- Joined
- Aug 12, 2008
- Messages
- 340
- Reaction score
- 59
- Location
- Portland, OR
- Website
- 1979semifinalist.com
I was trying to multi-quote respond, but as a newbie couldn't figure it out...so here's my response to all of your great comments...but without the quote-y bits. Sorry!
Two of the three agents I queried that rejected my prose novel, left the door open for me to come back to them with my graphic novel...so I take to hopefully mean they must not have thought it was too terrible, or they wouldn't have left the door open for other work.
It's nice to know that I'm not alone and combining my works! It's been a pretty brutal, but I have to admit that the book works on so many more levels now. I think, though it wasn't called out specifically as pacing, a big part of the problem with mine was also pacing. My book was called "small" by an agent I really liked and I thought, then I'm doing something wrong...because it's actually pretty epic in scale.
My book is right now at 420 pages (115K), but I still have several sections to write and I also need to go in and edit down and merge a few parts...I think it will end up somewhere in the 400 - 450 range when I'm querying - I'd like to keep it around 400.
It's great that you don't have to finish the full 300 without the contract - 110 completed pages is huge, but it will be good to have the contract nailed down before you go in to finish the rest.
Don't kid yourself though, I think writing a graphic novel is much more similar (especially at 300 pages) to writing a prose novel than it is to short fiction (no disrespect to short fiction which I love and also write). I just think size and scope wise it's actually pretty similar to a novel - it takes the same time/commitment level and story arc/telling abilities.
I honestly prefer graphic novels in black and white (I realized after I posted that list to Miss Plum the other day that almost every single one of those books was in black and white). Most of my book is told in flashback and I thought about doing the non-flashbacks in color - watercolor definitely my favorite medium for color in comics...but I'm still on the fence.
A muted color in your next book could be great - but if you love black and white it's probably not necessary. I really feel real black and white work is a true art form in and of itself.
My graphic novel is actually done in its rough draft form - it's about 160 pages and is completely sketched/penciled and fully written, text bubbles even dropped in where they belong. But this is always the part I get stuck on. I really like my work when it's sketched, it has a lot of movement and character, but the second I move to finished pencils and inking I tighten up and the soul just goes right out of it. So, while having the entire piece effectively "done" and just needing finished pages seems like I'm pretty far along, I know that for me, that's by far the hardest step. Now that I'm unemployed though, my next project I think will be completing a 10 or 12 page excerpt and then based on that perhaps I can get an agent interested, and if they want to see the other 150ish I can send the roughs, right?
You know, for your book, have you and your agent talked about submitting an excerpt of it to Narrative Magazine? They have recently started featuring both comics (usually one panel new yorker type gags) and also "graphic stories" - so far I've only seen them feature this one artist (two different pieces), but they're actively looking for submissions. I was thinking of sending my project (called Shiksa by the way) in when I get an excerpt done. The good news is they pay pretty well, and it might help Highwater in getting more attention from publishers, if it's already been featured somewhere as an excerpt. You should look into it - especially since you already have 110 pages completed. The website is:
http://narrativemagazine.com/
You should update your site! If only so I can see more Highwater excerpts - instead of the teasing little bits you have up now! I looked at some of your older stuff too - and it's great as well. Also, let's just talk about how ahead of the game you are considering the fact that you're still in school and have much published work to your name and now an agent. I don't even think I knew what an agent freaking was when I was in school. It's great - a major accomplishment (and I'm totally jealous - but in a good way) It also speaks to both your abilities and the legitimacy of Highwater that it only took you three months to secure an agent - that's huge. You should be really pleased with your progress. I can't wait to see/hear more.
Two of the three agents I queried that rejected my prose novel, left the door open for me to come back to them with my graphic novel...so I take to hopefully mean they must not have thought it was too terrible, or they wouldn't have left the door open for other work.
It's nice to know that I'm not alone and combining my works! It's been a pretty brutal, but I have to admit that the book works on so many more levels now. I think, though it wasn't called out specifically as pacing, a big part of the problem with mine was also pacing. My book was called "small" by an agent I really liked and I thought, then I'm doing something wrong...because it's actually pretty epic in scale.
My book is right now at 420 pages (115K), but I still have several sections to write and I also need to go in and edit down and merge a few parts...I think it will end up somewhere in the 400 - 450 range when I'm querying - I'd like to keep it around 400.
It's great that you don't have to finish the full 300 without the contract - 110 completed pages is huge, but it will be good to have the contract nailed down before you go in to finish the rest.
Don't kid yourself though, I think writing a graphic novel is much more similar (especially at 300 pages) to writing a prose novel than it is to short fiction (no disrespect to short fiction which I love and also write). I just think size and scope wise it's actually pretty similar to a novel - it takes the same time/commitment level and story arc/telling abilities.
I honestly prefer graphic novels in black and white (I realized after I posted that list to Miss Plum the other day that almost every single one of those books was in black and white). Most of my book is told in flashback and I thought about doing the non-flashbacks in color - watercolor definitely my favorite medium for color in comics...but I'm still on the fence.
A muted color in your next book could be great - but if you love black and white it's probably not necessary. I really feel real black and white work is a true art form in and of itself.
My graphic novel is actually done in its rough draft form - it's about 160 pages and is completely sketched/penciled and fully written, text bubbles even dropped in where they belong. But this is always the part I get stuck on. I really like my work when it's sketched, it has a lot of movement and character, but the second I move to finished pencils and inking I tighten up and the soul just goes right out of it. So, while having the entire piece effectively "done" and just needing finished pages seems like I'm pretty far along, I know that for me, that's by far the hardest step. Now that I'm unemployed though, my next project I think will be completing a 10 or 12 page excerpt and then based on that perhaps I can get an agent interested, and if they want to see the other 150ish I can send the roughs, right?
You know, for your book, have you and your agent talked about submitting an excerpt of it to Narrative Magazine? They have recently started featuring both comics (usually one panel new yorker type gags) and also "graphic stories" - so far I've only seen them feature this one artist (two different pieces), but they're actively looking for submissions. I was thinking of sending my project (called Shiksa by the way) in when I get an excerpt done. The good news is they pay pretty well, and it might help Highwater in getting more attention from publishers, if it's already been featured somewhere as an excerpt. You should look into it - especially since you already have 110 pages completed. The website is:
http://narrativemagazine.com/
You should update your site! If only so I can see more Highwater excerpts - instead of the teasing little bits you have up now! I looked at some of your older stuff too - and it's great as well. Also, let's just talk about how ahead of the game you are considering the fact that you're still in school and have much published work to your name and now an agent. I don't even think I knew what an agent freaking was when I was in school. It's great - a major accomplishment (and I'm totally jealous - but in a good way) It also speaks to both your abilities and the legitimacy of Highwater that it only took you three months to secure an agent - that's huge. You should be really pleased with your progress. I can't wait to see/hear more.