Does journaling help? I don't think so

If you've spent any time online--or anywhere else--reading advice for writers, or tips for writers, or anything else, you've probably at some point or another come across the "Keep a journal" tip. It's pretty common, actually.

I see the reasoning behind the advice, I do. Keeping a journal gets you into the habit of daily writing, which is terrifically important. It can expand your vocabulary; it can make you familiar with the process of writing itself. It can help you find a voice.

But here's my problem with it. Writing a journal is not at all like writing fiction. Not remotely like it, actually. Trust me on this; I blog, and I write fiction. The processes are completely different; the feel of it is different. Even the voice is largely different.

Now, I don't claim in any way to have mastered either the art of the novel or the art of the entertaining blog post. What I can tell you is that I've written some of both of which I'm quite proud, and here are the major differences as I see them (and some of these are versions of the same thing, you'll notice; that illustrates points 1, 6, and 8) :

1. Good fiction writing is precise and focused. Good blog writing is all about digression.

In fiction every word has to count. In blogging, not so much. While I do have a tendency toward digression--ah, my beloved emdashes--in fiction, I really do it in blogging. It's okay in blogging to bring random weird examples into play. It's okay to repeat yourself a dozen times.

2. Exclamation points are frowned on in fiction. I've had this one drummed into me so hard that I feel weird using exclamation points in my books even when it's appropriate. In blog posts? Not so much. A quick look back at some of my blog posts shows considerably more exclamation points than you'd ever find in one of my novels.

3. The use of cliches. You want to avoid cliches in fiction, of course. Cliches are bad in fiction. Dumb as a post; white as a marshmallow (or ghost, or sheet); hard as a rock; shaking like a leaf; etc. etc. etc. (Another phrase you cannot use in fiction.) Dialogue is of course a different matter; cliches can advance characterization there. Having a character speak largely in cliches or platitudes shows the reader something about them (of course, you want to be careful you don't overdo it, but it is an occasionally useful tool.)

But in a blog post you can use cliches, or rather, you don't need to be as vigilant about them. In fact, in a blog post it can be irritating if you work too hard to avoid cliche. Going out of your way to be clever often sounds forced.

4. Digression. A story has to go somewhere. Your reader wants to know what happens next. They do not want you to lose topic and wander off into an interesting anecdote about The Time You Accidentally Ate A Bug. Stories like those are delightful in blog posts. Not so much in fiction. Not to mention, parentheses are great fun in blog posts but tend to be jarring in fiction.

5. Italics and boldface. Both are great fun in blog posts and can be used liberally. Both are to be used sparingly in fiction if at all.

6. Targets and points. See, in a novel or short story, every word, every sentence, every scene, has to advance the story. In a blog post there is no story; or rather there might be, but not one with great complexity. Not often, anyway. It is perfectly okay to blog about three unrelated things in one post. It is not okay in a novel to introduce characters who have no purpose in the story, or to throw a recipe in somewhere, or whatever.

7. Blogging is telling, not showing. Fiction is the opposite. A good blog post is snappy. A good blog post often tells rather than shows the action; it can be a mix of both, but as good blog posts are often short, telling is usually necessary.

8. Lazy writing. Yes, this is sort of covered already; it all really boils down to this point and the next. But seriously. When I blog I don't worry so much about word choices or points or repeated words. I don't worry about emdashing and parenthesesing myself into a glorious stupor.

9. Journals are all about YOU. A novel is not about you at all. This is the biggest one. A novel is about your characters. It's their story. Your blog is about you; what you're thinking, what you're feeling.

In other words, blogging encourages you to focus on yourself. It encourages you--the Writer--to examine every bit of your psyche, to turn yourself and your opinions, thoughts, and feelings into The Star Of The Show.

Whereas you don't belong anywhere in your novel. Oh sure, parts of you might. But I firmly elieve this is where a lot of writers fall on their swords. By thinking that blogging/journaling and fiction writing are essentially the same thing; by thinking the hip, fun voice that readers enjoy in their blog translates to fiction. It doesn't. What's fun and amusing in a blog is irritating and intrusive in a novel. I don't buy novels to read what the author thinks of political or social issues. I buy them to read a story, and most readers do the same.

But blogging encourages you to turn inward. To view all your writing through the lens of your cuddly, fun, enticing self. When you write fiction there is no self. There is only the character and their story.

Blogging encourages you to insert yourself into your work, and that's not a good thing. Blogging encourages you to be lazy, to be loose, to be imprecise. And that's deadly in fiction.


This isn't to say that there aren't ways in which blogging can help you. Like I said, as a vocabulary builder or a tool to get you into the habit of putting your fingers on the keys, it's fine. This also isn't to say that great bloggers can't be great fiction writers.

What I am trying to say is that the two are different skills, and being good at one does not necessarily translate into being good at the other. They're different mindsets, with different focuses.

It's not that I think blogging is a bad thing, or that it will hurt you. What I do think is that encouraging writers to keep a journal is not necessarily great advice.


Because the number one most important thing to do to improve your fiction is keep practicing.

And if you're writing in your journal, you're not working on your novel. Period.


A blog is a timesuck, and you'd use your time much better if you kept practicing your fiction.

What do you think?