So you want to know about Graphic Novel Month?

January is Graphic Novel Month.

I’ve gotten a bunch of questions so some clarifications are in order. First, this isn’t a club. It’s more like a mutual benign peer pressure association with nagging thrown in. Mostly, we operate on twitter, but there’s a mailinglist if you’d like to keep up with us and you are Twitter averse.

You can write a book in a month

Well, a rough draft of a book. You can’t really write and draw a book in a month. Pease don’t. It will not be good. If you’ve already started something but you’re stalled out, that’s fine. Please join us. Although the stated goals of NGNM are to write a 125 page rough draft in January, feel free to join us if you’ve got some pages already worked out but you’ve stalled or you’ve got half a draft and want to hitch a ride. Awesome.

So Are You Prepared?

I think you want to have an idea of where you want to start and where you want to end up, this will probably change along the way, and that’s Ok. But it’s good to have a direction, even if it’s obsolete 20 pages in. As comic artists, you may want to create some character sheets. I personally think this is a good idea, but don’t get too hung up on them at this stage. A sheet of paper with a couple of sketches and some key details written down is fine for now. But start. Even if your research is not complete, or you don’t have character sheets, or a good outline, START. It’s OK if your first draft is shitty. It’s supposed to be. You have my permission. Just start drawing those thumbnails or writing that script come January. Get as prepared as you can and then GO, even if you don’t feel fully prepared. If you wait for full preparation, you’ll be waiting a long time.