: Re: Writing Action In A fictional Journal I have written a story in the form of a journal. It's about a man who is going through a separation/divorce, living alone in an unfurnished apartment;

@Cooney417

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Rearrange your idea sequence or change the Point Of View (POV). For example, the friend comes to "the apartment", finding it empty or disheveled, but discovers the journal but not your protagonist. You're now set up for a mystery, perhaps a journey type novel, but the POV is that of the investigating friend.

Perhaps the friend knows why the separation/divorce took place, so you can kind of gloss over that initially, but as he reads he discovers a dark side to either your protagonist (who deserved his outcome) or a poisonous side to the ex-spouse, or some yet-to-be-revealed event which caused the divorce AND the plot to be set in motion.

An example. Let's say friend picks up the journal, flips towards the end (trying to find out why the person is gone) and reads a glum entry about how the protagonist has been alone, yada yada yada or three months now (but as an author you're not dragging me through three months, you're dragging me through about 45 seconds (a half to three quarters of a page). Friend turns the pages, and half way down he/she reads something like. "I guess it's my own damn fault, I didn't mean to kill _________." and the entry ends right there, and the rest of the journal is empty.

Now that you've got my interest, the POV character can bring the journal with him/her etc. and you're off and running. Then you can intersperse your original protagonist's journal entries in the middle of the action, and make the "original actions" move the mystery/journey story forward.

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