Book Report
You have just read a story that took hundreds of pages to tell. Now, with your understanding of plot and 3-act structure, you will retell the story as a 2-page graphic novel.
But first, a few words about plot. You can divide a story’s plot into three or five parts. Let’s start with three…
“’Whole’ is that which has beginning, middle, and end.”
—Aristotle Poetics (11 [7], 27-28)
Thanks, Aristotle. So what he means is that a well-told story has three parts: a beginning, middle, and end.
In general, the page ratio of beginning-middle-end is 1:2:1. So if a book is 120 pages, the beginning takes 30 pages (pages 1-30), the middle is the next 60 (pages 30-90), and the end is the last 30 (pages 90-120). Again, that’s in general terms, but it should help you find your beginning-middle-end points.
You can also divide plot into five parts. This division is commonly known as Freytag’s pyramid. According to Freytag, a story has five parts: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. Big words, perhaps, but if you focus on exposition, climax, and denouement, you realize it’s just another way of saying beginning-middle-end.
Guidelines for your graphic novel:
· 2 pages (not front and back—rather, two sheets of paper)
· Pages should be portrait, not landscape (hamburger, not hotdog)
· Use colored pens, pencils, or crayons for your drawings
· If you think you have zero artistic skills (hello, stick figure), whatever you draw will still be amazing
· Use dialogue and/or captions when appropriate
· Retell the story using the same narration (first person, third person, or omniscient third person) as the author does
· Retell the entire story (beginning-middle-end), not just one part of the story—this means you need to focus on what the beginning-middle-end points are and not get distracted by the smaller plot points
· Look at sample page templates online (donnayoung.org/art/comics.htm)
Please consider the following Traits before working: Ideas, Organization