RT Booklovers Convention start on April 6th and if you’re going to be in Los Angeles, you won’t want to miss it. Yesterday, Anne Elizabeth introduced us to the GRAPHIC NOVELS: The Female Creators Workshop and today Holly Black, author of the The Good Neighbors graphic novel series, picks up where she left off. Click HERE to see where else Holly will be at this years convention.
ATUF: Why do you think graphic novels have exploded in popularity recently, especially in the paranormal market?
HB: I think the expansion of the paranormal market has reached into lots of genres -- mysteries, YA, romance and fantasy, so it's no surprise that paranormal graphic novels have experienced a rise in popularity too. But I also think more and more mainstream readers are buying comics and more female readers, which expands the market as well.
HB: The representation of women in comics has changed immeasurably over the course of my lifetime. When I was first reading comics, women had one uniform body type and a penchant for very revealing spandex. Now there is a much wider range of representations, from the women of Love and Rockets, to Charles' Vess's art for Stardust, to Jill Thompson's Wonder Woman, not to mention manga. Alongside that, the kind of stories about women changed too. There is a much wider range -- and I think women have noticed and responded by being more interested in reading comics.
ATUF: What are some of the unique challenges and benefits when it comes to writing a graphic novel as opposed to a traditional book?
HB: For one thing, unless you're an artist yourself (and I'm not), you are working with someone else who is doing at least fifty percent (and maybe more) of the work in telling the story. As a novelist, I am used to creating the mood with language, but in a graphic novel, so much of the mood is actually created through the art -- not to mention the character's expressions and their body language.
The other thing is that when writing a script, you have to consider the physical book -- whether you're writing a left hand side page or a right hand side page. You can't start a double-page spread with a right-hand page, for example. And at the bottom of the right page, that last panel has to have some narrative tension. It's the page-flipper, the panel that makes the reader flip the page to know what happens next, so there can't be any filler.
Also, characters can't stay in one place and just talk, the way they would in a novel. They have to change locations and keep moving. But the hardest thing for me to remember is that when I change locations, I can't just start in the middle of the scene. There has to be a panel showing us where we are now before we can jump back into the action.
One of the most interesting things about working on Good Neighbors was learning new skills.
ATUF: How involved do authors get to be with the artists?
HB: It depends on the partnership, but in terms of working with Ted, we had periods where we had a lot of communication and periods where we went off and did our own thing. I made one huge change in the structure of the series because -- when I explained to him what the villain's plan was, he said that I had to let the villain manage to succeed, because he wanted to draw it. I think it made for a much better series.
HB: I think, like with any adaptation, the challenge is to reconceive the original in a new way. Just like some film adaptations enhance the original and some don't quite work, I think it depends on the graphic novel.
ATUF: Can you tell us about your The Good Neighbors graphic novel series?
HB: The Good Neighbors is a graphic novel trilogy composed of three books: Kith, Kin and Kind. They're about a girl named Rue whose mother has gone missing. Her father is a suspect, not just in his wife's disappearance, but in the murder of one of his students. Additionally, while Rue has always seen things, she can't seem to ignore what she's seeing any more.
The series was partially inspired by the story of Bridget Cleary, a woman who was burned to death by her husband and family because they thought she was a faery changeling. I was fascinated by the idea of what might drive a family to something like that.
Over the course of the series, Rue has to decide who she is and who she loves. I worked with Ted Naifeh, who is a fantastic illustrator, and who really brought the book to lush, chilling, gorgeous life.
ATUF: What would you say to someone who has never read comics, manga or graphic novels to persuade them to try one?
HB: I would say that I think artwork enhances a story in ways that make it into an entirely new thing. There is an almost cinematic pleasure to reading comics that combines with the literary pleasure. I know for some people, it's unfamiliar to read the caption and then look at the picture -- but I think that once they get used to it, they really enjoy the medium. There are stories that can be told in comic form that I think wouldn't be as successful in any other medium.
ATUF: Where do you suggest graphic novel newbies start?
ATUF: Can you explain the differences between comics, manga, and graphic novels and why and if you prefer one over the other?
HB: My understanding is that comics are serial, often monthly. Graphic novels are either longer original stories or a collection of individual comics. And manga are Japanese comics or comics that follow the Japanese comic traditions.
ATUF: What are you most looking forward to at the RT Conference this year?
HB: I'm a reader as well as a writer, so what I'm most excited about are meeting writers I admire and hearing about new books that I might like to read.
ATUF: Which panel other than your own are you most excited about?
HB: There's a panel called "The Science of Crime" that looks really interesting. I am definitely going to that one. I am really curious about the various film panels. Having been through the whole process of having a book adapted into a movie with The Spiderwick Chronicles, I am curious to see how my experience align with other people's.
ATUF: Thanks so much for stopping by Holly. Come back anytime!
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| Holly Black is the author of bestselling dark contemporary fantasy for kids and teens. Her books include Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, two related novels, Valiant and the New York Times bestseller Ironside, the Spiderwick Chronicles (with artist Tony DiTerlizzi), the short story collection, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, and a graphic novel series, The Good Neighbors (with artist Ted Naifeh). Holly has co-edited three anthologies: Geektastic (with Cecil Castellucci), Zombies vs. Unicorns (with Justine Larbalestier), and Welcome to Bordertown (with Ellen Kushner). Her latest novel, White Cat is the first of a new series. Red Glove is the second book. She and her husband, Theo, live in Amherst, Massachusetts. Visit Holly at www.blackholly.com. |
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He steps out of slacks and boxers and stands naked, looking down on me.
JS: Definitely growing. My editor just had me writer a novella for an anthology called Hexed and the main theme was romance. It’s an Anna story and while I was writing it, I actually thought the hero in this piece might be the love match I (and my editor) have been looking for. Time will tell.
JS: I think the main answer to that question can be found in number five above. My readers know I write Urban Fantasy and the ones who follow the series know Anna’s track record with boyfriends. The other element is that all my books take place in a very short time span. From the first to the sixth book, for instance, just one year has elapsed. It’s a way to avoid having to rush things.
ATUF: How far in advance do you plot? Chapter by chapter? Book by book? Or do you plan out the who series before starting? 
JW: World building is a complex process that's hard to distill into a formula, but I'll try to explain how I do it. First, I started with the idea that before I could write about a new world I needed to know why this alternate version of our reality existed. That meant, going back to the beginning and figuring out where these other cultures came from. 
JW: Wow, that's a tough one to answer. I do see the genre moving away from vampire-centric stories. We're seeing lots of other mythological creatures taking center stage and I assume this will continue. That's not to say vampires will go away, just that we'll see more variety. 
JW: You must be innovative, your choices must be deliberate and you must know more about the world than you can fit in your story.
ATUF: How did you approach worldbuilding in your Vampire Files series? 
PE: The Vampire Files--oh, wait! That IS mine! 
PE: Since my work is based on an existing world/historical period, I've no need. A trip to the library refreshes my memory and I put in enough touches in the book to give everyone a taste of the time. I'm not a fan of data dumps in my reading or writing. I put in just enough to get the job done. 
P.N. "Pat" Elrod is the author of 24 commercially-published novels, more than 20 short stories, an editor and co-editor of several collections -- not bad, considering her incurable addiction to chocolate. She lives somewhere on another planet, but maintains a convenient citizenship in the state of Texas for tax purposes. In between the novel writing, Pat is polishing her script writing skills. Pat loves meeting readers of her books and guesting at Sci/Fi conventions all over the country--when she has the time!
