Writing Your Story Using Different Media

[Ruby]

Have any of you tried using different media to write your story?

I'm writing two Fantasy books, one of which is a prequel to the other and have started writing/drawing storyboards to see if they can be Graphic Novels.

I've also drafted the prequel as a musical with hilarious results, but it does work and helps with structuring the novel.

Now I'm having a go at writing another story as a cartoon series. jmbakingbread | Writing books, drawing illustrations and cartoons

It seems to be a good cure for writer's block!

So, what are your thoughts on this? Have you ever written a book that didn't work in one medium but was brilliant in another? (Or vice versa!)

 

[KC Trae Becker]

My WIP is a series that has parts that would work very well as a graphic novel. I haven't considered musicals yet. That's a new one.

I record ideas and images as they occur, but I'm focused mainly on getting the first book in shape to send to beta readers. That's the back bone of my project, but like you, I try to keep an open mind when dealing with my muse. It does keep the creative juices flowing.

 

[Penpilot]

I haven't written in other mediums, but I do use techniques from other mediums to write.

I use some script writing techniques to outline my stories.

 

[Jabrosky]

I often wonder whether some of the stories I think up would work better in visual media than prose. I've always been a visual person, so most of my story ideas come to me in the form of pictures.

For example, a few months back I drew an African huntress fighting a T. Rex to rescue a European explorer. More recently I've looked back on this drawing and thought, "Wouldn't that make a kick-ass story?" Hence the short I'm working on.

 

[Terry Greer]

I've done comic panels and pages before - I find that useful.

I also find it useful to write it (or just imagine) it as a film/tv script as well.


I model somethings in 3ds max or sketchp and draw/paint images as well.

I also love creating maps (and other little 'flavour items such as letters - for Jangada I even mocked up a newspaper).

 

[Devor]

I've had a lot of thoughts in this regard. Lately I've been trying to script a 5-minute podcast, sort of a parody on the mentor figure, but I'm still trying to find a style that works for it. But I've also had ideas for web comics (I can't draw), telling a story through games (can you combine D&D with Fiasco?), and a few thoughts for online storytelling, some of which are more feasible and unique than others. Also, I mostly learned to write by playing D&D in a chatroom (we played a bit different than other people, but it worked for us).

For instance, at a different forum a few years ago, as part of a roleplaying game, I told the backstory by making a bunch of dummy character accounts on the forum and having them post one-by-one the events as each character sort of reporting in and talking to the others about it. One character, "the General," posted short story scenes and commentary with his posts to move the story forward in chunks. Another character got to post the whole "I'll stay here and sacrifice myself to save you all" bit. It was cool.

Story telling is story telling, but different mediums have different strengths. My experience is that working in them can help you highlight and work on those specific areas of your writing. For instance, playing D&D, I easily had a million words, and they were all under adrenaline writing with my audience, but they were also all action-and-dialogue. I've had to work more on my deep POV and doing sequels (scene/sequel) to get my writing to be any good.