Graphic Novels, and Stress

[ivyblossom]

I've put the Graphic Novel project behind me for the most part, because the first draft is finished, and while I have some ideas for some middle-of-the-story-lag revision, I don't have complete ideas about it, so I'm leaving it alone. I've moved back to my non-graphic novel project now, the one that's just text, no pictures, and I'm trying to take some of what I learned with me. I took one look at the thing and thought, hmm, bones aren't bad, but rip rip rip, paste, slash, paste, it could be better. I've decided to focus only on bits of dialogue and descriptions of the action, and nothing else. So far I still understand that it's an outline and it's relatively painless to look at something and decide that I don't like it, or that it needs to move. So far so good.

But in the meantime boniblithe sent me some manga and that's given me some things to think about. Before the manga arrived, my only real experiences with graphic novels were Maus and a tiny bit of Sandman (thanks aldiara! And yes, you WILL get them back!). Reading the manga (I really like Death Note) showed me some things.

They're so FAST. I mean I read them fast. Go go go go go what happens next? It's really interesting to experience just glancing at the pictures and get what I need to know. I'm impressed by that process. I'm curious to see if the thing I wrote will work in this format; it was an experiment, and I'm happy that it's a collaborative one, because I have no idea if I wrote something that would work like this. But I trust that my collaborator can tell me what needs fixing. While working on it I went on the assumption that images are powerful and there's no such thing as relying on the artist too much, but given how much time I spent looking at each picture, I wonder.

But then, I wonder if the joy of a graphic novel is in multiple readings. Maybe the first time through you just burn through it to see what happens, and then you can go back and really explore the images and spend time with the whole thing? I don't know what the process is.

Am I making stuff up again? If you like graphic novels, tell me: do you run through them fast? Do you reread them?

In other news: the house purchase thing has me pretty overwhelmed. I think all the work is done, I'm just waiting to hear from my lawyer, but the whole thing is more stressful in ways I wouldn't have imagined. The idea of packing stresses me out. The idea of the move stresses me out. The paperwork stresses me out. Waiting for the call stresses me out. Worrying that I've missed something stresses me out.

People constantly asking me if I'm excited, and waiting for me to squeal and jump up and down; that too stresses me out.

There's just no pleasing some people, eh?

Comments

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Ah, anything that's good, manga or novel, is better on a second read, with magna I read through first for story, and then go back to linger on the art.

I am working on a manga of my own, first try since doing comics oh, about ten years ago, I like the japanese style because of the linework and cinematic quality, I could never really do the american comic-book style of heavy lines and grids. An interesting note on what the japanese (and chinese) think of american comics:

'we don't want to see an image of Superman preparing to jump through the window, then telling us he is going to jump through the window, then an image of him landing on the other side of the window'

Perhaps because audiences are so media savvy, and used to jump cuts, graphic novels go faster?

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Perhaps! I know exactly nothing about art, so I can only report feelings. I'm glad there is lingering on the art as part of the process. I'm actually intimidated by the sheer scope of the project from the artist's perspective (only knowing how much I left to her, how much is in her hands, surely the bulk of it), so I'm glad to hear that people linger on the art. It takes so much longer! *feels guilt*

Okay, my overwhelm is bleeding into every other aspect of my life.