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While working on my panel for AWP I kept thinking about all the resources I used to teach myself about graphic novels while I was an undergrad. Well good writers don't gatekeep, so here is a list of books, articles, and graphic novels that were really helpful for me! Where possible, I linked a free online version of the resource.
Articles Victoria Ying's website is a gold mine of information on graphic novel writing, but this page on scriptwriting was key in helping me figure out my writing style. Also check out her guide on making a pitch packet, which I used as a guide through my Senior BFA Thesis. Books on Craft I have been really enjoying Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden. The book is designed like a 15 week semester course and is absolutely chocked full of activities and advice. If you are just getting started with comics and are looking for a straightforward exploration into the genre, Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a classic. Graphic Novels These books are amazing examples of what is possible with graphic novels. I've included some observations on how they could be used in a classroom. Alison Bechdel's Fun Home is a great example of a graphic memoir that relies heavily on text without losing the potency of the artwork. Bechdel's thoughtful, devastating observations about her relationship with her father are told in beautiful prose. This book is a good starting point for students who have never analyzed a graphic novel in a classroom setting before. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki falls on the opposite end of the dial. While Fun Home uses heavy narration to tell a story, This One Summer uses breathtaking artwork and realistic dialogue to guide the reader into piecing together it's story. And finally, I love to recommend Heartstopper by Alice Oseman to any new comic reader. There is a reason that it has a popular Netflix show. Heartstopper's messy, simple artwork has an air of genuineness to it. This book can be used to spark a discussion about how the artwork does not need to look wholly rendered in order for it to tell a clear story.
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The following article is the typed version of a presentation I will give at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference in Kansas City on February 8th, 2024. Graphic novels are more popular with young adults than they ever have been before. The highest-selling category at Barnes and Noble is manga and graphic novels. Librarians across the country are seeing their teen comics section bled dry. In this presentation, I am going to first talk about why that is. Then I am going to share some tips and tricks I learned as I taught myself graphic novel script writing as an undergrad so that you can be better prepared for when you have students who want to try their hand at it. My name is Sharlene. I just graduated with a BFA in Illustration and a minor in Creative Writing. I am currently working on my first graphic novel, which I hope to start pitching later this year. My love for comics started back in 2008 when I jumped in on reading manga with my older sister. At the time, reading comics was popular with kids, but when I moved into high school age, I didn't see as many comics offered for my age group. Boy, has that changed. We are seeing huge success in books like Heartstopper, Paper Girls, and Smile. Away from the traditional publishing route, Webtoons like unOrdinary, Cursed Princess Club, and True Beauty have a young, dedicated reader base. Teenagers nowadays are reading more comics than any generation before them. Why is that? Well, if you do the math, you see that the current generation of YA readers were all born between 2006 to 2012. For context, the first iPad came out in 2010. Most of these 12-18 year olds have never known a life without the internet, meaning that their literacy developed in a different way than any previous generation. Before, kids started learning how to interpret media mostly in kindergarten as they learned to read, nowadays young kids are spending hours at a time on screens before they ever see the inside of a school. I'm not condemning this, that would be a different presentation entirely. I think that it is important to recognize that students nowadays interpret the world through audio, visual, and motion cues as well as textual cues. In other words, a multi-modal medium. Graphic novels, therefore, are more familiar to this new generation of readers. While a page of text might be intimidating to interpret, a page that uses elements like color, linework, and gesture drawings as well as text is much more up their alley. Graphic novel sales are high. The kids are down. More and more university students are interested in writing in this medium, but there isn't a strong pedagogy yet for how to teach the writing side. The graphic novel classes that exist usually focus on the art half of the medium. So what do you do when you have a student who wants to write a graphic novel in your creative writing classroom? I was that student two years ago. It took a lot of mistakes and breakthroughs to learn how to write a script. Today I am going to give you tips and tools that I wish my professors had known back then. Tip#1 Match their enthusiasm. Nothing is worse than being excited about a project only to have your mentor respond negatively or with low self-confidence. I was in my third semester at BYU when I first thought about transitioning into writing for comics. I marched into Ann Dee's office hours and told her about my idea. I am so so lucky that it was Ann Dee because she responded with a resounding "Go for it!" In the future, I would have other professors respond with "Oh we don't do that here." or worse, "Oh, we don't do that, here." Ann Dee's enthusiasm helped me feel comfortable exploring this new medium. Tip #2 Ask follow-up questions, specifically about the script. The phenomenal Victoria Ying wrote a blog post about comic script writing that I have often referred back to over the years. I'll link it at the end of this panel. She describes three different types of scripts: Thumbnail scripting, Comic-style format, and Screenplay format. When this student asks if they can write comics in your class they will likely already have a format in mind. If they have a background in art, then they will likely want to do a thumbnail script.  Thumbnail scripting is the closest format to a finished comic. It is a sketched-out page that can include drawings, dialogue, narration, etc. This is the format that I first used in Ann Dee's class. It did not work well for me. For a student to be successful in writing thumbnail scripts, they need to draw fast and communicate effectively. I was not very confident back then, which made me work at a snail's pace. While my peers were writing 4 to 5 stories a semester. I finished that class with one chapter of a comic that I worked on so slowly that the feedback I received wasn't always helpful. Tip #3 Make sure they know your expectations. Depending on the needs of your classroom, make sure that your student understands the expectations you have of them. If you require a certain word count or number of short stories in a semester, then you should establish early on the comic equivalent to these assignments. Maybe 10 pages of thumbnails count for one thousand words. Maybe they need to write the same amount but in a different format. Work with your student to adjust the curriculum expectations according to need. If your students don't think that thumbnail scripting will be the most time-efficient method for them, they might try the second method, comics-style.  Comic-style format breaks down page by page, panel by panel exactly what is happening at any given moment. I have heard that this is similar to the style used in the Marvel/ DC sphere. This format is great for artists who need to know the specs of any given page, but in a writing classroom, it tends to distract and confuse the students. Tip #4 Moderate critiques. Every classroom is different, but in my experience, the average creative writing student is easily distracted by the differences in format between a traditional story and a script. If you're not careful, your student's whole critique time could be taken up by their peers obsessing over one speech bubble. Critiques are there to help improve the story. While form is important, you wouldn't let your students spend more than 10% of a critique talking about a paragraph break. Give your comic students the same helpful moderation. The format that I have found to be the least distracting while still providing me with the creative freedom I crave is screenplay style.  Screenplay style is just what it sounds: using a screenplay to write for comics. It uses setting descriptions, dialogue, narration, and other devices to build a visual narrative.
Tip #5 Learn the rules and share them. Getting your students to learn and utilize the form to their advantage can be a struggle, but if you just learn some of the basic rules, you will be able to provide clear and helpful feedback. Most students are already familiar with comics, and it shouldn't take very long to discuss how to read a script. At this point, you might be thinking, "Allowing graphic novel scripts in my classroom is a lot of extra effort. It would require me to go too far out of my comfort zone." or even "This will be such a distraction in my classroom." I can speak for myself and my fellow students on this issue. We found that when a classmate shared a script, it reinforced the basic principles of storytelling, and enriched our learning experience. Graphic novels still need good characters, pacing, dialogue, plot, etc. When you shift the focus onto a different medium, you are challenging your students to apply their learning, and extending them a trust that can only exist outside of their comfort zone. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to learn how to script a comic. In my class, I was the first student I knew to embrace graphic novels, but by the time I left, there were many of us. This field is growing and you can be the teacher that changes the game for these young writers. While I was largely self-taught in my university, I hope that your students don't have to be and that this presentation has given you some courage to welcome graphic novels into your classroom. I have provided some suggested reading and resources here. Thank you! |
