Graphic Novels.

Artistic Vibes.

Now that NaNoWriMo is completed, I am spending December finishing up the first draft of my young adult graphic novel, with the working title, Voices. I’m still playing with the format, but I think it is more robust than it was when I first started working on it in 2017. It is told from three points of view and includes some mystery elements. What YA reader doesn’t want a little mystery-solving thrown into their daily lives? This can be perfect both for teen and adult readers alike!

Next project will be to digitally draw my characters and their antics, with the objective to start January 2022. I use a mixture of old school with new, as I use an iPad to draw, but complete all my pictures “freehand” digitally, usually working in pencil. This means that I will need to develop a little bit different technique when creating my graphic novels because I would like them to be in pen. I'm learning new things every day!

Old (and New) Inspirations.

On another artistic note, after more than five years of holding on to my Grandad’s old comic books, I am putting them into plastic sleeves. *If you are a collector of old graphic novels or comic books, you might want to STOP reading because this is painful.* Fair warning!

I cut the spines off the old comic books and placed each page in its own sheet cover, with the intent of being able to read the books without much further damage. It reminds me that I came by my enjoyment of art honestly, and that as I’m creating my figures, I can learn new things about my Grandad’s interests. Whether I am working on a digital piece or sitting down for a couple hours to add to my paint by numbers, I want to remember the artistic side of my family and to use my art to help enhance the stories of others. Right now I am mainly using this blog, but I hope in the future to include my art with my writing, such as with this project.

My cats both joined me for this comic book experiment, though only one would hold still enough for portraits. They kept trying to chew on the plastic and didn’t much enjoy my invading their space. They didn't leave, so maybe they've grudgingly accepted my artistic attempts.

Current Scribbles.

This project of creating a young adult novel started a couple years back, whenever I was working on a previous NaNoWriMo project. Initially, I got the idea for a setting of a hideout from watching an investigative TV show. Then this concept got mixed with the fact that teens nowadays face so many adult-like decisions, and yet still see the world through young eyes. I thought, why not combine the two to form a superhero team that solves mysteries like a private investigator and still has to deal with teen drama? That was concept enough to start the book!

It took more effort than I originally thought, but brainstorming gave me the ideas that I needed to create character personalities and hidden traits. I listened to teen conversations, watched movies, and read favorite YA books to try to put myself in the world of the middle and high school kid. One thing I discovered was that teens still face huge issues, but they often respond best by mixing it with laughter, watching a cheesy show, or creating a funny joke. What better way to convey this than through a graphic novel, which is a mixture between a words-only novel and a comic book. I would be able to weave in the serious scenes, but also support the concepts through laughter and illustrations.

I thought initially that I might work on the entire draft from front to back, then realized that developing a comic was more complicated. I would need to first develop a script so that I could lay out my thought process for each scene. Once that was (mostly) completed, I moved over to sketching out basic placement for the scenes. I then realized that there were several plot holes in my first draft as a story, and that so much could be added to the character development than was already on the page. For this year's project, I planned out more additions to the novel, including a completely new end scene, and switched the climax to be the midpoint. This created opportunity for the story to grow even bigger.

During this year's NaNo I became a rebel, which means I wrote something besides a new novel. I put aside the script format, figuring that I could develop that later. I focused on substance this time, increasing the dialogue and trying to weasel my way into the minds of my characters. So many of these characters had back stories that I had previously mulled over, but I wanted to show how that affected their interactions with each other. I was writing about teenagers after all, so surely I could stir up some drama!

At present I am in the process of combining the old story with the new to develop a robust, more interesting story! I am continuing to improve my figure drawing through taking classes and looking at Instagram and YouTube for artistic techniques. As I move into the drawing side again, I plan on using several different art methods for this upcoming graphic novel. In my mind, this will help tell each character's story effectively.

Future Plans.

My goal is to finish this graphic novel by next year, hopefully to look for a book deal after that. I always have so many grandiose ideas about my manuscripts, but have only once pushed my pages out into the world. My ambition will be changed to action! I have a goal of finishing my art and third or fourth draft during the first part of 2022 and then take it from there to see what needs to be tweaked before sending to a possible agent. If I stop and think about it long enough, the process is intimidating. All I can do as the author and artist is to keep pushing forward and tell each story in the best way that I know how right now.

I don’t intend to reveal much about my drawing works in progress, but as the process develops, I might eventually show some old drafts of character sketches or WIP that I decide not to use in the final product. I will definitely be practicing on figures and buildings in the next several months, so that art will most likely pop up on my Instagram @Hannah_Marie._author or my Hannah Marie. Facebook page: @HannahMarie.author.