Graphic Novel Journal Prompts

1. Graphic Novel Journal Prompts ½ page minimum each

2. Day One • Give your initial impression of the novel you are reading. • What do you like (provide three things and explain why you like them)? • What don’t you like so far? • Do the pictures help the story along, or do they interfere with your reading? • What characters have been introduced so far? • Where does the story take place? • What is unique about the story so far?

3. Day Two • What issues or problems has the novel dealt with so far? These can be personal or cultural (social) problems. • Does it deal with a particular issue, or a general one? Are the issues everyday ones, or are they unique? Do they deal with issues that you wouldn’t expect in a graphic novel? • What do the characters in the story symbolize or represent? Try to think of them as characters based on other characters you have seen or read about before. Who are they similar to? How are they similar? • What types of character is the main character? Give 3 to 4 personality traits (characteristics that define him/her) and explain how the characters convey them.

4. Day Three • How do the images help your interpretation of the story/plot? • Do the images match how you want them to look if you were creating them? • What would you change about the images? Do the characters represent typical people, or are the unique? (if they are, what makes them unique?) • Write a letter to the artist and tell him what you like or dislike about his depictions (refer to him by name... It will be somewhere in the novel)

5. Day Four • How would your story be different if it were a regular novel? What problems would you encounter along the way? • Do your characters seem to be developing? Or are they the same as they were when you first started reading? Explain how in either case.

6. Day Five • If you had to create a poster to advertise this graphic novel, how would it look? (and it can not be the same as the cover) • You can either write a description of what your poster would look like or draw a poster. • After the last step, write a brief explanation stating why you chose to design the poster the way you did, and what you want the viewer of the poster to get from it (since you want them to be interested in the novel enough to want to read it)

7. Day Six • Graphic Novels tend to be allegorical* in how they tell their story. What allegory is your graphic novel telling? *a narrative that serves as an extended metaphor. Allegories are written in the form of fables, parables, poems, stories, and almost any other style or genre. The main purpose of an allegory is to tell a story that has characters, a setting, as well as other types of symbols, that have both literal and figurative meanings.

8. Day Seven • Are there any issues that you have with how the graphic novel presents itself? By this I mean, does you novel have any problems with the characters, language or even the way it ‘looks’? • What would you change in any of these areas? • Conversely, what would you keep?

9. Day Eight • In general, give a specific target audience for your graphic novel. Who is this novel designed for? What groups of people would like this novel? What groups of people would not like this novel? Explain what it is about the novel they would like or dislike. • If you had to write a sequel to this novel, what would it be about? Give a specific description of the plot and characters that would appear in your sequel (or prequel)