How to Write a Novel Using Your Journal
Look for moments that felt powerful to you., Use personal experiences that are funny or disturbing., Create a plot using your journal., Get creative with the material in your journal.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Look for moments that felt powerful to you.
Read through your journal and search for any moments that jump out at you.
Highlight or underline moments may have been powerful and intense for you at the time.
You could then turn these powerful moments into the beginnings of your novel.For example, maybe you have a vivid journal entry about the first time you experienced sexual desire as a young person.
The entry may be full of powerful, confusing emotions.
You could then use this intense moment in your life as the beginnings of a novel about a young person’s first sexual experience. -
Step 2: Use personal experiences that are funny or disturbing.
You can also generate a story idea that is funny or disturbing by using entries in your journal that come across as hilarious or unsettling when you read them now.
Though the “you” at the time of the writing may not have realized how funny a situation was, the “you” of now can recognize this and use the situation in your novel.For example, you may have a journal entry on how and when you lost your first tooth.
You may detail how terrified you were to lose your tooth and how your father removed it without hurting you.
You may then use this experience as part of a novel about the relationship between a father and a daughter. , If you are searching for a plot for your novel, you may be able to piece together one using your journal entries.
The beauty of writing is that you can mix and match different moments and experiences in your real life to create a fictional story.
Try stitching together several moments from different entries in your journal to create a plot for your novel.
For example, you may use several entries from your childhood as well as entries from your teenage years to create a plot that follows the evolving relationship between a father and a daughter.
You can then put these entries in a plot outline and add in details or moments that are entirely made up to add to the tension and conflict in your novel. , Though you may feel the experiences and moments in your journal are real and important to you, you should be willing to play around and experiment with your journal entries.
Just because something happened in real life does not mean it belongs in your novel.
In fact, you should feel free to get creative and adjust or twerk real life moments so they are more engaging in your novel.For example, you may embellish a real life entry about your first day at high school.
Though in real life your first day may have been uneventful or only mildly embarrassing, in your novel you may add details that make a character’s first day at a high school more dramatic and intense. -
Step 3: Create a plot using your journal.
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Step 4: Get creative with the material in your journal.
Detailed Guide
Read through your journal and search for any moments that jump out at you.
Highlight or underline moments may have been powerful and intense for you at the time.
You could then turn these powerful moments into the beginnings of your novel.For example, maybe you have a vivid journal entry about the first time you experienced sexual desire as a young person.
The entry may be full of powerful, confusing emotions.
You could then use this intense moment in your life as the beginnings of a novel about a young person’s first sexual experience.
You can also generate a story idea that is funny or disturbing by using entries in your journal that come across as hilarious or unsettling when you read them now.
Though the “you” at the time of the writing may not have realized how funny a situation was, the “you” of now can recognize this and use the situation in your novel.For example, you may have a journal entry on how and when you lost your first tooth.
You may detail how terrified you were to lose your tooth and how your father removed it without hurting you.
You may then use this experience as part of a novel about the relationship between a father and a daughter. , If you are searching for a plot for your novel, you may be able to piece together one using your journal entries.
The beauty of writing is that you can mix and match different moments and experiences in your real life to create a fictional story.
Try stitching together several moments from different entries in your journal to create a plot for your novel.
For example, you may use several entries from your childhood as well as entries from your teenage years to create a plot that follows the evolving relationship between a father and a daughter.
You can then put these entries in a plot outline and add in details or moments that are entirely made up to add to the tension and conflict in your novel. , Though you may feel the experiences and moments in your journal are real and important to you, you should be willing to play around and experiment with your journal entries.
Just because something happened in real life does not mean it belongs in your novel.
In fact, you should feel free to get creative and adjust or twerk real life moments so they are more engaging in your novel.For example, you may embellish a real life entry about your first day at high school.
Though in real life your first day may have been uneventful or only mildly embarrassing, in your novel you may add details that make a character’s first day at a high school more dramatic and intense.
About the Author
Joshua Morales
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow lifestyle tutorials.
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