create a graphic novel

Why aren’t there a lot of graphic novels out there?

1) Graphic novels are relatively more expensive, considering that it takes a much shorter time to get through one compared to reading a novel. So the average reader might not find graphic novels as worthy of their hard-earned money.

2) Because of the above, graphic novels aren’t seen as viable money-making avenues in the eyes of book publishers.

3) Graphic novels take a lot of pain to produce. There’s the concept and design stage, the writing stage, and the art stage. The huge effort involved would not necessarily translate to huge returns. Unless a graphic novelist has made a name for him/herself, or unless the book gets an enormous amount of media attention, making graphic novels would seem like a waste of energy. If anything, it’s really the love for the medium that pulls the graphic novelist through.

With that said, graphic novelists need to produce material worthy of attention.

Marjane Satraapi’s Persepolis was a huge success. It wasn’t about superheroes, had no bells and whistles about it, and even the art style would have difficulty appealing to mass market sensibilities. But it was an important book, about a girl’s growing up in Iran, and sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

It would help the graphic novelist to think beyond superheroics, a subject already expertly covered by the Big Three (or Two), and venture into stories that run through deeper, if not urgent, veins. Or, at least, stories that have more mass market appeal.

Idea 1: A graphic novel about women, for women, and their challenges with men. You can get publicity in a women’s magazine, or get support from a women’s group.

Idea 2: A graphic novel hinged on a social science, like anthropology or sociology. If you have enough interesting factoids tightly woven with a well-developed story, you could get an audience from the academe.

Idea 3: A graphic novel about the corporate environment. Part-drama, part-commentary, part-insight, which can tickle the business world.

Idea 4: A graphic novel of the historical fiction genre. Choose a defining moment in history and add a slight spin to it, without sacrificing historical integrity. Again, you can benefit from attention from the academe.

Idea 5: A graphic novel memoir. If your great-grandfather has an interesting story to tell, then why not turn it into a graphic novel?

At the core of this is a thrust towards making graphic novels the new medium for a plethora of topics. Graphic novelists can use the novelty (pun intended) of the medium to get attention. And we all know that getting attention is a large foot in the door.

There are four major challenges of the graphic novelist:

1) Writing
2) Art
3) The Synthesis of Writing and Art
4) Visual Storytelling

After creating and publishing two graphic novels (though one was more of a novella of 64 pages), I’ve only begun to realize just how tough being a graphic novelist is. It’s fun, no doubt, but putting together a full piece of work takes time, endurance, dedication, consistency and sleepless nights.

You’re not just writing, you’re drawing. You’re not just drawing, you’re designing. You’re synthesizing text and images, and doing it in such a way that you’re bringing a dream to life. If you want to be arrogant about it, it’s close to godhood.

To put together a movie, you needs lots of money and people. To put together a novel, a writer only needs words. Comic book companies generally use the model of having artistic teams.

For us graphic novelists, we’re on our own. Our skill set makes us a different breed. We do it with a pencil, some paper, and our own brand of magic.

Let there be more of us! :-)

The script of my next graphic novel is taking a bit more shape now. I’ve settled on a theme just a couple of weeks ago, which sort of allows me to tie up all the ideas I’ve had into a coherent creature.

I guess that’s the big lesson now… we all have great ideas for the book of our dreams. We’ve whipped up the coolest characters, the freshest scenes, and a plot that sticks. Without a theme, however, every idea can potentially become a loose end.

Once I discovered what my theme is, I was able to think more constructively. Some of the great ideas I’ve had won’t make it to the final cut. It’s good on two levels—one, the finished work can become more streamlined and, two, the excess ideas can be fodder for a future project.

Well, I’ve been in writing ond-and-off the script to my new graphic novel, and I’ve done preliminary sketches. It’s challenging especially that I’ve a regular day job and side projects to keep the cash flow running.

I sometimes think that doing graphic novels is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because not many people can write and draw at the same time, and that the market is pretty young and can only grow. But it’s a curse because it takes so long to make one. There’s the writing element and the drawing element involved.

For a writer of books, it’s easier to make revisions in the narrative. A quick cut-and-paste here and there, and it’s done, and there’s hardly any worry when the text spills over to other pages. A graphic novelist, on the other hand, needs to plan both the writing and the art, the narrative structure and the page design, and the marriage between words and pictures.

It’s taxing, but it’s a great challenge.

Last night, I entertained a student who wanted me to be the subject of his paper. He’s going through a graduate degree in Fine Arts and wanted to profile me and my work, how I draw, how I create stories, etc.

Interviews like this are sometimes more challenging than making comics. I had to answer more technical questions and I, who’s really unschooled in the area of illustration and storytelling, could only offer insights on how I do my work, using thoughts and words that make some logical sense when I otherwise wouldn’t be thinking much of consciously. But it was fun. I actually learned more about my craft doing the interview.

The greatest challenge, perhaps, of any graphic novelist is finding the endurance to actually complete a piece, calling to the fore two distinct skills. While writers rely on words and artists rely on images to convey thoughts, graphic novelists marry both. They both write AND draw. Their job doesn’t end with completing the script.

After getting two graphic novels published, I must say that the endurance is tough to sustain, but is very much achievable given the desire to tell the tale. When it’s all done, exhaustion sets in, but it’s quickly replaced by a grand sense of triumph.

One thing I’ve noticed about myself is that I get ‘creative’ when I’m undergoing a personal crisis, which doesn’t say anything positive about my current state, but I’m working on it. The new concept I’m playing with has a lot to do with what I’m going through right now, though I tend to translate my thoughts into something light and humorous. There’s nough negativity in the world, so maybe it’s my penchant for making things light of a situation. Anyway, I’m still finishing a comics project, so I may be able to start with the next book fully come November.

So I’ve got about four or five ideas for a graphic novel that I want to do, though I’m not sure which one to do first. There are pros and cons for each. But diving into it all, I realize that the only way for me to choose wisely is to go with my heart. Because that’s where all the sincerity lies.