Dear Diary: Using a journal to brainstorm your fiction

Journaling is a kind of focused freewriting that can be useful for exploring, in a loose and free manner, either a character’s thoughts or your own.

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Like the childhood diary that could be padlocked, think of journaling exercises as a “for my eyes only” prewriting. As with jots, the goal is to get ideas out as quickly as you can without judgment or revision.

Journaling is especially helpful for voice-driven writers who first need to get inside the protagonist’s head before planning any story events. It can also be a way for you to mentally process key parts of your plot. When preparing for revision, it can be a helpful way to think through what is and isn’t working in a manuscript. It’s also a great warm-up for beginning any writing session, especially if you’ve been away from the manuscript for a period.

Journaling exercises

• Journal your key characters’ important memories that shaped them most
• Journal about your key characters’ deepest fears
• Journal about your key characters’ ambitions and dreams
• Journal about your protagonist’s bucket list
• Journal your protagonist’s opinions of other characters
• Journal your antagonist’s view of the protagonist
• Journal about your protagonist from the viewpoint of another key character
• Journal a fiasco moment in your character’s voice
• Journal about a moment your character would feel empowered
• Journal about potential plot events as a character might experience them
• Journal about conflicts among characters
• Journal your protagonist’s impressions of key settings in your story
• Journal a basic arc of your story in your protagonist’s voice
• Journal your impressions of each character in your story
• Journal about scenes that are almost ready, and how you might polish them
• Journal about problem scenes and how you might repair or replace them
• Journal your hopes about this manuscript
• Journal your concerns about this manuscript

How might journaling help you keep moving forward with a project?

Categories: brainstorming, ideas, journaling, productivity, voice, writer's block