The Burn 'Diaries'

We are going to talk about diction.

"What is diction?" one might ask, and I would retort by saying "You don't even know what diction is?! You should go die in a-"

But really, diction itself is a pretty general word, which, according to the almighty Dictionary.com, means: "style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words." I didn't know exactly what diction was either, so maybe I should go die. I won't though. Life is precious.

The Burn Journals has a familiar register; as in, it sets a tone that makes it more conversational and personal than, say, formal and/or preachy. In case that wasn't too clear, I should note that most of my blog posts, if not all of them, have a familiar register. If you still don't get it, you might want to either graduate elementary school first or consult an English teacher.

So why so familiar? Well, "why not?" As I think I've mentioned for a kazillionth time, the author uses all these elements and floopazoids to make his story much more relatable and sympathizable. It makes the story sound ongoing rather than being all oh-I-remember-back-in-the-days and blubbery. Whether some of the words above exist or not is irrelevant and should not be a topic for discussion.

Let's continue talking: Why did he want to make it relatable in the first place?
Did he want everyone to sympathize with his teenage struggles, hoping for people out there to not make the same mistake he made? Maybe.
Did he want to simply write these words down, confess, and rid himself of the pile of emotions that were sitting heavily on his heart? Maybe.

Burn, diaries!

In the afterword of the book, Brent Runyon says that the idea of the book was to "set [his] trauma down on paper and to write it all" and to "free [himself] of the pain" he made himself go through. In fact, the Burn Journals wasn't meant to be a book, but more like a diary, which is probably why the book is called what it's called. If we were to assume the previous were true, it makes even more sense for the register to be familiar: It's a diary!

Thank you for listening to a nonsensical Asian talking about stuff.