Day twelve of NaGraNoWriMo, and we’re bringing in some fresh voices to add their expertise. First up is David Alan Mack, the national bestselling author of nearly twenty books, including Wildfire, Harbinger, Reap the Whirlwind, Road of Bones, and the Star Trek Destiny trilogy (Gods of Night, Mere Mortals, and Lost Souls) as well as…
Day eleven. Are you ahead of where you thought you’d be? Or have you fallen behind? It happens, you know. Some days, you’re sick and can’t write. Or you aren’t inspired. Or you’re stuck doing something that takes you away from they keyboard. If you’re smart, you built in some cushion for your deadline– so…
Day ten, and also day three or four or ninety-seven of the New York Comic Con… and the sad truth of how they can wreck your schedules. So let’s pick up a few quickies: For those who find they are having a little trouble there are a number of tips online that can be helpful….
Day nine, in the middle of New York Comic Con, and pointing out that comics conventions can be good for your graphic novel. You can see who else is out there. A quick trip through Artists Alley will find you numerous styles and artists who may inspire you, and if you strike up a chat…
Day eight, which coincides with the first day of the New York Comic Con. The obvious question for the day: can conventions get your graphic novel written? HELL NO. You know what gets your graphic novel done? Butt in chair in front of writing implement of choice, fingers to writing implement of choice, one word…
Day seven, and we’re already seeing script fragments come in. I just read one, and sent back the note: “Decent screenplay, lousy comic.” Why? Because he took pages to get to the point, a slow tracking shot that revealed very little about the plot, situation, or characters. While that can work on screen, it’s death…
By now, you should have an idea for a story, and you might even know who some of the characters are. Your next question: how are you going to present the story? To quote the greatest criminal mastermind of our time: “Some people can read War And Peace and come away thinking it’s a simple…
Editor’s note: We were all ready to discuss who you should be focusing on in your graphic novel, and then we remembered that John Ostrander, writer of GrimJack, Munden’s Bar, Star Wars: Legacy and Suicide Squad, had already answered the question for us a while back. So we’re reprinting his piece from October 25, 2007….
Day 4. Hopefully by now, you’ve gotten an idea that you might want to turn into a story. However, you may not know how to put it down on paper. What is the format for a graphic novel script? The short answer is: it varies. There are different variations, based on how different people work…
We’ll start with a tweet I saw yesterday, from cr8dv8 a.k.a. Terry: Gah, I wish someone had mentioned this in advance. I don’t think I can do do #NaGraNoWriMo this month. Maybe but I doubt it. I sent a brief note trying to get Terry to go for it anyway, which got this reply: It’s…
So we’re already getting questions in (and if you have questions, post them in a comments thread or use the feedfack form for privacy) and the most immediate one is– why 48 pages? Why not 50, or 45, or whatever length seems appropriate for the story? If a picture is worth a thousand words, and…
Are you in for National Graphic Novel Writing Month? We hope so. And because we’re generous people, we thought we’d give you some reading material to help you start on your masterpiece. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud Reinventing Comics:…
