Hello to the unexpected visitors who has randomly found themselves reading a blog from a potential nobody that would pretend his previous – and only – two posts has never happened. I can’t promise you’ll enjoy the ride because I’m making my first round trip too.
Watching a few television shows over the past months has reminded me of a book I’ve read in my earlier years of comic book writing called You Can Do a Graphic Novel by Barbara Slate. A friend and wonderful art mentor loaned me his copy, and I tried to read that book as many times as four weekends would allow me. The book was catered to the audience I was in (new, aspiring storytellers for comic book/ graphic novels) and about a third of the book is in illustrations, making the near 200 pages possible to read in an hour sitting.
It was great to reread it again, noting the advice I’ve repeated with a different tone form other art books read after hers. The chapter that stood out the second go-round was The Plotline (Chapter Six) explaining when she learned the proper way to plot stories and shares the method with the reader. The plotting she uses seems to work best when writing series, but don’t take my exact word for it. When working with several main and subplots that reoccur, her approach would make the planning more organized.
If anything, I would totally recommend this book to any and everyone new to comic book writing. For some, just that chapter on plot lining is worth the price of this book. I was fortunate enough to check it out at my local library. But that’s not to say I won’t order my own copy. I prefer the pleasure of picking up a book in the comfort of my own personal library without the consequences of late fees.
Another thing that I hate as much as late fees is a simple life. I might try to take a few favorite (albeit, short) TV shows and see if I could recreate the Plotline for each episode. This’ll be something worth failing right at the start of making an introduction for them. Or updating every two years.
These long links are proof that I’m new to this:
Amazon.com Link:
WorldCat.org Link:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/you-can-do-a-graphic-novel/oclc/424558989
deeintrigue 