National Public Radio’s Morning Edition looks at the move into comic books by rapper Percy Carey, novelist Jodi Picoult and TV and movie producer Joss Whedon:
… As Picoult learned, writing in the sequential art form required a different set of skills from the ones she had honed as a novelist.
“I almost have to [write] more like I imagine a director would than a novelist,” says Picoult. “That visualization of how the words are going to play out on the page and where … the camera angle would swoop in to the scene. That was really foreign to me.”
Despite the differences in the writing process, Picoult sees a direct parallel between the graphic novel and other forms of literature:
“In all the years that I’ve been writing — 15 years now — there’s only one genre that’s really debuted in The New York Times Book Review, and that’s the graphic novel,” says Picoult. “And that tells me that someone’s taking them really seriously as a form of literature.”
The website includes John Ridley’s audio story, and excerpts from Buffy the Vampire Slayer #11 and Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Too bad Picoult’s run on WW, and the run that preceded her, sucked. Hard.
I really don’t blame Picoult much. I read one of her books before WW, just to get a feel for her, and I liked it. I think she’s a talented writer.
I just feel like she wasn’t given any editorial support, and she was hamstrung by a crappy new concept for WW that she had no control over, in addition to being forced into writing a storyline that was crossed-over with one of the worst books DC’s published in recent memory (Amazons Attack).
Looking back on her run, I’m wondering if a Picoult fan/comics newbie buying the hardcover can read it on its own and honestly have any idea what’s happening… I was sure confused!