Please comment on my writing style for my graphic novel

originally posted by: Brotherman
a reply to: InTheLight

You can always look at how I illustrate

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Link 2

You have a wonderful talent there. I especially think your 'pic-within-pic' eye expressions can help relay the emotional journey.

Actually...you have obviously arrived....pro

glad to know ya

a reply to: GBP/JPY
Thanks, I'm not sure what you mean by arrived though.

a reply to: Brotherman

You are evidently a capable illustrator. My advice to you is to find yourself a talented writer to collaborate with.

a reply to: Astyanax

i have a story to tell and dont know how to tell it

a reply to: Brotherman

Exactly. Find a writer you can work with -- someone whose work inspires you and who is inspired by yours. Work on the story together. It will not be exactly the same as you envision it now. If you've chosen the right collaborator it will be better.

a reply to: Astyanax
I still want to become a better writer because its so important in the artistic process. When I draw my own work I come up with my own written format as to how I want things to look. I'd like to get better at using dialogue to help me understand better what I want to do with my form of artistic expression.

a reply to: Brotherman

Do you read constantly — several thousand words a day, every day?

Have you been a bookworm since childhood?

Did you first read your first grown-up book when you were still a pre-teen?

Have you a gift for expressing yourself through the written word?

If the answer to even one of the above questions is no, then I’m sorry, but forget it. Writers are born, not made, and the standard is very, very high.

a reply to: Astyanax

IDK but I do know I would like to improve

a reply to: Brotherman

So would we all. If you want to become a writer there are three basic tasks.

1. Read widely and voraciously.

2. Read like a pro. Try to work out what the writer is trying to achieve in terms of effect and structure, figure out if they're succeeding and why or why not.

3. Write all the time. Practice the effects you're learning from other writers. Then write some more.

A word more. A writer's mind is a rather special thing. Like an artist's but different. All the other arts deal principally in feelings. The actual ideas are vague. But literature is about feelings and ideas. To use a pop-psych metaphor, wriers are both left-brained and right-brained. Not everyone can do that, so not everyone can be a writer.

Good luck.

a reply to: Astyanax

originally posted by: Brotherman
a reply to: Astyanax

That's kind of scary bro.

a reply to: InTheLight

Sometimes those that call out for answers to their fears wanting answers to why especially during a horrible situation very absurd and bizarre may get the answers they seek from those responsible. This particular frame is a response to a police officer days after responding to a grotesque and strange scene when he asks "who could do this? Why the F# would someone do this!?"
For that character it is his end but also receives the information he wanted to hear and know but he gets to experience it first hand.

My comic work is very dark. Not very many sunshine and rainbow things here, there are some but not alot.

a reply to: Brotherman

Those types of horrifying experiences are best drawn out, yes, but are akin to PTSD and should be dealt with on a more professional psychological exploratory level.

a reply to: InTheLight

I couldn't imagine my life without my inner demons, I couldn't imagine consulting a psychologist to help me become an artist either?

originally posted by: Brotherman
a reply to: InTheLight

I couldn't imagine my life without my inner demons, I couldn't imagine consulting a psychologist to help me become an artist either?

It is not a matter of ridding yourself, or whomever, of inner demons, it is more a matter of understanding, accepting and managing your emotions and reactions (inner demons) to the horror that some of us, unfortunately, had (have) to face in life or in our jobs. Wouldn't drawing graphic pictures depicting ways to successfully deal with PTSD be a more meaningful and valuable offering to humanity?

a reply to: InTheLight
I'm not exactly sure I could identify those things anymore, to be honest its generally the beautiful things, and the colorful things that stand out most to me these days, those things are unique and fade fast while the rest of the time the world that is "apparently" exposed is actually a lie and instead it really is all those horrifying and cynical people, places, and things. I can say these things are fairly personal to me, then again I can also show them and believe these things may also be something personal to many more in a very similar way.
I'm not exactly sure about the PTSD emphasis.

a reply to: Brotherman

Yet, you seem to be grappling with the act of suicide as your writing topic. Was the suicide successful or was it averted? If it was averted, how did the character avert it? Through which mechanism - realization of what trauma caused it (PTSD) and dealing with it on a more intellectual/psychological level?

a reply to: InTheLight
The suicide in my comic was a mechanism of rebirth, the main character had to die and the way he died is important to he is given a second chance for re birth. His suicide wasn't really a suicide though either. His over dose was a combination of lethal drugs he believed was one thing but was another (he was sold a lie and it killed him)

a reply to: Brotherman

Suicide as a means to rebirth should never go hand-in-hand, especially with young people in certain communities using it as their way out of trauma. Suicide is a permanent end.

What I would welcome, is someone like you creating your graphic art pieces to reach out to troubled youth via graphic novels with coping mechanisms leading to rebirth and touching on the subject of suicide as only that path that should not be taken, not using the act of suicide as a means to your rebirth premise.

As some writers do, they research their topics, so you could always approach specialized psychologists/psychiatrists to learn the coping skills needed to avert self harm.