History Main / ScrapbookStory

-->-- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5QM1bpGsT4 CineFix]] on the novel ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''

[[folder: other ]]

* A large portion of ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' is excerpts from books, magazine articles or investigative reports relating to various characters and events.

* ''Literature/TheRiseAndFallOfDODO'' is written in journal entries, mostly from the main character. She occasionally crosses out obscenities and other word embarrassing word choices.

-->-- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5QM1bpGsT4 CineFix]] on ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''

** A particularly weird example is the story "Thief of Sherwood" by Jonathan Morris in ''Short Trips: Past Tense'', which tells the story of the First Doctor's encounter with Robin Hood ... via ''Magazines/RadioTimes'' listings, ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' articles, and entries from various {{Universe Compendium}}s and [[UniverseConcordance Concordances]] for an entirely fictional six-part serial broadcast between "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E8TheReignOfTerror The Reign of Terror]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E1PlanetOfGiants Planet of Giants]]". And the ''cast list'' turns out to be part of the book's StoryArc!

* Most of the story of ''VideoGame/SystemShock 2'' and its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' is conveyed through audio logs found by the player as they explore a (mostly) deserted location. A handful of characters are actually still alive in both games, but the entire backstory of the fall of Rapture and other subplots in Bioshock can only be found by listening to the audio logs. You don't necessarily need to listen to every audio log (only some contain in-game hints like lock combinations), but skipping them would really be depriving yourself because the novel-quality story is half the fun.

* In the VideoGame/MetroidPrime series, most of the actual story reveals itself as you scan computers and ancient writing, leaving players hesitant to exit Combat Mode clueless as to what is going on.

* The ''[[http://www.drunkduck.com/Hero_By_Night/index.php?p=101795 Hero By Night]]'' consists of diary excerpts and newspaper clippings.

* The ''BigFinishDoctorWho'' Companion Chronicles story "Tales from the Vault" has a FramingStory of a U.N.I.T. officer showing a newbie around U.N.I.T.'s MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual. Captain Matheson plays recordings that describe the history of some of the objects, including a report on cassette by Jo Grant, an audio file of Matheson interviewing Romana, an alien [[DataCrystal memory crystal]] that [[LivingMemory recorded Zoe's personality]], and a century old phonograph recording of a warning by Steven Taylor. The final story leads back to the first one, and the FramingStory ties in the other two as well.

* The ''ChronoCrusade'' FanFiction ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3982345/1/ Comic Book Heroes]]'', which takes the idea that Joshua is [[spoiler:mentally damaged and stuck with the mind of a child]] at the end of the anime and turns it on its head by having him become a comic book writer as an adult. The story is told through excerpts of interviews with his children, reviews of movies based on his work, letters and journal entries written by Joshua and his friends, and an essay discussing the portrayal of female characters in his work--all fictional, of course.

* The ''TransformersGenerationOne'' fanfic ''[[http://fav.me/d2sg5p3 Crossfire and Consequences]]'' is made up entirely of journal entries, newspaper articles, a blog post, and a 911 transcript.
* The ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6253167/1/A_Brief_Account_Of_Life_With_Zombies A Brief Account of Life with Zombies]]'' consists of memos, texts, e-mails, etc. made by the main cast during the Zombie Apocalypse.

* The ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'' fanfic [[http://irisbleufic.livejournal.com/243305.html The Shape I Found You In]] consists of e-mails and text messages between Sherlock and John while Sherlock is working a case in Sweden.
* ''{{Franchise/Alien}}'': ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/37677?view_adult=true Killing Elvis]]'' is constructed from emails, text messages, test logs, and future-Twitter feeds, detailing the testing and presentation of a [[spoiler: not]] dead xenomorph.

* A large portion of ''{{Carrie}}'' is excerpts from books, magazine articles or investigative reports relating to various characters and events.

* ''The Documents in the Case'' by DorothyLSayers (Sayers' only detective ''novel'' not to feature LordPeterWimsey, although it does feature a couple of minor characters in common with the Wimsey books).
* Mark Z. Danielewski's ''HouseOfLeaves'' has, besides the main part of the book, ''The Navidson Record'', photographs of Zampano's things, sketches by Johnny Truant and letters from Truant's institutionalized mother, all expanding on the natures of both Zampano and Truant (the latter of which sent in the materials to the "editors" and told them what to do [[TheFaceless completely over the phone]]).
* ''WorldWarZ'' by Max Brooks is presented as transcripts of a series of interviews.
* MichaelCrichton's novel ''EatersOfTheDead'' (later filmed as ''The Thirteenth Warrior'') is presented as a historical manuscript with critical commentary. The first three chapters are taken from the actual accounts of the historical medieval Arab diplomat, traveller and historian Ahmad ibn Fadlan; afterward, the story veers into fiction. Crichton himself has admitted he can't remember where the fiction starts and the historical part ends.
* ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'':
** ''LemonySnicketTheUnauthorizedAutobiography'' is made up of often random seeming photographs, newspaper clippings and diary entries, made all the more difficult to decipher by the frequent use of codes and ArcWords.

* KurtVonnegut's ''HocusPocus'' is [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis presented as]] the collection of hundreds of varying scraps of paper written on by the protagonist, Vance Hartke, while he was in prison.

* ''[[{{Rant}} Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey]]'' by Creator/ChuckPalahniuk consists entirely of fake interviews (one of the last chapters includes material from a few ''actual people,'' and also a completely unexpected ShoutOut to ''Literature/FightClub''). For added verisimilitude, [[spoiler:it's implied at one point that the events of the book might alter the timeline so that the universe becomes the "real world" and the book becomes a work of fiction.]] It's also loosely implied that the book itself was written by that world's Chuck Palahniuk (nighttimer).

** Games Workshop's ''Liber Chaotica'' and ''The Loathsome Ratmen And All Their Foul Kin'': The latter was previously introduced in the ''GotrekAndFelix'' series, and the handwritten notes added into the Real Life version suggest that it's based on the very copy that appears in the novel.
** The ''CiaphasCain'' ('''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!''') series is presented as a compilation of Cain's actual memoirs published by Inquisitor Vail, with excerpts from other books (like [[PurpleProse Sulla's autobiography]]) added in to clarify points Cain left out (such as things that weren't specifically happening to him).
* The ''DenshaOtoko'' book is basically a printout of the original 2ch forum posts, ASCII art and all.

* ''[[FactionParadox Dead Romance]]'', by Lawrence Miles, is made up of three notebooks written by the [[FirstPersonSmartass main character]], chronicling TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* The ''AmeliasNotebook'' series, which are made to look like the diary of a young girl, complete with lines and doodles in the margins.

* ''DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short stories sometimes take this form.

** A particularly weird example is the story "Thief of Sherwood" by Jonathan Morris in ''Short Trips: Past Tense'', which tells the story of the First Doctor's encounter with Robin Hood ... via ''RadioTimes'' listings, ''DoctorWhoMagazine'' articles, and entries from various {{Universe Compendium}}s and [[UniverseConcordance Concordances]] for an entirely fictional six-part serial broadcast between "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E8TheReignOfTerror The Reign of Terror]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E1PlanetOfGiants Planet of Giants]]". And the ''cast list'' turns out to be part of the book's StoryArc!

* Creator/CSLewis' ''TheScrewtapeLetters'' is in the form of a series of letters written from a senior devil to his nephew.

* ''FeelingSorryForCelia'' is told through various letter and notes from and to the protagonist.

* ''TheAsylumForWaywardVictorianGirls'', in the same way as Shoebox Project.(changing between illustrations, normal chapters and letters)

* This is generally how most DisneyThemeParks attractions operate in conveying their backstories outside the occasional pre-show or Disney-provided [[AllThereInTheManual manual]]. Queue details such as pictures, props and documents can be pieced together to tell a story behind a place and often imply characters that essentially exist off-screen.

* Most of the background exposition in ''SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' is delivered through the quotes from characters that are attached to every base facility, secret project, and technology in the game. The "Interlude from the Book of Planet" segments, which advance the plot, might or might not qualify; it is not clear whether or not these documents actually exist in-universe.

* In the MetroidPrime series, most of the actual story reveals itself as you scan computers and ancient writing, leaving players hesitant to exit Combat Mode clueless as to what is going on.
* In ''LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias'', Toku finds the pages from his mother's diary as he explores the land, learning more of her condition and the events that led to the current state of affairs.

* At the beginning of each chapter of ''RuleOfRose'' you are given a handwritten disturbing fairy tale that is missing a page, that will be added at the end of the chapter, completing each story.

* ''{{lonelygirl15}}'': Some videos are on channels ''other'' than ''Lonelygirl15'' (especially the "Danielbeast" channel), to show perspectives other than Bree's.

* Most of ''MarbleHornets'' is footage found on a bunch of tapes the main character got from his friend before said friend disappeared. Eventually he starts shooting his own footage and uploading that.
** TheSlenderManMythos as a whole is entirely based around these, with its traditional works all being vlogs and blogs maintained by fictional characters. They quite often end up finding ''more'' documents which they share. Justified in a way due to the fact that, in some continuities, those involved in the strange events involving [[HumanoidAbomination the Slender Man]] are inexplicably compelled to record their thoughts through records or art of some form, presumably to spread his influence.
* A great deal of AlternateHistory timelines consist of a combination of quotations and extracts from history books published within the fictional setting coupled with some our-world commentary to help explain it, and perhaps occasionally segments written in story form. Probably the UrExample of this is ''DecadesOfDarkness''.

* Brian Griffin from ''FamilyGuy'' planned an in-universe example in his head: "It's about a guy who loses everything, but finds his soul...in Canada. And the whole thing...is an email...to his daughter...who's dead."

%%Attempted fix

A story whose text is largely, if not solely, composed of multiple contemporary [[FictionalDocument in-story documents]] to form the narrative. All the {{narrator}} has done is put the supposedly pre-existing documents in order. This style of writing used to be commonplace, because of its inbuilt explanation of how the narrator knows so much, but had been largely superseded by the Victorian period. However, it is still sometimes used.

The EpistolaryNovel, which consists of letters sent by the characters to each other, is a subtrope of this. Both tropes provide an in-story justification for a SwitchingPOV.

The author of such a work may be credited as the [[DirectLineToTheAuthor "editor" or "compiler"]].

Games with StoryBreadcrumbs often invoke this.

Compare LiteraryAgentHypothesis, {{Rockumentary}}, and ApocalypticLog. See {{Diary}}.

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!!Examples:
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%%% Zero Context Example entries are NOT allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out.
%%% Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Audio Drama]]
* The ''BigFinishDoctorWho'' Companion Chronicles story "Tales from the Vault" has a FramingStory of a U.N.I.T. officer showing a newbie around U.N.I.T.'s MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual. Captain Matheson plays recordings that describe the history of some of the objects, including a report on cassette by Jo Grant, an audio file of Matheson interviewing Romana, an alien [[DataCrystal memory crystal]] that [[LivingMemory recorded Zoe's personality]], and a century old phonograph recording of a warning by Steven Taylor. The final story leads back to the first one, and the FramingStory ties in the other two as well.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* The third volume of ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', titled "The Black Dossier," is two interwoven stories: the contents of the Black Dossier itself, a Scrapbook Story about the history of the league from its founding under Prospero to the events of volume 1 and 2 and its subsequent dissolution; and a frame story about Mina and Alan stealing the dossier and reading it. The book changes from one to the other when Mina opens or closes the book in-story. To further muddy the waters, the book's cover, under the dust jacket, is exactly like the one on the in-story book, and the various scraps have marginal notes scribbled in blue pen by the dossier's compiler addressed to the current head of British Intelligence services. The actual scraps are pastiches of comic strips, erotica, text pieces, a "lost" Creator/WilliamShakespeare folio, a mashup of Bertie Wooster and Creator/HPLovecraft, and a stuck-in Tijuana Bible made for proles by PORNSEC under the INGSOC regime.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': The interludes between the core comic sections are all excerpts from books, articles and comic books written by characters within the story.
* The narration of the comic ''ComicBook/SupermanSecretIdentity'' is written as a never-published autobiography of the main character.
* An ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' graphic novel called ''The Heroditus File'' was released in this format, as a variety of historical texts, letters to and from Trevor Goodchild, interview transcripts, photographs and other fictional sources that document the first encounter between Trevor and Aeon. Or, at least, [[MultipleChoicePast one of the first]].
* The ''ComicBook/{{Abadazad}}'' series has been released in small graphic novels, each an enchanted [[strike:diary]]log in which she details her adventures to this point. The "enchanted" part comes to play when the book records things she wasn't around for, as well as turning from text to pictures and back, and bringing in full pages of the "original" ''Abadazad'' books whenever someone reads or refers to them.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* The ''ChronoCrusade'' FanFiction ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3982345/1/ Comic Book Heroes]]'', which takes the idea that Joshua is [[spoiler:mentally damaged and stuck with the mind of a child]] at the end of the anime and turns it on its head by having him become a comic book writer as an adult. The story is told through excerpts of interviews with his children, reviews of movies based on his work, letters and journal entries written by Joshua and his friends, and an essay discussing the portrayal of female characters in his work--all fictional, of course.
* The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/TheShoeboxProject'', which incorporates letters and notes written between the main characters to wonderful effect.
* The hilarious ''The Naked Quidditch Match'' comprised of "m-mails" exchanged among characters, with a news story wrapping it up.
* The ''TransformersGenerationOne'' fanfic ''[[http://fav.me/d2sg5p3 Crossfire and Consequences]]'' is made up entirely of journal entries, newspaper articles, a blog post, and a 911 transcript.
* The ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6253167/1/A_Brief_Account_Of_Life_With_Zombies A Brief Account of Life with Zombies]]'' consists of memos, texts, e-mails, etc. made by the main cast during the Zombie Apocalypse.
* ''Bloodline'' by Kate Cary is written similarly to ''Dracula'', as it is another writer's "unofficial sequel."
* The ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'' fanfic [[http://irisbleufic.livejournal.com/243305.html The Shape I Found You In]] consists of e-mails and text messages between Sherlock and John while Sherlock is working a case in Sweden.
* ''{{Franchise/Alien}}'': ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/37677?view_adult=true Killing Elvis]]'' is constructed from emails, text messages, test logs, and future-Twitter feeds, detailing the testing and presentation of a [[spoiler: not]] dead xenomorph.
* As the name suggests, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8600682/1/Gaige-s-ECHO-Logs Gaige's Echo Logs]]'' retells the events of ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' in the form of the transcripts from Gaige the Mechromancer's [=ECHOnet=] podcast.
* ''Fanfic/SuperheroRPF'' is told exclusively through fanfic synopses, forum threads, tumblr asks and reblogs, chat logs and other assorted internet communication.
* ''Roleplay/ScaryNewsOutOfTokyo3'' is told entirely in the form of a web-forum discussion, but due to the presence of several IntrepidReporter characters there are a few news articles and interviews sprinkled throughout, including interviews with some of the characters from [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion the original work]].
* ''Fanfic/SorrowfulAndImmaculateHearts'' series:
** "Bad Publicity" is told entirely in [[{{Website/Twitter}} tweets]].
** "Gotham's Favorite Son" is a series of Tumblr posts.
* In the ''Fanfic/MotionPractice'' series, "The Eight-Hour Postponement" is told entirely in text messages.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature]]

* A large portion of ''{{Carrie}}'' is excerpts from books, magazine articles or investigative reports relating to various characters and events.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', which consists entirely of letters, diary entries, and similar contemporary records. There's a metafictional twist, as late in the novel it becomes clear that Mina is actually assembling the documents to help the heroes defeat the eponymous monster.
* ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' is a letter from Captain Robert Walton to his sister, the bulk of which is his retelling of the story Victor Frankenstein told to him before dying. [[NestedStory Within Frankenstein's story]] is the creature's story told to Frankenstein.
* ''Literature/TheCallOfCthulhu'' is written in this style, which Creator/HPLovecraft did to emphasize his point, that Humans ''cannot comprehend'' the Old Ones.
* ''The Documents in the Case'' by DorothyLSayers (Sayers' only detective ''novel'' not to feature LordPeterWimsey, although it does feature a couple of minor characters in common with the Wimsey books).
* Mark Z. Danielewski's ''HouseOfLeaves'' has, besides the main part of the book, ''The Navidson Record'', photographs of Zampano's things, sketches by Johnny Truant and letters from Truant's institutionalized mother, all expanding on the natures of both Zampano and Truant (the latter of which sent in the materials to the "editors" and told them what to do [[TheFaceless completely over the phone]]).
* ''WorldWarZ'' by Max Brooks is presented as transcripts of a series of interviews.
* MichaelCrichton's novel ''EatersOfTheDead'' (later filmed as ''The Thirteenth Warrior'') is presented as a historical manuscript with critical commentary. The first three chapters are taken from the actual accounts of the historical medieval Arab diplomat, traveller and historian Ahmad ibn Fadlan; afterward, the story veers into fiction. Crichton himself has admitted he can't remember where the fiction starts and the historical part ends.
* ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'':
** ''LemonySnicketTheUnauthorizedAutobiography'' is made up of often random seeming photographs, newspaper clippings and diary entries, made all the more difficult to decipher by the frequent use of codes and ArcWords.
** ''The Beatrice Letters'' present letters from Lemony to his lover Beatrice (before the series began) and [[spoiler:those sent to Lemony by a [[DeadGuyJunior young child named after]] the deceased Beatrice, some years after the main series ended]].
* KurtVonnegut's ''HocusPocus'' is [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis presented as]] the collection of hundreds of varying scraps of paper written on by the protagonist, Vance Hartke, while he was in prison.
* ''Literature/DangerousLiaisons'' consists of letters written by 10 or so people to each other.
* ''[[{{Rant}} Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey]]'' by Creator/ChuckPalahniuk consists entirely of fake interviews (one of the last chapters includes material from a few ''actual people,'' and also a completely unexpected ShoutOut to ''Literature/FightClub''). For added verisimilitude, [[spoiler:it's implied at one point that the events of the book might alter the timeline so that the universe becomes the "real world" and the book becomes a work of fiction.]] It's also loosely implied that the book itself was written by that world's Chuck Palahniuk (nighttimer).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' novels:
** ''Xenology'' is essentially a collection of journal entries by a puritanical Inquisitor investigating a site where a radical Inquisitor was conducting studies on various aliens. Also included are journal entries from the resident Magos Biologis, as well as various documents, audio records, and observations complied by both Inquisitors.
** Games Workshop's ''Liber Chaotica'' and ''The Loathsome Ratmen And All Their Foul Kin'': The latter was previously introduced in the ''GotrekAndFelix'' series, and the handwritten notes added into the Real Life version suggest that it's based on the very copy that appears in the novel.
** The ''CiaphasCain'' ('''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!''') series is presented as a compilation of Cain's actual memoirs published by Inquisitor Vail, with excerpts from other books (like [[PurpleProse Sulla's autobiography]]) added in to clarify points Cain left out (such as things that weren't specifically happening to him).
* The ''DenshaOtoko'' book is basically a printout of the original 2ch forum posts, ASCII art and all.
* The Creator/DanielPinkwater story ''Literature/SlavesOfSpiegel'' is mostly made up of fictional diaries, reports, speeches and the like, but also includes a short chapter memorably titled "An Unnamed Third Person Who Knows Everything That Happens In This Story Speaks."
* Several of Creator/JorgeLuisBorges's stories are written as reviews or summaries of books that do not actually exist; ''The Approach to Al'Mutasim'' and ''Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote'' come to mind. ''A Survey On The Works of Herbert Quain'' was a summary of a fictional writer's entire works.
* ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon'' consists solely of the hero's journal entries.
* Many of Creator/GeneWolfe's first-person narratives use this device, combining it with the fact that the writers always [[UnreliableNarrator distort, mistake or falsify]] their accounts.
** The ''Literature/SoldierOfTheMist'' consists almost entirely of the 'translated' journals of Latro, the soldier of the title, who has to read them daily to make up for the loss of his long-term memory.
** Likewise, ''The Wizard Knight'' is a pair of novels purporting to be very long letters from the protagonist to a friend.
** A particularly literal example is the third part of ''Literature/TheFifthHeadOfCerberus'', which consists of an Officer reviewing the journals and interrogations of a prisoner, which have become jumbled up in transit.
* Creator/StanislawLem's ''A Perfect Vacuum'' (''Doskonala Próznia'') is a series of reviews of non-existent literature. Basically, he was a real critic of books that no-one wrote (some of which would have been quite interesting, anyway). The follow-up ''Imaginary Magnitude'' (''Wielkosc urojona'') consists of introductions to non-existent books.
* ''Literature/NothingButTheTruthADocumentaryNovel'' by Avi is composed of transcripts, letters, and news articles about the story, as if collected by someone investigating what happened.
* ''Literature/TheAstonishingLifeOfOctavianNothing, Traitor to the Nation'' is composed entirely of "testimonies," letters, and reports from various characters.
%%%* General Sir John Hackett's in ''Literature/TheThirdWorldWar'' and sequels.
%%%* ''WarDay'' by Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka.
%%%* ''Literature/TheSorrowsOfYoungWerther'' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
* ''Literature/UpTheDownStaircase'' by Bel Kaufman -- with the exceptions of the first and last chapters, the entire novel consists of school bulletins, students' notes and letters from the heroine to her colleague at home.
* ''Literature/LettersFromCamp'' and ''Literature/RegardingTheFountain'', two children's novels by Kate Klise, consist entirely of (fictional) newspaper clippings and letters. She also co-authored ''Literature/TrialByJournal'' in the same vein with her sister, Sarah.
* ''[[FactionParadox Dead Romance]]'', by Lawrence Miles, is made up of three notebooks written by the [[FirstPersonSmartass main character]], chronicling TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* Wallace Markfield's ''Literature/YouCouldLiveIfTheyLetYou'' consists of a biographer's interviewers with a BorschtBelt comic and his circle, excerpts from the comic's performances (including one near the end of the book [[spoiler:during which he [[FatalMethodActing literally dies on stage]]]]), transcripts of the comic's autistic son, and other documents. Markfield's final book, ''Literature/RadicalSurgery'', has this structure also.
* ''Literature/TheBlindAssassin'' contains excerpts from the eponymous novel and various newspapers. It also turns out that in the end, Iris is actually writing all this down and intends for it to be given to her granddaughter after she dies.
* ''Literature/{{Jennie}}'', a novel by Douglas Preston about a chimpanzee raised by an American family consists of transcripts of interviews with the characters, and excerpts from an autobiography, a diary, and newspaper articles.
* ''[[Literature/RiotALoveStory Riot: A Love Story]]'' by Shashi Tharoor is made of fictional documents such as newspaper articles, letters, diary entries, and transcripts of interviews all centered around an American woman who was killed in India during a riot, shown in AnachronicOrder.
* ''Literature/TheYearOfSecretAssignments'' (''Finding Cassie Crazy'') is made up of letters and emails sent during an interschool letter-writing project, one character's diary, another's notebook, faux legal summons, the year 10 noticeboard and a transcript of a school meeting.
* ''Literature/TheSnow'' by Adam Roberts used this to frame the multiple stories told by various protagonists.
* The ''AmeliasNotebook'' series, which are made to look like the diary of a young girl, complete with lines and doodles in the margins.
* The ''Literature/DearAmerica'' series of historical fiction, with books supposed to be journals written by girls growing up during notable historical time periods. (Along with two series spin-offs, one that features the diaries of royalty and the other aimed at boys that are journals written by boys.)
* The Gary Crew novel ''Literature/StrangeObjects,'' essentially a scrapbook of items relating to the discovery of a small cache of archaeological artifacts found near the coast of Western Australia. These include newspaper clippings, magazine articles, transcripts of radio broadcasts, the serialized translation of a [[ApocalypticLog journal found among the artifacts]], some assorted letters, and several diary entries from the scrapbook's compiler- a student by the name of Steven Messenger. A prologue and epilogue have also been added by a later author, who notes that Messenger disappeared shortly after posting the scrapbook to him.
* Steve Kluger specializes in this format; he has several books using the technique, including ''Literature/LastDaysOfSummer'', ''Literature/MyMostExcellentYear: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park'', and ''Literature/ChangingPitches''. ''Literature/AlmostLikeBeingInLove'' is made up of notes, letters, emails, memos, and journal entries of the whole cast.
* ''DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short stories sometimes take this form.
** "Policy to Invade" by Ian Mond, in the collection ''Short Trips: Transmissions'' takes the form of a government report on a planetary invasion company, including interview transcripts and copies of internal documentation. Putting it all together leads the reader to a conclusion about what ''really'' happened that the report itself refuses to even consider.
** A particularly weird example is the story "Thief of Sherwood" by Jonathan Morris in ''Short Trips: Past Tense'', which tells the story of the First Doctor's encounter with Robin Hood ... via ''RadioTimes'' listings, ''DoctorWhoMagazine'' articles, and entries from various {{Universe Compendium}}s and [[UniverseConcordance Concordances]] for an entirely fictional six-part serial broadcast between "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E8TheReignOfTerror The Reign of Terror]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E1PlanetOfGiants Planet of Giants]]". And the ''cast list'' turns out to be part of the book's StoryArc!
** ''The Doctor: His Lives and Times'' by Steve Tribe and James Goss, a 50th anniversary UniverseCompendium which tells the history of the series mostly as an InUniverse biography via {{Fictional Document}}s such as companion journals, villainous rants, interview transcripts, confused news media and internal documentation of the organisations the Doctor has helped or stopped. All presented as full colour facsimiles, creating the effect of a literal scrapbook. Follow up books in the same format were ''The Secret Lives of Monsters'' and ''The Time Lord Letters'', both by Justin Richards.
* Creator/CSLewis' ''TheScrewtapeLetters'' is in the form of a series of letters written from a senior devil to his nephew.
** C. S. Lewis' ''Literature/LettersToMalcolm'', a book concerning the function of prayer, is written in the form of letters from Lewis to a friend.
* ''Literature/EllaMinnowPea'' by Mark Dunn is constructed entirely of letters written by and to inhabitants of a fictional island just of the coast of the USA. The island's most famous son is the author of the pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog", and the novel concerns the fate of the islanders as various letters are stricken from the alphabet.
* ''Literature/DearMrHenshaw'' features [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin letters to the author]] followed by {{diary}} entries of the protagonist.
%%%* ''GoAskAlice''. [[Literature/AliceinWonderland Not that one]].
* The Wilkie Collins novel ''Literature/TheMoonstone'' (widely held to be one of the first detective novels) is a compilation of letters, journals, and testimonies of many different people. [[JustifiedTrope Justified in that]] the novel focuses on the investigation of a theft, and in the interests of setting the record straight, one of the main characters decides to gather up all the accounts of the event.
* Wilkie Collins' novel ''Literature/TheWomanInWhite'' consists of a collection of narratives.
* ''Literature/ImportantArtifactsAndPersonalPropertyFromTheCollectionOfLenoreDoolanAndHaroldMorris'' by Leanne Shapton is a novel in the form of an auction catalog.
* ''Literature/RatmansNotebooks'' consists entirely of the main character's diary entries.
* "The Riddle of Castle Cain" in ''The Making of Series/JonathanCreek''. It opens with a single page in comic book format, in which Jonathan and Maddy are asked to investigate a decades-old murder. The rest of the story, scattered throughout the book, is told in the form of the various documents Jonathan has peiced together; lab reports, press cuttings and so on. Finally there's a two panel comic in which Jonathan announces he's solved the case (but not what the solution is, because the story was written as a readers' competition).
* ''FeelingSorryForCelia'' is told through various letter and notes from and to the protagonist.
* ''Literature/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin'' is composed entirely of letters from Kevin's mother to his father.
* ''Literature/MiddleSchoolIsWorseThanMeatloaf: A Year Told through Stuff'' tells the story of a young girl in 7th grade through diary entries, notes, cards, school assignments, receipts, shopping & to-do lists, etc.
* ''[[Literature/WorstPersonEver Worst. Person. Ever.]]'' is modeled after the classic style of the biji, incorporating numerous infoboxes, articles and occasional bouts of FootnoteFever into Ray's narration. And a recipe for Chili Cicadas with Rice!
* ''Literature/HemingwaysSixWordStory'' is a classified ad.
* ''TheAsylumForWaywardVictorianGirls'', in the same way as Shoebox Project.(changing between illustrations, normal chapters and letters)
* ''Literature/ICantTellYou'' begins just after the protagonist decides that he should stop talking to people, because [[NoodleIncident blurting out words led to a very painful situation]]. We see both his diary entries, and the notes he writes to other people (and in an effort to make him feel comfortable, many of those people write notes back to him.) Interesting in that a): some of these notes are canonically destroyed, and b): we also see patterns of splotches and burn marks, some of them made on clothing rather than paper, with descriptions of how those marks were made.
* Tolkien may have intended ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' to end up this way, since most of the texts that went into it go beyond LiteraryAgentHypothesis by having their own in-universe authors, being written in different styles and levels of detail, and sometimes being written at specific times and places. However, since he didn't come close to finishing, it had to be patched together posthumously in a way that destroyed the effect.
* ''Literature/PostApocalypseDeadLetterOffice" by Nathan Poell is a collection of undeliverable letters sent AfterTheEnd.
* Creator/StephenKing:
** The novel ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne'', there are two newspaper excerpts at the end.
** An excerpt from ''The Boston Globe'' about an anonymous donation [[spoiler:from Dolores Claiborne, out of Vera Donovan's will]] of $30 million to the The New England Home for Little Wanderers orphanage, and that the 'guardian angel' who sent it is completely serious about their [[ThinkNothingOfIt anonymity]].
** From ''The Weekly Tide'', a section called "Notes from Little Tall". It informs us that [[spoiler:Dolores is [[StatuteOfLimitations free]] and expecting a visit from her son Joe Jr and Selena (for the first time in twenty years).]]
* Karel Capek, the author of ''Literature/WarWithTheNewts'', worked also as a journalist, and the novel shows. It is a collage of various story-telling methods and Capek employed and spoofed techniques of popular journalism. The story is presented from multiple perspectives, and there are many documents, articles, pamphlets, reports from conferences, letters, scraps and clippings from in-verse scientists, historians, journalists, politicians, businessmen, celebrities or working-class people.
* Gerald Jonas' short story ''The Shaker Revival'' has a main character who is a journalist investigating the titular movement: the story consists of excerpts from the article he's writing, transcriptions of interviews or surreptitiously recorded conversations, and letters. This gets interesting when some more personal materials that are included reveal that [[spoiler: while he was working on his article, his own son ran off to become a Shaker]].
* ''Purple and Black'' by K.J. Parker takes its name from the inks the two friends write their letters in. Each chapter consists of an official communique in purple, followed by a more personal, less formal letter in black.
* ''Where'd You Go, Bernadette'' by Maria Semple is mainly told through emails or letters to and from various characters, but also includes things like a transcript of a character's TED Talk, press releases, and a blog post from a local weatherman. The premise is that Bee, the teenage daughter of the title character, gained access to all these documents and is piecing them together into a book in order to shed some light on her mother's mysterious disappearance. Occasionally, Bee herself will step in to fill in gaps between the documents or give her own counterpoint on something a character said in their writings.
* ''Tomcat Murr'' by Creator/ETAHoffmann sends up this trope by pretending the book is a mix-up of two manuscripts: Murr's autobiography and fragments of the biography of his owner, Kapellmeister Kreisler, by an unnamed author.
* ''Literature/{{Barkwire}}'' is formatted as a series of online reviews and blogposts.
* ''Literature/SalmonFishingInTheYemen consists entirely of letters between characters, newspaper articles about the affair, transcripts from a later investigation and an extract from an autobiography.
* ''Literature/{{Agyar}}'' by Creator/StevenBrust takes the form of journal entries being written by a vampire living in the attic of an abandoned house.
* ''Literature/TheRiseAndFallOfDODO'' is written in journal entries, mostly from the main character. She occasionally crosses out obscenities and other word embarrassing word choices.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* The ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' clanbooks are presented as compilations of documents relating to each of the clans.
* The history of the Federation is told in this style (with reports, letters, log entries, etc.) in the core rolebook of ''Star Trek Adventures''.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'':
** In a sourcebook on organized crime, the primary descriptions of the gang are written by in-universe members of the gang.
** A sourcebook about weapons and equipment included a sidebar with message board entries by in-universe street samurai commenting on the quality and uses of the equipment presented.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theme Parks]]
* This is generally how most DisneyThemeParks attractions operate in conveying their backstories outside the occasional pre-show or Disney-provided [[AllThereInTheManual manual]]. Queue details such as pictures, props and documents can be pieced together to tell a story behind a place and often imply characters that essentially exist off-screen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

%%%* Much of the backstory in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series is told in this way.
* Most of the story of ''VideoGame/SystemShock 2'' and its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' is conveyed through audio logs found by the player as they explore a (mostly) deserted location. A handful of characters are actually still alive in both games, but the entire backstory of the fall of Rapture and other subplots in Bioshock can only be found by listening to the audio logs. You don't necessarily need to listen to every audio log (only some contain in-game hints like lock combinations), but skipping them would really be depriving yourself because the novel-quality story is half the fun.
* Most of the background exposition in ''SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' is delivered through the quotes from characters that are attached to every base facility, secret project, and technology in the game. The "Interlude from the Book of Planet" segments, which advance the plot, might or might not qualify; it is not clear whether or not these documents actually exist in-universe.
* An early computer game example is ''Portal'' (no, not [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} that one]] -- this one was published in 1986), where the gameplay consists of searching for snippets of information in order to discover why [[AfterTheEnd the entire human race seems to have disappeared]].
* In the MetroidPrime series, most of the actual story reveals itself as you scan computers and ancient writing, leaving players hesitant to exit Combat Mode clueless as to what is going on.
* In ''LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias'', Toku finds the pages from his mother's diary as he explores the land, learning more of her condition and the events that led to the current state of affairs.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' has the Secret Reports, which can be gathered post-game to answer all of the questions that were left unanswered (and provide a couple new ones).
* At the beginning of each chapter of ''RuleOfRose'' you are given a handwritten disturbing fairy tale that is missing a page, that will be added at the end of the chapter, completing each story.
* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'', with Daniel's and Alexander's diaries and other miscellaneous notes.
* ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'': Some of the text fragments in the library terminals form one of these.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* The ''[[http://www.drunkduck.com/Hero_By_Night/index.php?p=101795 Hero By Night]]'' consists of diary excerpts and newspaper clippings.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

%%%* A number of VlogSeries, including:
* ''{{lonelygirl15}}'': Some videos are on channels ''other'' than ''Lonelygirl15'' (especially the "Danielbeast" channel), to show perspectives other than Bree's.
%%%** ''LG15TheResistance''.
%%%** ''KateModern''.
%%%** ''{{Redearth88}}''.
%%%** ''WithTheAngels''.
* The [[http://laridian.livejournal.com/913230.html Tellerman Legacy]] is comprised of journal entries, letters, and one documentary, collectively chronicling ten generations in the life of one family.
* Most of ''MarbleHornets'' is footage found on a bunch of tapes the main character got from his friend before said friend disappeared. Eventually he starts shooting his own footage and uploading that.
** TheSlenderManMythos as a whole is entirely based around these, with its traditional works all being vlogs and blogs maintained by fictional characters. They quite often end up finding ''more'' documents which they share. Justified in a way due to the fact that, in some continuities, those involved in the strange events involving [[HumanoidAbomination the Slender Man]] are inexplicably compelled to record their thoughts through records or art of some form, presumably to spread his influence.
* A great deal of AlternateHistory timelines consist of a combination of quotations and extracts from history books published within the fictional setting coupled with some our-world commentary to help explain it, and perhaps occasionally segments written in story form. Probably the UrExample of this is ''DecadesOfDarkness''.
* The now defunct ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' series 1 website had various cases from the Torchwood Archives (related to each episode) told in the form of diaries, letters, press cuttings, and official reports. The still-accessible-if-you-dig-for-it [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/sites/arg/pages/episodes.shtml series 2 website]] does much the same, although more along the lines of adding background detail to the televised stories, rather telling than original but thematically similar ones.
* Pretty much everything at the Wiki/SCPFoundation save for some transcripts and the "Tales" section: descriptions of paranormal items/entities/etc and [[TailorMadePrison how to keep them contained]], experiment logs, exploration logs, and so on.
* ''Literature/TheTimTebowCFLChronicles'' is presented as a still in-progress memoir written by Tebow himself. His perspective is augmented with emails from other players and transcripts of phone conversations.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Brian Griffin from ''FamilyGuy'' planned an in-universe example in his head: "It's about a guy who loses everything, but finds his soul...in Canada. And the whole thing...is an email...to his daughter...who's dead."

[[/folder]]

%%Film/TheFactsInTheCaseOfMisterHollow
----

* The ''VampireTheRequiem'' clanbooks are presented as compilations of documents relating to each of the clans.

The author of such a work may be credited as the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis "editor" or "compiler"]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': The interludes between the core comic sections are all excerpts from books and articles written by characters within the story.

* The third volume of ''TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', titled "The Black Dossier," is two interwoven stories: the contents of the Black Dossier itself, a ScrapbookStory about the history of the league from its founding under Prospero to the events of volume 1 and 2 and its subsequent dissolution; and a frame story about Mina and Alan stealing the dossier and reading it. The book changes from one to the other when Mina opens or closes the book in-story. To further muddy the waters, the book's cover, under the dust jacket, is exactly like the one on the in-story book, and the various scraps have marginal notes scribbled in blue pen by the dossier's compiler addressed to the current head of British Intelligence services. The actual scraps are pastiches of comic strips, erotica, text pieces, a "lost" Creator/WilliamShakespeare folio, a mashup of Bertie Wooster and Creator/HPLovecraft, and a stuck-in Tijuana Bible made for proles by PORNSEC under the INGSOC regime.

* In its original form, ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' is a letter from Captain Robert Walton to his sister.

** TheSlenderManMythos as a whole is entirely based around these, with its traditional works all being vlogs and blogs maintained by fictional characters. They quite often end up finding ''more'' documents which they share. Justified in a way due to the fact that those involved in the strange events involving [[HumanoidAbomination the Slender Man]] are inexplicably compelled to record their thoughts through records or art of some form, presumably to spread his influence.

* Most of the story of ''VideoGame/SystemShock 2'' and its "spiritual successor" ''{{Bioshock}}'' is conveyed through audio logs found by the player as they explore a (mostly) deserted location. A handful of characters are actually still alive in both games, but the entire backstory of the fall of Rapture and other subplots in Bioshock can only be found by listening to the audio logs. You don't necessarily need to listen to every audio log (only some contain in-game hints like lock combinations), but skipping them would really be depriving yourself because the novel-quality story is half the fun.

** ''The Doctor: His Life and Times'' by Steve Tribe and James Goss, a 50th anniversary UniverseCompendium which tells the history of the series mostly as an InUniverse biography via {{Fictional Document}}s such as companion journals, villainous rants, interview transcripts, confused news media and internal documentation of the organisations the Doctor has helped or stopped. All presented as full colour facsimiles, creating the effect of a literal scrapbook. Follow up books in the same format were ''The Secret Lives of Monsters'' and ''The Time Lord Letters'', both by Justin Richards.