The article proposes to debate the issue of conventions and generic choices in French and French literature of the 21st century through the practice of the Journal. The study corpus takes as its main points of reference the Journal du dehors (1993) of Annie Ernaux and the Journal extime (2002) of Michel Tournier to emphasize in more detail the Journal of a writer in pajamas (2013) of Dany Laferrière. The analysis considers the relationships of kinship, the lines of demarcation, the generic forms of collusion between the diary, the diary extime, the journal of creation, the diary of writer, the autobiographical novel, the manual of writing, the brief forms. Our approach is also concerned with the functions of autobiography and romance through the practice of writing and the status of the contemporary writer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]