Diaryfic

Diaryfic is fanfiction written as if by a fictional character making entries into a diary, journal, logbook, or the like. It gained recent prominence with the works of Cassie Claire, a Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fan whose hilariously rude “Very Secret Diary” (VSD) series caught on in a big way and spread to other fandoms, even for Bridget Jones’s Diary. Fictional diaries have long been around and are widely seen, per the book lists from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Diaryfic is known in Daria fandom, but is quite uncommon; VSDs in this fandom (of the type Cassie Claire created) have not yet been recorded. The list of examples below is consequently short. The diaryfic concept is strongly supported in canon by The Daria Diaries, which contains excerpts from Daria Morgendorffer’s own journal, apparently begun after her arrival in Lawndale.

Diaries as Plot Devices
Daria is the character most often noted in fanfic as keeping a diary. Fanfic writers often assume Daria has been keeping diaries since her Highland days, as her writing style in The Daria Diaries implies a comfortable familiarity with self-expression. Quinn Morgendorffer and Jane Lane are occasionally said to have diaries, too, though there is no evidence for this in canon.

A number of fanfics use the diaries or diary entries of the characters as plot devices without being true diaryfics (e.g., Renfield's "Diary Dearest"). Several stories in Richard Lobinske's Last Summer series briefly involve either Daria's own diary or the collected diaries of Mrs. Blaine, willed to Daria upon Mrs. Blaine's death (see in particular "Shifts in Mood" and "Something For You").

A few of the more interesting uses of diaries as plot devices are given below.


 * Renfield's "Diary Dearest," in which the identity of the person who made certain diaries entries is a key issue.
 * Huggy's The Quinn Diaries series, which mixes diary entries with story prose.
 * Galen Hardesty's "Once Upon a Time in the Future," which weaves several plot threads together, including diary entries
 * Richard Lobinske's Last Summer and Falling Into College series, in which diaries are intermittently written or read as the action proceeds.