Some background as to why I am joining the huge crowd of very talented people doing graphic novels:

I was not into comics as a kid, though I did have an interesting set of two Star Trek (original) comics. Graphic novels didn’t exist then, and all I knew about comics were that professional artists did them. For some reason, I didn’t open my eyes and seek out good comics. I never liked the look of heroes in tights, I guess.

So, fast forward to 2011. I had been trying to organize a possible novel for 20+ years, but without much focus, since I’m not a writer for a living, and I’m frankly awful at dialog. A friend I met on the bus was working on a personal project, about the history of the automobile in Utah. I was impressed that he made little 16 page books, with hand printed linocuts on the cover, and that he was getting to express his interest in it in such nice bite sized portions. Inspiring! Also, I had seen a few great graphic novels, including those of Mike Mignola and Charles Vess. I was drawn into their worlds and shown the potential of sequential art.

Then, a brother-in-law challenged me to join his group of guys making a comic for “Free Comic Book Day”. All I had to do was make a little 12-16 page story, in about 2 months. My idea was to make a comic out of the very beginning of my novel, since I already had a developed story. And I had just acquired an iPad, allowing me to use my bus time to and from work to develop the art.

My first 12 page comic was not too great, because I didn’t understand pacing (I’m still trying to learn how to do it), or really anything else about making a comic. It was black and white, and I stuffed the action together in a confusing manner. But I saw that I loved expressing my story in that way, and I was actually finally making progress. I am a visual thinker, and most of my novel was descriptions of people, places and objects interacting. The writing was tedious and not very satisfying, since my words couldn’t give the pictures in my head real breathing room. I am slow to learn, late to bloom.

So here I had a start. I didn’t submit it to Free Comic Book Day, since the rest of the group didn’t finish anything either. I started again on my first 12 pages, expanding them to 16 and adding color. Then I started looking at as many graphic novels as I could to see what was possible. I already had a story, with a plot that I had modified slightly to teach about creativity. This became my central theme, and motivates me to do more than just make a fun adventure. Creativity is magic to me, and I am easily stuck in boring ruts by my fears of failure and trouble, so I have to fight hard to be truly meaningful and progressive. But the fight is Exhilarating!

I also saw that these “secrets” of creativity are not commonly known, but they are accessible to anyone who can realize them. My story in graphic novel form gives me a way to express them and share them. I use my creativity to show how creativity works, one step and one page at a time.