Crafting Graphic Novels: A Writer’s POV

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ 2 Comments
Ian & Qwak: script by J. DeWitt

One of the most popular posts on my website relates to illustration notes for picture books. My first kidlit love was picture books, but after writing several picture book drafts that skewed longer and older but still needed art to tell the story, I knew graphic novels were a better format.

Writing picture books is a good lead into writing graphic novels, but there are differences. Collaborating with two illustrators on the Kids Comics Studio anthology has helped me better understand how to write comics-styled scripts.

“Runaway Train” is the short comic that Maggie Shang and I have collaborated on for the anthology.

Runaway Train: art by Maggie Shang

This script underwent several changes to fit it into the 8-page limit. I would write, Maggie would draw, and once we had the two together, we would find that the pacing of the art and the story weren’t fitting within the space constraints (a reality for many projects). We went through a few drafts until we were both comfortable with the outcome. Major props to Maggie for all her drafts.

My take-aways from this experience:

Continue reading →

How to Pick an Anthology Theme: Plus a Sneak Peak of My Short Comic Collab

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ Leave a comment
art by Gina McMillen

The KCS Anthology team is hard at work finishing our upcoming anthology. Our newsletter crew ran an article about how the editorial committee picked our theme. It’s chock full of tips on how to create a cohesive theme that’s also broad enough for each creator to have the freedom to be themselves. One other fun nugget in this article is a glimpse into my and Maggie Shang’s anthology collaboration called “Runaway Train.”

As you can see from Maggie’s incredible graphic, it’s going to be a visual treat. This specific panel won’t be in the final, but these two characters will be. Especially that phenomenal train.

The script for “Runaway Train” is a spin off of a graphic novel I’ve been working on. When I shared various ideas with Maggie, she liked this one, so I got to work creating a new and fresh script that would fit into eight pages.

Eight pages is hard, folks. This story wanted to be at least a couple pages bigger, but I wrote and rewrote and Maggie drew and redrew and we finally got our ideas into an eight-page story that we hope will inspire young and old.

Maggie’s art is superb and perfectly suited for this story. In fact, her magical style inspired how I developed the story. I wanted her incredible art to have as much room to shine while still trying to maintain the pacing, plot, and tell the story I hoped to tell. It’s been an exciting project.

Maggie and I will be doing a podcast interview in March with Story Comic and will have more reveals soon, but for now, I hope you enjoy this little peek into what’s coming up.

To see our updates, sign up for our anthology newsletter: https://kidscomicsunite.com/anthology/newsletter/

Advice from Agent Janna Morishima

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ 1 Comment

Happy New Year! What a better way to start it than hearing from graphic novel industry pro Janna Morishima on why she’s supporting a group of Kids Comics Studio members who are crowdfunding a middle grade graphic novel anthology. Parts one and two of the interview are broken into two articles on the #Kids Comics Studio Anthology Blog. Here’s a quote from part one:

MRK: I’ve been thinking about how you take such an interest in developing creators. What motivated you—as an agent— to decide to do a project to gather KCU Studio authors and artists to go down the self publishing route as opposed to something traditional?

JM: That’s a great question. I’m super excited to be working on a self-publishing project because although I think that traditional publishing is a valid way to go, it is getting increasingly competitive. It’s always been competitive but now it’s gotten even more competitive.

There are people whose work doesn’t fit into certain slots that the traditional publishing industry is looking for. Even if their work might eventually fit into traditional publishing, I think self-publishing is such an amazing way for people to get started and get their work out there! I am so excited to be giving it a try with everybody putting together this anthology.

I’m learning as much as everybody else is. I have a background that is very helpful I think because I know the whole traditional publishing process. There are a lot of parallels between traditional and self-publishing.

Part two is equally fascinating and shows a little cameo of Janna in an interview about the origins of Jeff Smith’s Bone graphic novels, which she worked on. You can see the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXSBUX6GPsA

I hope you all have a great 2025!

To read all of first part of the interview between Maritza Ruiz-Kim and Janna, see here: https://kidscomicsunite.com/planting-seeds-for-a-comics-anthology-an-interview-with-kcu-founder-janna-morishima-part1/

To read all of part two: https://kidscomicsunite.com/planting-seeds-for-a-kids-comics-anthology-an-interview-with-janna-morishima/

And to subscribe to the KCS Anthology newsletter: https://kidscomicsunite.com/anthology/newsletter/

Let’s Go! An Anthology Beginning

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ 5 Comments

In a recent article for SLJ, Henry Herz asked “Why Anthologies?” Great question that I can now answer, having embarked on an adventure with 33 other graphic novel creators to produce a middle grade, crowdfunded graphic novel.

Why did I sign up to be part of this? Well, I’m part of Kids Comics Studio, a membership program of Kids Comics Unite (KCU). When Janna Morishima, a literary agent and owner of KCU, proposed the idea, my first thought was “how are we going to pull this off?” Followed by, “I’ve got to see how this works.”

So, I signed up and it has been a wild ride. Or should I say wild “journey.” That, after all, is the unifying theme for our anthology.

Aside from my curiosity about how it would all work, I was excited to learn how to crowdfund, and even more excited to work with an illustrator. I’m an author-only, and alas, lack the skills to draw the images I see in my own head, so I was very excited to work with an artist. Watching an artist translate my words into their own visual version has been so fun and amazing, which I’ll be writing more about soon.

Continue reading →

Free Halloween Treats and GN Tricks and Tips

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ 4 Comments

I’ve been working on a graphic novel anthology with other members of Janna Morishima’s Kids Comics United Studio group. It’s been an amazing experience so far to collaborate with two amazing illustrators on two 8-page story entries.

I can’t wait to tell you all more about these collaborations as we continue to work on them, but for now, I can tell you about a cool Halloween-themed launch with Halloween printables for any trick-or-treaters that may need allergy-free treats.

We even have a treat for authors and illustrators–a link to subscribe to our newsletter, where we’ll share tips and tricks on creating anthologies, short-form comics, crowdfunding, and lots of other great information to help you all benefit from what we are learning.

For now, check out our landing page for all these goodies. You can also follow our journey on X, BlueSky, and Instagram: @kscanthology.

Happy Halloween! Stay tuned for lots more about what I’m doing for this anthology. It’s going to be a fun journey.

Three Amazing Opportunities for Graphic Novel Creators

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ Leave a comment

KidLitGN’s pitch event opened last night for loading pitches and this morning for agents, editors, and publishers to view and select pitches. GN creators still have until Oct. 3 at 8 pm EDT to load pitches. And agents, editors, and publishers can view pitches until Oct. 31 at 8 pm EDT.

See kidlitgn.com for details.

Also on KidLitGN’s blog, is a comprehensive Q&A from literary agent Janna Morishima, where she mentions the opportunity to join Kids Comics Studio–the membership part of Kids Comics Unite. The latter is free and open for joining year round. Kids Comics Studio, however, opens for new members at select times of the year (it’s open for a few more weeks) and has a monthly or yearly charge. Kids Comics Studio offers weekly workshops, critique and accountability sessions, networking with other graphic novel creators and a whole host of opportunities you won’t find anywhere else (see here for more details). I’ve been a member of Kids Comics Studio and have benefited from the community’s knowledge in countless ways, one of which leads into the third opportunity…

Some Kids Comics Studio members are putting together an anthology that we will be crowdfunding in April 2025. We’ve been hard at work coming up with a theme, planning our design, marketing, and of course, creating our comics. I’m collaborating with two amazing illustrators on two projects, which I’m hoping to share with you in the months ahead. And, we are rolling out our newsletter, where GN creators and other interested parties can join our journey through this process and learn what we have learned as we’ve collaborated to create this graphic novel. You can sign up for the newsletter at this link: https://bit.ly/kcu-studio-anthology

So there you have it, three opportunities to dive into the graphic novel creator’s world, KidLitGN’s pitch event, Kids Comics Studio, and the Kids Comics Studio Anthology newsletter.

You can access Janna’s amazing article here: https://kidlitgn.com/2024/10/02/what-are-agents-looking-for-a-qa-with-graphic-novel-agent-janna-morishima/

KidLitGN’s Pitch Event Opens this October!

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ Leave a comment

October is just around the calendar corner and KidLitGN is hosting its annual graphic novel pitch event!

The event is for agented and unagented graphic novel projects for kids through YA. The categories include graphic novel-style picture books, early graphic novels, middle grade, and YA. There’s also a spot for graphic novel illustrators who don’t have a project to pitch but would like to pitch a sample from their portfolio.

To find out more, see the info graphic below or visit: kidlitgn.com. And spread the word.

Where’s Waldo?

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ 4 Comments

I’ve disappeared these past two years, Waldo-like, into the landscape of boxes, paperwork, and the preparations of moving, changing jobs, and launching a child into the world. My time on this site has suffered. But I’ve been restless with all the changes and challenges of the past two years to get back into posting here and writing more in general. What writing time I have had has been spent revising stories that I haven’t yet polished to my satisfaction.

One is a historical fiction, middle grade novel that I started a lifetime ago. I’ve spent years researching it, and more years weaving my heart into it. It’s a tale with elements from my childhood and adulthood mixed with historical events, some of which I lived (yikes, it’s hard to think of one’s life as history already), so it takes an emotional toll to relive and honestly write about events that directly impacted me, but I’m ready to tackle it again.

Peel Castle, Isle of Man

I’ve had a middle grade, graphic novel script on the back burner as well, that’s itching to get out of me. It’s a Scorpio Races/Spirited Away mosh of a fantasy that’s taken me down a genealogical rabbit hole and inspired me to visit places where my ancestors lived and told stories of their own. It’s funny how stories that won’t let you go can evolve. This story started off as a picture book idea that I rewrote a thousand ways, until I realized it needed more than 32 pages to thrive. I tried writing it as a middle grade novel, but it’s always begged to be told in pictures, which spurred my interest in writing graphic novels. Once I got into writing graphic novels, which I already loved reading, I couldn’t stop. 

Continue reading →

You’re Never Too Old or Too Late to Follow Your Dreams with Author PJ McIlvaine

~ Johnell DeWitt ~ 3 Comments

PJ McIlvaine has been published in The New York Times and Newsday. PJ is also a regular contributor for the Children’s Book Insider newsletter, and a co-host of #PBPitch, a Twitter pitch party for picture book creators.

PJ has written across ages and genres, including a screenplay for Showtime which became the movie My Horrible Year. Her picture book, Dragon Roar, releases on Oct. 19, 2021 through MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing, Inc, which specializes in books for readers with dyslexia.

You’ve had quite a career in writing, including writing a movie for Showtime (which earned a daytime Emmy nomination, very cool). What has that been like and why did you switch to kidlit? 

Well, it’s like being on a roller coaster without a harness or safety belt. Sometimes you have to hang on and hope when the rides over, you haven’t broken every bone in your body. I consider myself a Jill of all genres when it comes to writing: I started out writing short stories, then poems, song lyrics, then eventually novels and screenplays but nothing in the kid-lit arena. Then my mother died (I was her caretaker for years), and I was now a grandma. I read picture books to the babies, and I realized hmmm, this was something I could write. So then I immersed myself fully in picture books, and soon graduated to middle grade and young adult. I have a good feel for kid lit—I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden growing up. So given where I was in my life, it was a natural evolution.   

Continue reading →