Guest Post: Problem in Promotion
This is a guest post from Chaz.
‘Illustrated fiction…that’s comic books, right?’
Well, you’d be forgiven for thinking so. I wouldn’t hold it against you. As a writer, and an artist, I have spent many years producing comic books and bona fide ‘graphic novels’ in the past. But before I started doing that seriously, I pursued the notion of ‘illustrated adult fiction’ – namely, prose books for adults that happened to feature artwork. Sometimes character illustrations, sometimes action scenes, but I’ve always had this desire to put out works which were more than mere slabs of text. Perhaps it’s to do with having a visual, cinematic mind, or the fact that I’ve always loved drawing and writing in general. Or the fact that all of my drawings have a story, a character, a background behind them anyway. But lately, this is a little-known or appreciated field that I’ve experimented with breaking into – I say ‘experimented’, because this is really ‘toe in the water’ stuff. I’m just not sure how general readers will take to a book that’s packed with art, that isn’t aimed directly at kids, and isn’t a comic.
The series of books I’m working on now were always designed to have a very visual aspect. ‘The Wish & the Will’ is a surreal and satirical steampunk fantasy adventure serial, with a quirky cast of characters who I’ve been drawing since the mid 1990s. Currently, the books exist in two forms – the full-colour, fully-illustrated steampunk experience available from my own website for download, or the text-only Amazon Kindle edition. This is more due to the limitations of the Kindle platform, but were it feasible, I would have included all of the artwork. I see it all as an integral part of the books, as a means to develop and expand the background world beyond the mere words of the story, to present snapshots and glimpses of daily life in that world in the form of newspaper cuttings, advertisements, samples from books and magazines, and such like. The world is so rich that I want to share as much of it as I can. So, that’s the product.
The problem, of course, is promoting it. How does one promote ‘illustrated fiction’ without creating assumptions on the part of the viewer or reader? A ‘graphic novel’ is these days taken to be a posh or pretentious term to describe a ‘serious’ comic book, but this is something of a Western, English-language issue. In the Franco-Belgian and Asian worlds, there is a generic term for ‘comic books’, a single art form which does not have the stigma of lowbrow or childish connotations. In these territories, comic books are produced and critiqued like any other art form, and are aimed at all age groups, and readers from all walks of life. Their themes can be as complex and serious as any work of prose fiction, as ‘clever’ as any academic work, or as ‘silly’ as any bubblegum kiddies’ fare – and everything in-between.
Ask any English-speaking native to name all the ‘serious’ comic books he can think of and you’ll get much the same answers: ‘From Hell’, ‘Maus’, ‘V for Vendetta’, ‘The Crow’, maybe ‘Watchmen’, ‘Sin City’, and the like, and half of those probably due to successful movies having been made out of them in the recent past. (Ask the same person the same question 10 or 15 years ago, and you’ll probably get half as many answers). At most they’ll be hard pushed to name more than 10 titles that don’t feature superheroes or other ‘traditional’ comic book trappings. In other areas of the world, this is just not the case, because illustration and writing fused in a different way, and creators generally sought to produce art and drama, not pulp thrills. Rather than a dozen or so so-called ‘serious’ works, you’ll find hundreds, thousands, in every genre” truly grown-up comic books.
Tintin is a fantastic popular example, not just of the Franco-Belgian ‘bande-dessinnee’ in general, but of the level of maturity that can be invested in a comic strip that most English-speakers would assume was ‘old school kids’ stuff’. ‘The Blue Lotus’, one of my all-time personal favourites, takes some particularly vicious swipes at the British and Japanese occupation of Manchuria in the 1930s, while dealing with issues as wide-ranging as racism and drug addiction, and that cutting edge of reality and sense of political outrage is what makes that book a fascinating, and rather mature, read (as well as being an incredibly exciting and well-told adventure story). Mature – in the sense of being thought-provoking and serious in tone, rather than peppered with sex and guts and swearing.
So, via that slight detour into the nature of comic books, I present my problem: a matter of English-language semantics. Ask our English-speaking native how he would interpret the label ‘Graphic fiction: for mature readers’ and you will likely get something like, “Hm, some kind of comic book for adults? Probably sexy and/or violent?” Whereas what I’m aiming for is actually: “An illustrated novel that adults can enjoy without embarrassment, and which isn’t aimed at juveniles only”. This would be no problem at all if I was writing in French, or Japanese. I’m not entirely sure why things have shifted in the public perception the way they have. The illustrated novel has a very long tradition – Gustav Dore being only one magnificent example of an artist who helped to visualise classic works of literature such as Dickens, and Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner – but these days, any prose featuring pictures seems to get immediately pigeonholed. Special book club editions of very popular horror, sci-fi or fantasy works sometimes commission an artist to produce an exclusive illustrated product but these tend to be limited editions, and the art is not an integral part of the work, but something for existing fans to pay extra for and place lovingly on a shelf.
Personally, I do believe this is something of an untapped, untried area which deserves more attention than it currently receives. As such, I’m placing my promotional emphasis on visual, rather than written, pitches. Video clips, even audio excerpts, samples of artwork and such are all finding their place in the campaign. I’m trying to conceive any way I can to bring the characters to life, both visually and in an interactive environment, such as via Facebook where the main cast already have their own group. Convincing readers that what they’re geting is not just a comic book – but something else, something more – is the trick. After all, how many times have you read a book and thought: ‘I wish I could see that scene, or see what that character would look like in reality?’ or – ‘I THINK I get what the writer’s going on about here…but if I could actually see it, it would make a lot more sense’ ?
To my mind, illustrated books offer a whole new dimension to the reader, blending art and the word to create a work that appeals to the eye as well as to the imagination. If you’re the kind of reader who likes to linger over tasty turns of phrase and re-read the same story over and over again to replay scenes in your mind, now you’ll have a whole new dimension to explore, a visual dimension, to help cement characters and scenes in your mind and provide a more (I hope) memorable experience over all.
Are you a writer who believes that illustrations ought to be a serious and integral part of your work?
Have you produced such a work in the past and are struggling to promote it through the labyrinth of preconceptions and pigeonholes?
