Thomas Jenner's Blog - Posts Tagged "diary"
My first blog. By: Thomas Jenner - Kellie’s Diary
My first blog. By: Thomas Jenner
Kellie’s Diary
For my first blog, I thought it would be good to talk about “Kellie’s Diary,” my first book series, and go over what it’s about, where I would like to take it, and also give some insight on the reason they are shorter then traditional novels.
“Kellie’s Diary” is (taken from the back of the books) “a series of diary entries through the eyes of a little girl as she tries to survive the end of the world.” This book series is entirely from the viewpoint of a little girl writing to her diary.
At the time of this blog post, Book 1 and 2 are out. Book 1 is free on all major eBook retailers. Book 2 is also available at all major eBook retailers for $1.99. Book 3 will be coming out this week for $2.99.
I plan on making this an ongoing series. Book 1 was a fun experiment, and at first was not intended to become a series. Book 1 is very short; Book 2 is longer, but still short in comparison to other stories you may find out there. This happened for many reasons. The truth is when they were written, they were actually a lot longer. But because of how I wanted to tell the story, in a diary fashion, it was forced to be shorter. In reality each installment is almost the same size in length as traditional novels. In most novels, it seems about half or almost half are just describing environments, or dialogue. My thought was that a little girl writing in her diary would not go into those things very much unless it really grabbed her attention.
In writing the first book, it came quite easily to me. But when it came time to write Book 2, I found it to be a lot harder. I wanted to make it longer, I wanted to bring a new experience, and really outdo the first book. I had to rewrite many parts of the 2nd book to really bring it to a new level. But trying to write a book like a diary and still be able to keep the reader on the edge of their seat, and not know what was going to happen next, was a real challenge. I wanted action, I wanted detail, but most of all it still needed to feel like a real diary.
I got a review on Book 2 that I really felt communicated something I couldn’t put in words for the longest time: ‘’The simple style this story is presented in sometimes tricks you into taking it at face value; but it's the reading between the lines that gives you the full sense of horror in the world around the main character. She has grown in a world dying around her, and her point of view is distinctly that of a child; we see it in her acceptance over time of death as something that simply happens and the notion that her family may in fact be lost, and even in her simple joy over a toy store. Kellie's character is very realistic, and that makes it all the more frightening to watch how the world is folding around here and her inability to change it, only to survive as best she can. This latest section of the story is darker than the first, there are notions in what Kellie doesn't say directly that show just how horrifying the world, and both the living and dead within it, have become. It's not a story for everyone, there isn't strict gore but the suggestive horror is strong and lingering. The only downsides I feel are there is that the parts are too short, the depth is in what the character leaves unsaid, which makes a fast story bound to happen but I always am left wanting a few pages more.’’
The books are very graphic-heavy; each page is a picture, and the text is within the picture itself, as opposed to standard typeface you’d see in other eBooks. I felt that the lined paper with a child’s writing would really add to the immersion and the experience. And some reviewers have agreed: ‘’The look of the book contributes to the book's grip on the reader…’’
But think with this for a minute, if you have read Book 1, or even Book 2. Recall what I wrote earlier about dialogue and environment descriptions. Imagine for a minute that the book had all the dialogue and environment description of traditional novels… do you think the book would be a lot closer to normal novel size? I’m not trying to say that the way traditional novels are done is bad or wrong; in fact, I love those parts in novels. It just would not have worked in “Kellie’s Diary.”
And with that I come to a close in my first blog. This is the first blog I have ever done, and I hope I have given some insight and answered some questions that you may have had about “Kellie’s Diary.”
I would also like to hear any other questions some of you might have.
Thanks for reading!
Kellie’s Diary
For my first blog, I thought it would be good to talk about “Kellie’s Diary,” my first book series, and go over what it’s about, where I would like to take it, and also give some insight on the reason they are shorter then traditional novels.
“Kellie’s Diary” is (taken from the back of the books) “a series of diary entries through the eyes of a little girl as she tries to survive the end of the world.” This book series is entirely from the viewpoint of a little girl writing to her diary.
At the time of this blog post, Book 1 and 2 are out. Book 1 is free on all major eBook retailers. Book 2 is also available at all major eBook retailers for $1.99. Book 3 will be coming out this week for $2.99.
I plan on making this an ongoing series. Book 1 was a fun experiment, and at first was not intended to become a series. Book 1 is very short; Book 2 is longer, but still short in comparison to other stories you may find out there. This happened for many reasons. The truth is when they were written, they were actually a lot longer. But because of how I wanted to tell the story, in a diary fashion, it was forced to be shorter. In reality each installment is almost the same size in length as traditional novels. In most novels, it seems about half or almost half are just describing environments, or dialogue. My thought was that a little girl writing in her diary would not go into those things very much unless it really grabbed her attention.
In writing the first book, it came quite easily to me. But when it came time to write Book 2, I found it to be a lot harder. I wanted to make it longer, I wanted to bring a new experience, and really outdo the first book. I had to rewrite many parts of the 2nd book to really bring it to a new level. But trying to write a book like a diary and still be able to keep the reader on the edge of their seat, and not know what was going to happen next, was a real challenge. I wanted action, I wanted detail, but most of all it still needed to feel like a real diary.
I got a review on Book 2 that I really felt communicated something I couldn’t put in words for the longest time: ‘’The simple style this story is presented in sometimes tricks you into taking it at face value; but it's the reading between the lines that gives you the full sense of horror in the world around the main character. She has grown in a world dying around her, and her point of view is distinctly that of a child; we see it in her acceptance over time of death as something that simply happens and the notion that her family may in fact be lost, and even in her simple joy over a toy store. Kellie's character is very realistic, and that makes it all the more frightening to watch how the world is folding around here and her inability to change it, only to survive as best she can. This latest section of the story is darker than the first, there are notions in what Kellie doesn't say directly that show just how horrifying the world, and both the living and dead within it, have become. It's not a story for everyone, there isn't strict gore but the suggestive horror is strong and lingering. The only downsides I feel are there is that the parts are too short, the depth is in what the character leaves unsaid, which makes a fast story bound to happen but I always am left wanting a few pages more.’’
The books are very graphic-heavy; each page is a picture, and the text is within the picture itself, as opposed to standard typeface you’d see in other eBooks. I felt that the lined paper with a child’s writing would really add to the immersion and the experience. And some reviewers have agreed: ‘’The look of the book contributes to the book's grip on the reader…’’
But think with this for a minute, if you have read Book 1, or even Book 2. Recall what I wrote earlier about dialogue and environment descriptions. Imagine for a minute that the book had all the dialogue and environment description of traditional novels… do you think the book would be a lot closer to normal novel size? I’m not trying to say that the way traditional novels are done is bad or wrong; in fact, I love those parts in novels. It just would not have worked in “Kellie’s Diary.”
And with that I come to a close in my first blog. This is the first blog I have ever done, and I hope I have given some insight and answered some questions that you may have had about “Kellie’s Diary.”
I would also like to hear any other questions some of you might have.
Thanks for reading!
