If you’re an author or strive to be one, Graphic Novels offer a format that appeals to reluctant readers. In this post, my friend and fellow writer Jennifer Loescher (@JenniferKayBook) offers a few simple but powerful tips for writing Graphic Novels.

Jennifer says, “My path to graphic novels was not a voluntary one. As a child, I read traditional novels. The bigger the better. Every genre. Way above my age level. When I started to write books for children, I wrote for my younger self: an advanced reader.” But then life intervened.

Jennifer’s own daughter balked at her daily reading requirement. When they both discovered graphic novels, her daughter’s standoff against reading ended. And Jennifer’s own assumption that she write for advanced readers only began to change. She now writes graphic novels and offers these tips to children’s book authors who may not have grown up reading graphic novels.

Below Jennifer makes suggestions on moving from a text-only author to the writer of graphic novels.

Jen’s Tip #1 for Writing Graphic Novels: The Artist Is Your Co-Creator

As the author of a graphic novel, you came up with the concept. You’re the co-creator of that amazing art in graphic novels. It’s in your story’s best interest to let the artist steal the show and elevate your words to a higher level. Writers really need to check their egos when writing graphic novel text because it is the art that may be deemed award worthy, not the more simple text.

Jen’s Tip #2 for Writing Graphic Novels: Like Long Picture Books

The text and illustrations work together to create meaning in both graphic novels and picture books. “Page turns” also function in a similar way in both genres—at the end of each page, the author can create suspense to compel the reader to turn the page. Sound is evoked with similar onomatopoeia and sound words incorporated into the artwork.

Jen’s Tip #3 for Writing Graphic Novels:  High / Low Format

In graphic novels, the illustrations can show the “high content” of the story at the reader’s grade level. The text can provide the story at a lower reading level. The interplay of the pictures and the words make the story accessible to undiscovered readers. As the author of a graphic novel, you can keep the text at a bare minimum in terms of word count and vocabulary difficulty.

Jen’s Tip #4 for Writing Graphic Novels: Image As Metaphor

The beautiful metaphors and figurative language we love to put into the text of our manuscripts actually belong in the images of a graphic novel.

Jen’s Tip #5 for Writing Graphic Novels: Graphic Novel Manuscript Formats

There is no industry standard for graphic novel format. The two most popular versions are based on movie scripts or comic book scripts.

Jen’s Tip #6 for Writing Graphic Novels: Learn From Craft Books

If you’re looking for the graphic novel basics, Scott McCloud wrote two writing craft books in graphic novel form.

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud. This book is required reading in a lot of art schools and MFA programs. It’s the text book of graphic novels.

Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud. This is a continuation of Understanding Comics and help an author understand how to go deeper in the the characters and emotions using the graphic novel format.

Reinventing Comics: Evolution of an Art Form by Scott McCloud. Written about 20 years after Understanding Comics, this book goes into the influence of digital media on the genre.

Jen’s Tip #7 for Writing Graphic Novels: Read Graphic Novels

Like writing any other format, you really have to read tons of recently published graphic novels to understand what makes them work. Reading and discussing graphic novels with my daughter was the most helpful aspect of my education. If you’re looking for some great graphic novels to read, I’ve written a few posts that list powerful graphic novels: (links here)

Jen’s Tip #8 for Writing Graphic Novels: Type Out Your Favorite Graphic Novels

I find it helpful to type published graphic novels in a manuscript format to get a feel for what they look like on the page with panel descriptions instead of art. This technique was recommended to me for picture books to see what the text only version looks like in a manuscript form.

Note From Beth: Let’s Write More Graphic Novels!

In this blog, I usually focus on reading tips and books for children who have issues with reading. Though I’m an author, I don’t often focus in this blog on writing. After all, there are plenty of great blogs that help writers with their craft. But because graphic novels can have such a powerful, positive impact on reluctant readers, and because it’s a relatively new format, I’m happy to encourage writers to format their stories as graphic novels. Do you have story ideas that would be perfect for a graphic novel? Try them out and share them with the world.

About the Guest Blogger

Jennifer Kay Loescher, @JenniferKayBook, is a licensed Structural Engineer who designed bridges for fifteen years. For many of those years, she was also the mother of an undiscovered reader, until graphic novels sparked a love for reading in her daughter. Jennifer recently graduated with an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She teaches a community creative writing class, is an SCBWI Network Rep, and is currently hard at work on her own manuscripts for children, which include both traditional and graphic novel formats of fiction and nonfiction.