Writing the Graphic Novel

(EGL 314 W)

From Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Maus to Alan Moore’s The Watchmen, graphic narratives have a unique capacity to tell complex stories through the simple combination of rich visuals and text. They have become synonymous with bold, innovative storytelling far beyond superheroes and encompass memoir, historical fiction, journalism, and more. This course offers a balance between the hands-on and the theoretical, and will begin with discussions of several key graphic novels as well as an overview of this hybrid literary form. We will start by reading and discussing several important graphic novels including Safe Area Gorazde, Berlin: City of Stones, Tamara Drewe, and Soundtrack. Students will then learn the necessary writing and artistic skills to turn their story ideas into a realized graphic novel extract. Welcoming both newcomers and those with experience, the course will examine each step of the creative process: scripting and narrative arcs; thumbnailing; pencilling; inking; scanning; and production. Students will leave the course with at least an eight-page black-and-white sample of their graphic novel or short story in both hard copy and digital format, complete with color cover.

Please note: To take full advantage of this course, students will need a computer with Adobe Photoshop (Elements is fine) and Adobe InDesign (version CS2 or later). Students can download a 30-day free trial of a stripped-down version of Photoshop Elements at: http://tryit.adobe.com/us/photoshopelements/. For more information about The Online Writer's Studio, please visit our FAQs.

Dan Archer, Lecturer in Continuing Studies

Dan Archer creates nonfictional journalistic comics and co-teaches a graphic novel course through Stanford’s Creative Writing Program. He received an MFA in cartooning from the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. Archer’s work has been published by Bash magazine, The Other Side magazine, Memoir (and), Atlantic, Penguin Books, Random House, and in his self-published anthologies, Archcomix.