memory extraction log. . .]

So, I went to the store today, and on my way out I met these really nice guys in black suits and sunglasses. They invited me back to their van to try this really shiny helmet with blinking lights, but it gave me such a headache.


Anyway, I'm worried about if this kind of formatting would be acceptable or if it would be deemed unprofessional. Is it fine? How should I format something like this?

If you're going to make a comment to the effect of gimmicks not being a substitute for good writing/stories, I know.
 
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stephenf

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I don't believe there is an issue, in regards to the format.
I personally would need to read a larger example on the story. But inserting a break into the flow of things can be an annoying intrusion unless it is actually adding something.
 

starrystorm

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I think it works. I've seen books written only through texts or through letters. As long as each memory log isn't really short, I think it will work fine.