Diaries entry

WHAT IS A DIARY ENTRY?

A diary entry is a personal account that describes what you did, saw or felt on a
particular occasion. These entries could be straightforward events outlining what you
did  in the course of the day. However, at HL a daily routine does not make for
interesting writing. A good diary entry is likely to contain your thoughts, feelings and
reflections on the events of the day.

WRITING TO AN AUDIENCE
Unlike most text-types, in real life diaries are private, rather than public. Some diary
writers like to write to the diary as if it were a good friend. This technique is
called direct address  and allows you to talk to your diary as “you”. Because you are
writing to yourself, a diary can be a place where you can write down your thoughts,
feelings in secret and in confidence.
STRUCTURE
At SL your diary entries could be a straightforward (narrative-driven) account of a
day’s events. However, many people keep diaries as a method of examining their lives.
SO in terms of structure, such diary entries do not have to have a chronological
structure.

Frequently the writer’s opinions give structure to the writing rather than the events
themselves. You might start with a phrase to focus the reader on the main event you
wish to relate. You could use an exclamation, “What a day this has been!” or you could
start with an opinion, “I have never felt so insulted.” Alternatively, you might like to
start with a rhetorical question that you go on to answer. “How could I have imagined
they could be so cruel?”

Diary writing is spontaneous and therefore the language and the ideas should sound
fresh. Nevertheless you should still use the basic rules of paragraphing with each
paragraph having a topic sentence and a clear focus. This will help you and your reader
to understand your thoughts. You could finish either with a final thought. This might be
a concluding statement about the events in the diary entry or a question on the lines of
“I wonder what will happen next…”

A NOTE ON GRAMMAR
Diary writers are not always certain about their ideas os it is useful to begin some
sentences with phrases like:  I wonder, I suppose, I think, I reckon, I imagine, I hope, I doubt.
You may also want to use verbs in the conditional tenses:

 I wonder what will happen if I go (future).

 I wonder what would happen if I went… (theoretical situation in the present).
 I wonder what would have happened if I had gone… (theoretical situation in the past).