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Journal Writing

Christina Sexton Wilcox

The Importance Of Audience
(Part I in a three-part series on successful journaling)

If your journal writing is as bland as morning toast, a change in your view of journals as daily documentation may renew your interest. If journals are used as communication tools, they can help flesh out your true voice and lead to more story ideas.

In most writing classes, beginner through advanced, the first order of business always seems to be keeping a journal. I have been endlessly instructed to write every day, diary-style, with the confidence that no one will ever read what I wrote. The intentions of these instructors are good. The theory is that if you think someone might find your journal or read your files, you won't be as apt to truly divulge your innermost thoughts and ideas. Fair enough.

The second part of the theory is that eventually you will get beyond merely recapping the events of your days and start getting down to your genuine perceptions of people and the world around you. You will start to learn more about yourself and your beliefs. As a result, within those pages will be gems of story ideas, dialogue, and workable plots. So you start a journal (or "diary" as they used to call it in sixth grade). You write your thoughts, snippets of conversation, and every "stupid" idea that comes to you.

Then in Week 3 or Week 4 of the class, the instructor throws you a curve ball and start on the topic of "audience." All writers need to understand in whose hands their words will ultimately end up. Is an article about Thai cuisine best suited for a food magazine, a travel magazine, or both? Is a short story about mother/daughter conflicts best suited for adults, children, adults with children? "Who is your audience?" these instructors ask. "There is no audience!" you cry. "No one is going to read what I write...you said so yourself!"

Telling A Story To An Audience

If you are having a hard time separating these concepts, you're not alone. The main question is this: "Why write if no one is going to read it?" A storyteller by definition tells a story to someone. Storytelling without someone to hear the story is like talking to hear your own voice. There is no point in telling a story about the rich old man you met on the train or the homeless guy's comment when you gave him a dollar if there's no one to listen. You already know what happened. The joy of storytelling is in the passing along of the story to others.

If you love to tell stories, then you probably love to build up the suspense, keeping the punch line or horrifying climax just out of reach until the right moment. You love to foreshadow important events, add details to paint a vivid picture of your characters and their problems, and, most of all, you love to end your story with a bang, a surprise, a bit of irony, a morsel of absurdity. Without an audience, you never have anyone to share these storytelling skills with. The same goes for your journaling, and it can have a thwarting effect on your very desire to tell the story.

But can these two elements of writing, the audience and the unencumbered expression of pure thought, peacefully coexist? In our journals, we are expected to record our thoughts, divulge our secrets, and explore our observations. For adults, the days of "Dear Diary" are probably long past, but the concept still works. When writing a friendly letter or e-mail, we know who the intended audience is. We divulge certain things to certain people. But because of the intimate nature of the journal, how do you decide who is worthy?

Visualize The Audience

To really be able to open up and effectively communicate your stories, you must find a considerate listener. If you already have someone whose opinion you trust to read your stories, start there. Ultimately, the considerate listener will be someone who understands your thought process and finds you utterly entertaining. Your considerate listener always laughs at your jokes, never tires of hearing your stories, and thinks you're the tops.

Journaling to someone in the same casual way we write letters or tell stories to our friends and family allows us to use our natural, relaxed voice. Directing our journal writing to a particular person, real or imagined, living or dead, is another way of loosening up and allowing you to speak naturally through your written words. In natural speech we use:

• description ("The lion in the zoo looked like a starving old house cat.")

• dialogue ("...and then the clerk said to me, 'I don't care where you take your business!' And then I said....")

• background information ("You remember Old Man Beede, right? He's the one who....")

These tools help us to communicate effectively when we're talking directly to someone, and they're equally helpful in writing. Start thinking of your journals as a series of letters, write them as such, and visualize the recipient as you write.

In next month's installment of this series, I'll discuss how you can find topics to write about in your journals.