This is a list of fictional diaries categorized by type, including fictional works in diary form, diaries appearing in fictional works, and hoax diaries.
The first category, fictional works in diary form, lists fictional works where the story, or a major part of the story, is told in the form of a character's diary.[1] Diary form is frequently used in fiction for young adults and tweens as well as adults.[2][3] It has been used for multiple books in a series following the diarist's life over many years, such as the Adrian Mole series, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and the Dork Diaries series, all of which chronicle the lives of characters who start a diary as children or adolescents and continue their diary as they mature over time. Fictionalised diaries set during distinct historical periods or events have been used since at least the 1970s to bring history to life for young people.[4]Dear America, My Australian Story and related series are recent examples of this genre. The form is also frequently used for fiction about adult women's lives,[5] some notable examples being Bridget Jones's Diary, The Color Purple, and Pamela.
The second category lists fictional works that are not written in diary form, but in which a character keeps a diary, or a diary is otherwise featured as part of the story. Some common uses for diaries in fiction are to reveal to the reader material that is concealed from other characters, to divulge information about past events, or as a device to provide real or false evidence to investigators in mystery or crime fiction.[6] Examples of diaries being used in one of these ways include Amy Dunne's false diary in Gone Girl and Laura Palmer's secret diary in Twin Peaks.
The third category lists hoax diaries, that were presented as being true diaries of real people when first published, but were later discovered to be fiction. Go Ask Alice, the first of a number of books by Beatrice Sparks purported to be based on diaries of real teenagers, was originally presented by Sparks as the non-fictional diary of an anonymous teenage girl,[7] but was later classified by publishers as fiction.[8]
Almost Lost: The True Story of an Anonymous Teenager's Life on the Streets (1996)
It's My Candle: By an Anonymous Teenager - A True Story from His Diary (1996)
Annie's Baby: The Diary of Anonymous, A Pregnant Teenager (1998)
Treacherous Love: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager (2000)
Kim: Empty Inside: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager (2002) (The U.S. Copyright Office has noted that some material for this book was taken from a pre-existing diary.)
Finding Katie : The Diary of Anonymous, A Teenager in Foster Care (2005)
The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler: Flannery Culp keeps diaries.
Cloud Atlas: Sections of the novel deal with the Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing.
Doctor Who (television series): The Doctor keeps a "500 year diary", Joan Redfern keeps "A Journal of Impossible Things", and Melody Pond/ River Song keeps "River Song's Diary".
Elfquest (comics): Cam Triomphe keeps a diary (mentioned in the sub-series Fire-Eye and The Rebels).
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene: Part of the narrative is revealed through a diary stolen from Sarah by the narrator, Maurice Bendrix.
Future Diary (manga and anime): The combatants of the battle royale game each have their own unique cellphone diary with special abilities of describing the future.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë: The character Helen Graham gives the narrator Gilbert Markham her diaries to read; the diaries constitute the second volume of the novel.
Twin Peaks (television series) by David Lynch: Laura Palmer keeps a diary.
^Duyfhuizen, Bernard (Winter 1986). "Diary Narratives in Fact and Fiction. Reviewed Works: Diary Fiction: Writing as Action by H. Porter Abbott; A Book of One's Own: People and Their Diaries by Thomas Mallon; The Diary Novel by Lorna Martens". Novel: A Forum on Fiction. 19 (2). Duke University Press: 171–178. doi:10.2307/1345552. JSTOR1345552.
^Storey, Dee C. (April 1982). "Reading in the Content Areas: Fictionalized Biographies and Diaries for Social Studies". The Reading Teacher. 35 (7). International Literacy Association and Wiley: 796–798. JSTOR20198101.
^Abbott, H. Porter (2005). "Diary". In Herman, David; Jahn, Manfred; Ryan, Marie-Laure (eds.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory. Routledge. p. 106. ISBN1134458401.
^Jeanne Preston (Editor), The Diary of a Farmer's Wife, 1796–97, Penguin Books Ltd; New edition 29 October 1992, ISBN0140157069, accessed 13 December 2015)