YALitToczekLENS5

David Toczek YA Lit. Michael Sherry March 29, 2011 LENS 5- Reader as Writer Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel // Persepolis //, like all graphic novels presents a story in images, narration, and dialogue. I really enjoyed the discussion we had in class about considering the format or medium in which a writer chooses to implement their story. // Persepolis, //of course, would be much different if written in the style of a more traditional novel and personally I think it would lose a lot of the appeal and creativity which makes it so intriguing. I think the graphic novel genre is a much more approachable text for readers who aren’t particularly interested in reading at first, or who get easily intimidated by verbose and wordy novels. I flew through // Persepolis //, not just because it was like a comic book, but also because the drawings and words are so creative and each page so different from the last that it held my attention. I think this is the effect that most first-time readers of the story would find. I am not arguing that a graphic novel is more easily constructed than a more traditional novel. The effort and attention that are paid to both the words and visuals in a graphic novel must be an extremely exasperating and intricate process. I could not help thinking while I was reading // Persepolis //, of the great work and unrelenting attention Satrapi must have paid to each and every frame of her novel. One benefit it seems to making a graphic novel, in comparison to a more traditional novel is that the subtleties implicit in a whole page of text can be expressed in simply one picture-block in a graphic novel, by say a character’s emotional look or some sort of comprehensive drawing of what the text would be explaining in a more tedious format. I was thinking that maybe a cure to writer’s block could be trying to draw a simple, comic-like drawing of what you are trying to communicate in your text. It could even be the start of something more in-depth if one really gets into the drawing. I think understanding graphic novels is important for understanding that stories do not always need to be told in the traditional novel format. There are many ways to convey meaning through pictures and words working together to achieve the same, or in some people maybe even more powerful effects. Pictures a great way to communicate meaning and understanding, facial expressions and action in pictures can be understood by even those who cannot read. When trying to compose your own text think about the way you want to communicate your ideas and the most effective way to portray those ideas to your desired audience.