How to write in a diary and make it interesting?

it doesn’t have to be interesting cos it’s exclusively for you right?

Describe things and people and experiences. Include distinctive details. Write your reactions to them, how you see them and how they make you feel—not “it was fun,” “it was interesting,” “it was boring” (those are judgments) but what was fun, interesting, or boring about it. Don’t say “The man had a funny nose.” Say “The man’s nose was shaped like an old leather boot with the toe bent up.”

Put in your own thoughts and ideas about life, the world, and everything.

@mammal I thought that, then I thought, well actually, it should be interesting as you should write a diary for your own pleasure. If it’s boring whats the point…

Live an interesting life and then diarize it. I could lend you some of my more outrageous relatives for inspiration lol.

Live a life and make it interesting or write well and make an ordinary life interesting by virtue of the way you write it. Those are the only two ways I know of.

@mammal , yeah but like these couple of days I’ve been reading the last diary of mine, and it was school days so it was basically almost the same things every single day!
@ninahenry, yeah you are absolutely right!
@jeruba, The man’s nose was shaped like an old leather boot with the toe bent up
hahahah that made my night!

If you’re in high school, which the tags suggest, your life probably isn’t that interesting.

It gets a lot better in college, when one enjoys independence and autonomy for the first time with the fewest responsibilities, while being surrounded by like-minded people who are in the prime of their looks and health.

It goes downhill after that, after which your journal will often mention that youth is wasted on the young.

@frdelrosario , yeah I guess I am in high school, I don’t know how you call it in the US, but I am in my 16th year and graduated.

@Thesexier You must always consider who you are writing for, whether a diary or anything else. Once you know your audience write things that they will find interesting, informative, entertaining, etc, etc, etc. This as well as what our other Fluther friends have said.

just let your pen flows,don’t think before you write a word, do you know automatic writing? normally automatic writing is done quickly by unconscious mind without judgement, write whatever come to your mind, afterwards, you can read through your your writing and revise it.

Don’t think about it. Be brutally honest… that should be interesting enough. Truth is good stuff.

Converse with interesting people, do interesting things, write well… as if you are writing a story. One other technique I’ve heard of is to write ‘letters’ to yourself. Maybe today’s ‘you’ could write to your future self?

If I were still a student and were journaling about school days, I wouldn’t write “I went to class, had lunch with the girls, was almost late for math, stayed after for swim team.” I would look for something every day that caught my attention, sparked an idea, raised a question, surprised me, made me remember something I’d forgotten, sounded worth exploring.

There should be many such things in every day of school, whether it’s a new word, an idea that links two other ideas together, or a fact about the world. Even just one is enough to write about.

If, while you’re learning, you reflect on what you learn, the learning acquires meaning beyond the facts and processes you’re studying and becomes your own. Information turns into knowledge. As your understanding grows, you change. That is a process worth journaling about.

Details. As many as you can pack in. When you write it now you know all the details so it seem redundant to write them, but years from now you may want to revisit your diaries and you won’t remember that well.

I wish I was a farmer so I could have a daily dairy diary.

@mrentropy , hahah the farmer thingy!:D
Then go ahead:D

Have you considered turning each entry into a work of art, using calligraphy, observational sketches, coloured inks and photographs. Buy a normal blank page drawing book and free yourself from the restrictions of a standard diary, maybe this will aid the creative writing process and leave you with a diary that you will be able to look back on with pride.

I like to put stickers on everything. It makes everything more lively and sparkle. But also since I’m a bubblehead, I like to write down the things that made me laugh, like quotes my friends said or things that I’ve said. Something that’s unique or strange could be like making up your own language that only you know… and can read after. :D

@Bubblehead , good idea!