As I take on the role of the author as well as the artist, I’ve been reading more about the act and craft of writing lately. Since the Graphic Novel will be in the genre of Creative Nonfiction, I have been looking at some books in this field and I’ll just mention some of them in brief;
Writing Life Stories, by Bill Roorbach. His style is a bit smug and jokey, but there is good advice in here, particularly interesting was the chapter on finding the metaphor that may add meaning to real life situations.
Writing the Memoir, by Judith Barrington targets writers interested in exploring their personal stories, and like Roorbach’s book ends each chapter with a series of excercises meant to reinforce the lesson. I don’t have the time to “explore” in this way, instead I pick at the many great examples she puts in her book.
What has proven to be a really great resource is Writing Creative Nonfiction, Edited by Carolyn Fourché and Philip Gerard. It is an anthology of more than 30 concise essays on the problems and solutions to writing good nonfiction. Highly recommended for bloggers, journalists and creative writers. It’s like being at a seminar with one great speaker after the other.
All of this advice is perfectly apliccable to the field of comics. If you haven’t yet, please check out Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, and Joe Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde for examples of quality Graphic Nonfiction.
Lastly, I want to mention that the iTunes stores has made available FOR FREE a series of downloads of short tips(2-4min), on improving your writing. Author Roy Peter Clark of The Poynter Institute covers elements of style, better communication and creative solutions. Even if it’s only for improving your email writing or facebook postings, it’s well worth it. Go to the iTunes store and search for his name.
