Tuesday, November 3, 2009

NaGraNoWriMo! Or, this stupid thing I decided to do that I'm probably going to hate myself for in two weeks.

It's November, which means it's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) time! I have a couple of friends who are really into this, and take on the challenge every year. I get really envious of them, and always want to take on the challenge myself, but, long-form prose just isn't my thing.

So this year, I decided to try to take on the challenge in comics form. I will finish a really crappy, minimum 100 page, graphic novel, before midnight on November 30th! I'm trying to follow most of the NaNoWriMo rules. No pre-planning has gone into the story, and drawing this just on regular copy paper with felt pens.

Questions Nobody is Asking:

Q: Only 100 pages? That's not a real graphic novel.

A: That's right. And 50,000 words isn't much of a novel.
But, there are plenty of novels out there that are only about 50,000 words (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Great Gatsby, so Wikipedia tells me), and there are plenty of comics out there that are under 100 pages and calling themselves graphic novels (Houdini the Handcuff King and George Sprott are both 96 pages.

Q: Hasn't this been done?

A: Probably. Hasn't everything?
Closest examples I can think of are Far Arden, which was more a series of 24 Hour Comics done over a year (it's pretty amazing, you should read it and buy it).
I know there are other cartoonists out there doing their own NaNoWriMo-like challenges as well- Hey Pais is the first one that comes to mind.

Q: Are you going to set up a website for this and invite other people to take on the challenge?

A: Nope, can't be bothered.
I'll post the pages on the blog, or you can see them on flickr.


Okay, enough with the words. I gots stuff to draw!

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