What makes a good diary to you?

[christmas_ape]

Apologies if there is a thread somewhere I should be posting this in rather than creating a new one but I couldn't seem to find anywhere appropriate.

 

I thought it would be interesting to find out what the consensus is (if one exists) on what makes a diary good/interesting. I've seen that the rating system has come under some scrutiny but in a perfect world where everybody uses it well, what makes you think 'wow this is a 5*.'

 

Now of course, the diversity in diaries on this forum is vast and every reader will follow a certain one for different reasons but I thought it would be interesting to A) see what these reasons are and B) see if there are many universal reasons. Hopefully if it gets any sort of decent response it could be a useful thing for anybody considering starting a new one. In many ways, what makes a good diary is probably similar to what make any story good but I guess that question is just as interesting!

 

Personally, I'm a sucker for good presentation, again this is a subjective thing but I'm sure there must be some universal Do's and Don'ts.

I also enjoy diaries that are pretty concise. I can respect the dedication of people who write out huge shows, and I'm sure for many people that amount of detail is what makes a diary good, but for me I'd prefer a show I can read relatively quickly but which has detail where most needed. For example, I enjoy The Final Countdown's RoH diary for partially that reason.

 

In terms of storytelling, I think it needs to be as unpredictable as possible without leaving a realistic world, a realistic world doesn't have to be this world as it is, or the C-Verse but it needs to act logically and consistently. Again, to give an example, I enjoy Rhudipoo's 'WWE Bizarro' partially for that reason.

 

But anyway, I'm interested to hear what other and more experienced diary readers and writers think!

 

 

I've been following some diaries on here for a while now and recently even attempted to write my first one myself (it didn't last too long!), I've found that this forum does tend to be supportive/helpful/forgiving in general but I think it could be useful for newcomers, especially anticipating an increase in them once TEW2013 comes out, to have some sort of help post, if this does get some interest I'll be happy to try maintain some sort of list or maybe a Do's and Don'ts list to aid people who want to write.

[Eidenhoek]

I knew I had seen a diary tips thread; granted, it's not precisely the purpose of this topic, but I do think, if you're looking for information, that this link would be a solid start.

 

No idea what page that was on; I searched "diary" in the advanced forum search, using thread titles only.

[christmas_ape]

Ah thanks, that looks perfect really. It's a shame it isn't pinned to this forum or something but I guess if someone looked hard enough, it's there.

[BHK1978]

For me I am not sure one thing makes me interested in a diary. I tend to dislike diaries with long match write-ups. Nothing against the people who do that but I just do not see the point in them. Granted I do read diaries where there have been long match write-ups but most of the time I just tend to scan the write-ups.

 

Now on the other hand I love it when writers put a lot of effort into the promos and angles. The reason being, I can get more invested in the characters. That is why I say that Eisen-Verse is the best writer on here because he is able to create these promtions and through his promos he makes you feel like you are at the actual show. His diaries read like a book.

 

I also like some humor in diaries. If you can make me laugh you will get me hooked.