Reader Question: Should I write my story as a screenplay or graphic novel?

From RonC:

Hi guys. Looking for some advice here. This isn’t a pitch, but let me just describe my situation:

My script is very graphic novel-friendly. It’s a gritty, urban, paranormal mystery thriller with a NYC homicide detective protagonist, homeless kids, violent Miami street gangs and… well, “paranormal beings”.

So far, the feedback has been that it’s very four-quadrant (is it still okay to use that term?). It’s placing well in contests and professional feedback (Pilar Alessandra) has been extremely positive.

I’ve contemplated trying to team up with a local (Boston) comic/graphic novelist — to either create some pages to use as pitch material, or try to create a “backdoor” into film (i.e. create the full graphic novel and hope that it gets discovered by the film industry).

So my question is:

For material such as this, would it be best to continue along the traditional screenplay route (i.e. contests and queries, and rewrite, rewrite, rewrite) and try to get it optioned/bought? Or might I have better luck going the “graphic novel” route?

Ron, I’m not an expert in graphic novels. However I know we have many GITS readers who are. So let me provide a response to your question coming from where I’m at re my own life-experience and hopefully you’ll get some good, informed feedback from the GITS community specific to graphic novels.

While I think you show good business instincts here to at least ask the question whether — per the buyer’s marketplace — you would be better off writing a screenplay or a graphic novel, at the end of the day, my advice is to let the story decide. In fact, I think we just found a new writing mantra:

The story trumps all.

Paradigms, principles, formats, style, business — no matter the external consideration, you would be wise to commit yourself and your decisions based upon what is internal to the story. If your story works best as a screenplay, then write a screenplay. If your story works best as a graphic novel, then write a graphic novel. The story trumps all.

Now you may look at your story and in all honesty be unable to answer that question: Is it better as a screenplay or graphic novel? It may be that you have to do both to find out. But then you’re answering the question based upon your creative connection to the story and not some external criterion that is, finally, an artificial qualifier.

Again your question reflects a good instinct, as you’re thinking like a producer. But as writers, our commitment is to one thing and one thing only: the story. Hopefully as you go into the story, it will tell you which is best — screenplay or graphic novel.

GITS readers, especially those of you who write screenplays and graphic novels, please chime in with your thoughts to give Ron a more balanced perspective.

And by the way, I’m lining up some interviews with comic book writers and graphic novelists. In fact, if there are any of you out there who achieved some measure of success writing comic books or graphic novels, and would be willing to share your experience and wisdom with the GITS community, please email me. We all owe it to ourselves to learn as much about every narrative form Hollywood is currently tracking.

UPDATE: In comments, DAVID BISHOP raises a key, perhaps the key point:

The crucial question to consider is what level of craft skills and experience you already possess as a writer of graphic novels. Storytelling for GNs has very different demands to writing a screenplay. You wouldn’t expect a novice to write a great screenplay, would you? So why do some screenwriters think they can turn their hand to scripting GNs, despite never having written for the medium before?

RonC, if you’ve immersed yourself in graphic novels for years and have studied that narrative form, that’s one thing. If not, while you can apply some screenwriting principles to writing a graphic novel, they are different.

Comment Archive