Hunters' Journals: discuss

[ratherastory]

Okay, so I have a random thought about hunters' journals which has been rattling around in my head ever since Season 1, especially after "Dead Man's Blood" aired.

John has kept a journal for the past twenty-two years when the show starts. Daniel Elkins has a similar journal (and we are given to understand that he was John's mentor, which would explain the similarities), but much older, dating back to the sixties, if memory serves.

Given the amount of lore out there, and the fact that John himself appears to have not only documented his hunts but also at least occasionally used it as a personal journal, how the heck does it all fit into that teeny-tiny book?

Hell, when I'm doing research for a story, I can easily fill a 100-page notebook with my scribblings, and they're not all that extensive.

I would have thought that a hunter would end up with a string of journals, each filled to the brim with clippings, notes, photographs, and scraps of lore.

Can anyone explain this to me in a satisfactory manner? Please?

Or, y'know, feel free to have a debate in the comments.

Comments

[bellatemple]

Am I recalling correctly that John's journal is a refillable binder sort of thing, rather than a fully bound book? If I am, then I would propose that the journal is a continual work in progress, with eliminations of no longer pertinent material (sort of like my mp3 player). It has a limited storage capacity, so it's been continually audited to contain only the information that John thought he need/only those entries that he felt an attachment to (ie. "I went to Missouri and learned the truth"). Things that may, in fact, be important but which serve as difficult reminders might also be removed (ie. the Striga, which wasn't in the journal at all).

And, hey, maybe he and Elkins both kept all the other stuff tucked away in the giant storage lockers of Indiana-Jones-trap-filled doom. . . .

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I was thinking along the lines of your last thoughts, myself. Maybe they have older journals tucked away in storage, but then, how can Sam and Dean STILL be finding relevant stuff years later? It's perplexing. ;)

[bellatemple]

Well, clearly because they never sat down and just read the whole thing. They kept trying to skip to the good parts, but it's not like the thing has an index or even a Cliff's notes edition out there. . . .

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

If Sam ever settles down, I can totally see him creating a wiki for it and other lore on the internet, complete with scanned pages.

[bellatemple]

Kinda makes you wonder why no one's created a hunter's wiki, anyway. The super sneaky online extra material from season 2 has Jo at least being a member of a online hunting blog community. . . .

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I suspect that the supernatural wiki serves that purpose in fandom...

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Waitaminute....

What super secret online extra materials from S2?

*looks utterly confusticated*

Seriously, I need to get that set of DVD's - STAT!

Seeing as it is the only season I am missing...of course...

[bellatemple]

It's not tied in with the DVDs, it's part of the old official show website.

Honestly, there's bunches of ideas in that material that could have been awesome if they'd ever been fully realized. And you figure out through reading Jo's blog that she could have been a much deeper, more interesting character. . . .

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Thankees!

*goes to sequester herself with newly discovered reading materials...*

[nwspaprtaxis.livejournal.com]

Oh god... I can TOTALLY SEE THAT!!!

[katwoman76.livejournal.com]

You should write that into your Fusion-Verse.
Sammy can work on it on his good days. :)))

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

You read my mind. I've been thinking of doing exactly that, though I haven't yet figured out a way to insert it into a fic yet. :)

[nwspaprtaxis.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD YES!!! I wanted to say that in my comment, but I was afraid to be presumptuous...

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Heh. GMTA.

As I was saying, this was already part of the plan. :D

[nwspaprtaxis.livejournal.com]

YEY!

I don't know why, but I can just see Sam doing that on his "good days" since he can't really work anymore and Dean's the primary breadwinner of the duo. I can actually see Dean getting Sam a laptop and Sam camping out at the bookstore where Dean works and scripting the Wiki... that way if he has a bad moment, Dean's there. :) YOU NEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDD TO WRITE MORE FUSION VERSE!!!!

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have Plans for the Fusion 'verse, have no fear. I'm just trying to get the last of my big commitments out of the way, and then I'm going right back to it.

I have a few ideas for what Sam will be doing on his "good" days, too. :)