: Re: Is starting each chapter with a diary entry cliche? In my post-apocalyptic story, my narrator keeps a journal, and each new chapter starts with a journal entry of hers that's relevant to the

These are called epigraphs, and they're perfectly fine

Off the top of my head: the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant heads each chapter with one or two blog posts from the characters. Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson open each chapter with quotations from in-world documents. And Dragonflight by Anne McCaffery opens each chapter with a verse from a song of the world.

They're popular because they can provide character voice and worldbuilding that don't fit in the main body of the story, but are still interesting and useful. Also, they can telegraph the themes or tone of a particular chapter, helping to guide the reader through the story. They can even provide foreshadowing, if the documents being quoted have information that the characters don't have access to. They can also provide bits of humor when the story needs it but it wouldn't fit perfectly into the story itself.

The big caveats to be aware of are that a) some readers skip epigraphs, so any information that is vital to the story should appear in the main story text as well, or you risk alienating those readers, and b) audiobook narrators don't always do a good job of separating the epigraphs from the text of the novel, and the transition can be confusing if the voices are too similar. If you think that there is a chance of your novel being converted into audio form, consider how your epigraphs will sound to that audience.

Neither of these caveats are meant to discourage you from including epigraphs (I personally am a huge fan of them), but are merely things to consider so that your epigraphs are the best that they can be.

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: Re: Is starting each chapter with a diary entry cliche? In my post-apocalyptic story, my narrator keeps a journal, and each new chapter starts with a journal entry of hers that's relevant to the

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: Problematic writing I'm currently attempting to write a story. And In the past I have tried but found myself unhappy with the result because I find that I use "I" in every sentence. For example:

: How to convert non-fiction narrative to monologue I'm working on an audio book about history, and I've decided to have the audio book recited as a monologue, to make it somewhat more engaging,

: How do I define smells I have never experienced? I am a lifelong writer, who was also born without an ability to smell. I have been trained to engage the reader by applying the five senses,

: How does one strengthen their sense of rhythm? Many pieces of writing are succinct, but they are not rhythmical, giving no pleasure to the ear of the reader. The reason for that is likely

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