by Lisa Beach

Created on: February 16, 2009

Any fiction writer will tell you how hard writing a novel is; any genre, or literary. There has to be characters, a plot, etc. Graphic novels need these things as well, but they are different. There are in fact, three different types of graphic novels: the long, 40 pages or longer comic strip based story; a highly illustrated novel, and the occasional non-fiction story that is also highly illustrated. And they are always issued as paperbacks.

In the publishing world "graphic" means "comic strip", it has nothing to do with sex, which is the first thought that jumps into a novice writer's or reader's mind. A good example is the book the publishers of "Lord of the Rings" came out with right before the release of the first movie. It was to be a companion to the movie, so one could follow along by looking at the illustrations, and know where the movie was going. The illustrations are beautiful, and indicative of every scene or adventure in the movie; the story itself is fictitious, and it was issued in paperback.

As for writing a normal graphic novel, one must have an idea that will catch on with readers. And since the majority of graphic novels are merely long comic strips [like the Spiderman series], there should be talent at drawing as well. What does the superhero look like? What does his arch-enemy look like and do?

Who are they and what do they do in real life? These are questions the writer should have a lock on BEFORE [s]he starts to write.

There needs to be a sidekick or someone sympathetic to the hero, and possibly even a love interest. Comics like Spiderman, Ghost Rider, The Incredible Hulk, etc. should be studied for structure, plot and action that propels the story forward, as well as what type of graphics are most successful. These days one needs more than the old Batman series BAM! and/or POW! That may have been eloquent back in the 1950's, but audiences these days want more: much more.

They want creatures and villains that make sense within the story, as well as narrative that rivets one's attention to the pages. Looking through some different [successful] Marvel comics might help. Stan Lee was a writer of Marvel comics for many, many years, his name is synonymous with different villains and heroes; so looking at how he put his characters and plots together is a good place to start.

An artist committed to writing comics or other illustrated novels, should keep in mind that in this age of high technology, and ever changing sophistication of special effects, [s]he will need not only talent, but marketing savvy, and luck.

As with the movie world of directing, no one wants to publish a graphic novel artist unless [s]he can prove the errant publisher is not needed. THEN they will seek the writer out. That is to say that a writer of graphic novels is after a segment of writing that is more of a passion mixed with skill than anything else. One needs to know people who know people who can provide an edge other graphic writers do not have. It's a dog-eat-dog where publishing is concerned. Graphic novel writing is harder than others to get published, merely by the nature of the beast.

But if one is passionate and talented enough to tame that beast, it CAN be done. It just means one must be more aware of what and who drives the publishing machine that controls the graphic novel segment. If that is what YOU are after, go for it, and good luck: just remember, Lord of the Rings wasn't built in a day

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