Monday Musings - Story Format

Thanks for Rebecca's blog 'Just One More Page' for Monday Musings...



Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about a story format.

How do you feel about books written in a differing format – whether this be journals or letters (epistolary), verse novels, or any other form? Is this something you enjoy? Or do you prefer straight forward chapter prose.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.


I find that I can get into about any format but the problem I run into is reading the same format book after book after book (by coincidence) and then pick up a book that happens to be in a different format.

THEN I get in that place where I have to "get into it" instead of just reading.

I haven't read one in a while but I LOVE journal-type books and autobiographies. The author is talking to ME and I feel him/her. I laugh as if they were in the room telling me a joke. I cry as if I was there - I had trouble reading Robert Clary's autobiography because there was a point in his life (his childhood) with horrors you can't imagine anyone (especially a child) going through and tears come to my eyes within a few paragraphs.

I don't think I'd have been as affected if it was in a different format because there'd be that extra veil, protecting me from that man's pain. But then I'd lose out sharing his excitement and cheer and his humor, too.

So, my quick answer is: I like pretty much any format. I just might have to clear my mind if I've been reading the same one over and over, much like that little dollop of plain sherbet they give you in the fanciest restaurants to clear your palette between meals.

Nothing wrong with the first course or the food in the second but they’re different.