CHAPTER BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, AND HYBRIDS:

EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF THE YOUNG READER MARKET

By Eric Wight

When I set out to write my Frankie Pickle series, I first needed to figure out who exactly my target audience was. I thought about what I was like as a kid, and what age held my fondest memories. I kept coming back to the span of when I was around 7-10 years old. I remember it being a period in my life that was rich with discovery, and filled with a boundless sense of wonder. Then becoming a father and seeing that spark again in my 6 and 8 year old children, I knew that would also be the perfect age for Frankie.

I am far from an expert on children, but three books, about 30 states, and meeting thousands of kids later, I feel like I have a pretty good sense of the untapped potential of the young reader market. While picture book sales have struggled in this economy, chapter books are thriving, in large part because parents and teachers are pushing children towards reading chapter books far younger than they did 10 or 15 years ago (I don’t agree with this logic, it’s just an observation).

When a child discovers the joy of reading, they become voracious, devouring every book in their path. So I present to you three different formats of books for young readers that might inspire you to create something to feed their appetite: chapter books, graphic novels, and hybrids.

PART ONE: CHAPTER BOOKS

When I first started in publishing, I thought there were two types of books for kids: picture books and novels. I had no idea that there were so many different categories and sub-categories! To say I got a little confused was an understatement. Chapter books are for early readers, but early readers aren’t chapter books? Middle grade novels have chapters, but are not chapter books?

Yeesh.

To save you from staring at your editor with the same puzzled look on your face that I gave mine, let me give you a quick run down of what these different terms mean:

Early Reader Vs. Chapter Book

-  Early readers are targeted at age 4-6

-  Typically 1000-3000 words

-  They contain full color illustrations like picture books, but are smaller in trim size like chapter books

-  Word choice is extremely limited because they are targeted for beginning readers

 

-  Chapter books are targeted at age 7-10

-  Typically range from 3000-10,000 words

-  Interiors are black & white and contain fewer illustrations

-  Word choice is not as limited as early readers

-  The narrative is divided into chapter breaks

Chapter Book vs. Middle Grade

-  Middle grade is targeted at age 10-14

-  Typically between 10,000-45,000 words

-  The protagonist is generally older than in chapter books (as young as age 9, but more commonly 12+)

-  Contains even fewer or no illustrations

-  Often focus more directly on coming of age stories

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s come back to the chapter book with some additional things to consider if you find yourself interested in writing for this market:

Think big picture.

Kids love collectibility. And if they become emotionally invested in your characters, they will want more. While stand alone novels are more viable for older middle grade and young adult novels, the chapter book market thrives on series sustainability. From a business perspective, the thinner the book, the less it will get noticed on a store shelf. The more books in a series, the more shelf space an author takes up, the more likely their series will be discovered.

Chapters make great bookmarks.

Finishing a chapter is a huge sense of accomplishment for a new reader. Reward them by keeping your chapters mostly self-contained, rather than use those breaks for a cliffhanger. Remember that some young readers have limited attention spans and can maybe only read one chapter a night. By resolving each chapter, it makes it easier for them to jump back into the story without forgetting their place.

Believe in Make-Believe

Elementary aged kids are bold freethinkers. They are playful. They experiment with new ideas. They have yet to become self-conscious about what others might think about their imagination. Take this same approach with your writing. Don’t be afraid to push yourself outside your comfort zone. Try something unexpected. Create your own make-believe magic. Your audience will appreciate it.

PART TWO: GRAPHIC NOVELS

Graphic novels, comic books, trade paperbacks, funny pages. . . they go by many different names, but they all essentially refer to the same thing: narratives that employ visual sequential storytelling.

When I was a kid, the only places you could get comics were at convenience stores or hole-in-the-wall comic shops. And if you weren’t into superheroes or Archie’s gang, you were pretty much out of luck. Nowadays feels like a Golden Age of comics for young readers. There are so many wonderful series like Jenni and Matt Holm’s Babymouse, Jarrett Krosoczka’s Lunch Lady, and Colleen AF Venable’s Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye, as well as standalone triumphs such as Matt Phelan’s Around the World, Dan Santat’s Sidekicks, and Raina Telgemeier’s Smile.

Making comics is just as much fun as reading them. Here are the basic elements that comprise a graphic novel:

PANELS — the boxes that frame each snapshot of your story.

GUTTERS — the space between the panels.

TIER — a row of comic panels

WORD BALLOONS/SPEECH BUBBLES — the shapes that contain your dialogue. The arrows that point to the character speaking are called TAILS or POINTERS.

CAPTION BOXES — used to describe a setting, or a character’s thoughts.

ONOMATOPOEIA — words used to describe sound effects, typically integrated into the art.

Whether scripting for yourself, or writing a graphic novel for someone else to illustrate, the structure is very similar to movie scripts. Instead of scene headings, it’s panel descriptions, but both formats thrive from strong dialogue. There isn’t a set template for comic scripts, so stick to whatever conveys your ideas across the clearest. This is one that I like to use:

PAGE #

Panel # – Description.

CHARACTER

Dialogue.

Here are some other helpful tips to get you started with writing your own graphic novel:

I heard you the first time.

Comics are a visual medium, which means you have to trust your images to be able to tell your story. It’s okay to reinforce some of what is happening with your dialogue, but to fully describe it defeats the purpose of making comics.

Pace your panels.

The more panels you have on a page, the longer it takes to read. The fewer, the faster. The amount of panels you use per scene should compliment what is actually happening in the story. Typically action scenes use fewer panels because they are fast paced, while moments that are conversational use more panels.

Keep your mind in the gutters.

The gutter between two panels bridges those moments into a singular idea. As you build your sequence of comic panels, it’s important to consider if the size of your bridge can sustain those two moments. In other words, does the progression between panels read clearly? Is there too much of a jump between panels? Are your moments too similar to each other?

PART THREE: HYBRIDS

Chapter book/graphic novel hybrids always make me think of those old Reese’s commercials where the chocolate accidentally falls into the jar of peanut butter.

Comics and prose are also two great tastes that taste great together. But striking the perfect balance between the two is no easy task. Here are some thoughts to help you on your way.

Comic sequences advance the narrative, they don’t simply illustrate it.

An easy way to distinguish between a hybrid book and an illustrated chapter book is to read each story without the images and take note of what impact it has. While both might benefit from the illustrations, a hybrid narrative falls apart without them. Whether your comic is the punchline to a joke, or a dream sequence set in the far reaches of the galaxy, it should purposely progress your story.

There must be a logical purpose for combining comics and prose.

Establish why you are using multiple forms of narrative as early as possible. In my Frankie Pickle series, comics and prose define the boundaries between the worlds of fantasy and reality. In Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney cleverly uses comics to exemplify Greg Heffley’s perspective on being a kid. Charise Harper’s Fashion Kitty and the B.O.Y.S. she uses the hybrid format to delve deeper into her characters’s psyches. The sooner you establish the rules of your narrative, the more freely your reader will be able to suspend their disbelief.

Too much of a good thing is still too much.

Finding the perfect balance between prose and comics can be tricky. Too much prose could make your reader impatient for more comics. Too much comics could dilute the impact of your prose. There’s no exact formula for how much to use of either, but an important rule to remember is that we read comics much more quickly than we read prose. How you alternate the two will establish the tempo of your story.

You know what there could never be too much of? Awesome books that will inspire kids to read.

Go make some!

Eric Wight is the author and illustrator of FRANKIE PICKLE, a hybrid chapter book/graphic novel series published by Simon & Schuster. Prior to that, he was an animator for almost ten years for such companies as Walt Disney, Warner Bros., and Cartoon Network. Wight’s comic book adaptation of the AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY helped garner both the Harvey and Eisner Awards for Best Anthology, as well as the Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and his debut graphic novel MY DEAD GIRLFRIEND was listed among the 2008 Great Graphic Novels for Teens by YALSA. His artwork has also been prominently featured on such television series as THE O.C. and SIX FEET UNDER.

FRANKIE PICKLE AND THE MATHEMATICAL MENACE by Eric Wight: Frankie’s facing his greatest challenge yet: his MATH QUIZ. He’d rather live in a world without math, but his quiz has other plans. It transports him to Arithmecca, a world filled with horrible number monsters! Armed with only his pencil, Frankie must learn to divide and conquer if he’s going to ace his quiz and defeat THE MATHEMATICAL MENACE.