How writers turn journal entries into novels

Writing in a journal is a powerful way to create the bits and pieces that become literature.

Journals serve as workbooks and a place to note descriptions, thoughts, ideas and character sketches.

Graham Greene set two of his novels, “A Burnt out Case” and “The Heart of the Matter” in Africa. The book, In Search of a Character: Two African Journals: Congo Journey and Convoy to West Africa, reveals the raw material — observations about people and the world — that eventually turned into his novels.

Other famous writers who kept journals as workbooks for their works in progress include:

Feodor Dostoyevsky — He maintained three notebooks concurrently with the writing of Crime and Punishment, which he saw itself as a form of diary. He outlined the larger framework of his novel as well as psychological details.

Albert Camus – Notebooks 1935-1951 serves as a sketchbook of future work, insight into his creative mind and reflections on death, loneliness, and art. His journals contained some of the first images and lines that ended up in his books, including the line, “Maman died today,” the opening sentence of The Stranger.

Journals are a more casual forum for writing and experimenting with ideas, outlines, and character notes and can free up ideas and inspiration.

Consider how you can use a journal as your writer’s playground.