Any writers on here?

Started by greycat, Jun 27 06 04:45

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greycat

I have an idea for a graphic novel of sorts but have a lot of ideas and no cohesiveness. How does one start and how does one structure such an endeavour? Or should i just start doing pages (each one could be a self contained statement of sorts) and let the chips fall where they may? I am afraid if i intellectualize this process too much i may never start!
It is what it is.

Adam_Fulford

greycat wrote:
I have an idea for a graphic novel of sorts but have a lot of ideas and no cohesiveness. How does one start and how does one structure such an endeavour? Or should i just start doing pages (each one could be a self contained statement of sorts) and let the chips fall where they may? I am afraid if i intellectualize this process too much i may never start!


 

 I write screenplays.  Screenplays and graphic novels have a lot of similarities.  In fact, a friend of mine has a movie in the works from a screenplay that he adapted into comic books. The comic book then attracted the interest of Hollywood: [A href="http://www.galacticgladiators.com"]www.galacticgladiators.com[/A]  That said, the comic book and graphic novel industry is highly competitive and the market for it has been going down, though sales of Galactic Gladiators has been increasing.

 I would suggest that you put together some kind of story framework -- beginning, middle, end -- before writing your graphic novel, unless you need to do some "jamming" to untap creative reservoirs.  Describe your story to yourself in one sentence (if you can't do that, you may not have a story, or it may be too convoluted). Characters are the most important part of any story.  If nobody cares what happens to the characters, it's a dud.  The way for readers to care about characters is to ensure that each character has a distinct voice and personal agenda, and organically fits into the ecology of the story.  The hero should have a clear goal.   The other characters somehow impede or help the hero's progress (life-diminishing or life-enhancing).

     

greycat

Thanks Adam, this idea i have is less narrative that way, in the sense of a story with characters. It is more along the lines of something like Sonja Ahlers has done. Kind of abstract, self referential with artwork. Believe me, i have known lots of characters that will end up in this book!  ;)
It is what it is.

Gopher

I've had two books published. Best advice would be make a framework (this can take ages but you really do need to have some idea of the structure and development for constant back-reference) and then just make a start - open with any word that comes into your head, and go from there. Prepare to make changes over and over again and NEVER to be satisfied with the finished work.    
A fool's paradise is better than none.

greycat

Advise or advice? What kind of books did you have published Gopher? Framework hey...hmmm....
It is what it is.

Gopher

One was a satire, the other was the account of a spiritual journey. I've another two in the pipeline - one was accepted but I've crawled out of it simply because the terms weren't right for me (and in any case I'd like to revise three pages near the start), the other one can wait as it's necessarily a follow-up to the one under review.

By the way, there's anpther thing you can do in 'preparation' - start writing out brief character sketches of the protagonists, these can then be expanded when the come into play.
A fool's paradise is better than none.

Adam_Fulford

One of the best sites out there on writing is Bill Martell's [A href="http://www.scriptsecrets.net/"]http://www.scriptsecrets.net/[/A]  

Marik

Nice link! Thanks!