Following off of yesterday, I didn’t just go to talks and signings at the Book Festival. I also went to three workshops: on fantasy, on writing for teens, and on graphic novels.

I’m afraid to say that the one on fantasy was mildly disappointing. It was more of a “basics of writing” with fantasy overlaid on top, and I didn’t learn too much. What I did learn, however, was excellent, and I really wish that it had been more of that. The most helpful bit (as I’m planning on writing a steampunk novel for next NaNoWriMo) was on ‘tech level’. That is, it should be established early within the context of the novel. If you’ve got swords within the first ten pages, don’t save the zeppelins for a hundred pages in, or else your reader will be quite thrown.

I honestly don’t remember too much about “Writing Graphic Novels”, other than the fact that it was fun. The presenter also really drove home the point of choosing the moments of your story to illustrate, to choose the ones that really move it forward. He had as look at this by handing out pages with nine panels on them, and then having us scribble-illustrate the most important plot moments from one of three movies: Jaws, The Wizard of Oz, or Star Wars. It was HARD! He also discussed panel transitions, and all of these together really hit home. Of course, now I feel like I have to rewrite the series that I’ve been slowly illustrating…

Finally, the workshop for teenage stories was helpful mostly because of the writing exercises we did. The presenter was really intent on getting us into the shoes of a teenage protagonist, so we practiced creating one and wrote a few things in their voice—the hardest of which was describing yourself (the author) through the character’s eyes. And then we went on an adjective-free adventure, and I nearly died. Those latter four words, by the way? Typical of “teenage” writing. Hyperbole is important—“teenage” voices often resonant when they look at the world through a dichotomy of “it was the most awesome/awful thing ever!” Luckily, my Californian roots lead me to write like that anyway. I mean, totally.

Overall, three books reached the forefront of recommendations. Stephen King’s On Writing was highly recommended by both the fantasy and the teenage-writing presenters, and as I’ve been intending to read it anyway, I need to pick it up. Conversely, Scott McCloud’s writings was recommended by the graphic novel presenter and came up in the Ian Rankin/Neil Gaiman talk. Finally, Writing for Comics by Alan Moore was recommended by Mark Millar, and referenced by Neil Gaiman (who never read the book, having received the advice straight from Mr. Moore’s lips).

Overall, this year at the Book Festival really felt like the Year of the Graphic Novel Comic Book.

Geez, I hate the term “graphic novel”. It sounds so pretentious. It’s a comic, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Hmph.

Tags: books,comics,festival,writing
Categories: creative writing
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