Welcome to Tuesday Debut, my pretties!
Throw your hat over the windmill because today’s episode is really going to blow your hair back!
But first, giveaway news!
The winner of last week’s giveaway of a picture book manuscript critique from author Cynthia Elomaa is Susan Burdorf!!! Congratulations, Susan! Please email me so you can collect your prize! 😊
And today’s giveaway, generously donated by our debut-ess, is a signed copy of BIRTLE And The Purple Turtles along with a bookmark and a vinyl sticker! Leave a comment below by Monday January 29th at 5PM Eastern to be included in the random drawing! And if you’re feeling nice, share Tara and her book on social media!
Now! Get ready for something fabulous!
Today’s Tuesday Debut is Tara Hannon with her book BIRTLE AND THE PURPLE TURTLES. But here’s the new and different: BIRTLE is not a picture book! It is a young graphic novel!
As you may (or may not) know, graphic novels have been steadily rising in popularity. While we have probably all seen them for middle grade, young adult, and adult, you may not know that graphic novels have also become popular for younger readers. And for those of us who write picture books, which already contain a huge graphic element, it is not a big leap to think about expanding our writing to graphic novels for young readers.
But there’s not a whole lot of information out there on exactly how to do this.
Enter today’s debut-ess! She is going to give us the inside scoop on her path to publication with her first early graphic novel. (And I have to tell you guys, I had the privilege of reading a digital copy and it is SO DELIGHTFUL! I highly recommend it! Whoever wins the book is going to love it!)
Take it away, Tara!
Title: BIRTLE and the Purple Turtles
Author: Tara J. Hannon
Illustrator: Tara J. Hannon
Publishing House: AMP Kids
Date of Publication: January 9th 2024
Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
Age range of your book: 1-3 (Age 6-10)
Everyone is a turtle in Turtletown. So Teeny thinks she must be a turtle, too. But when Teeny sprouts feathers, she begins to wonder . . . is there a teeny possibility she’s a . . . BIRTLE?
Tootie loves tag, but the other turtles in Turtletown don’t like to play. That is, until Tootie meets Teeny. Teeny LOVES tag. They have tons in common! Except one BIG thing . . . Teeny may not be a turtle at all.
SUSANNA: Welcome, Tara! Thank you so much for joining us today! The world of young graphic novels is an exciting new one for picture book writers and I think we are all EAGERLY anticipating everything you have to teach us! Where did the idea for this book come from?
TARA: I love wordplay, so a lot of my book ideas come to me as one or two-word inspirations. The idea for Birtle came while I was on a walk with my daughter and mom. We were playing a game where we combined two animals to make a new animal … “What would you get if you crossed a cow with a chicken?” “A Chickow “How about a dog and a fish? A Dish? Or a Fog?” When we crossed a bird and a turtle, we came up with Birtle and I thought to myself, “Dang, that’s cute!” The story took some time to unfold, but the seed was planted.
SUSANNA: How long did it take you to write this book?
TARA: It took me about 5 months to write, revise, polish, dummy, and prep Birtle for submission. I had always considered myself a picture book writer and thought that the learning curve of writing in a new genre would slow me down. I was surprised to discover that having more space for the story put me in an awesome creative flow.
Even though it was a much longer format, I finished Birtle faster than any of my previous picture book manuscripts. (The same held true for my forthcoming chapter book series. Something about being ‘allowed’ to use more words freed up space in my brain to stretch my creativity. I am sharing this in case there is anyone else out there who slogs through PB drafts… try longer formats – you might surprise yourself!)
Tara’s amazing workspace (points for entertaining descriptors 😊 )
SUSANNA: What made you decide to write this as a GN as opposed to a picture book or early reader?
TARA: I started drafting BIRTLE as a picture book. But as the story unfolded I felt like I needed more space to tell it. So I did a ‘free write’ session where I gave myself permission to write without care of rules or word count. When I was finished, I had a longer story with loads of dialogue and illustration notes. It was clear then that it needed to be a graphic novel. So I gave it a try. Turns out, I love writing longer format kid lit.
text and illustration copyright Tara J. Hannon 2024, AMP Kids
SUSANNA: Did you go through many revisions?
TARA: The Birtle manuscript went through eight text revisions before I sent it to my agent, then one more, after she gave me feedback. Once the text was ready, I paginated the manuscript and added panel by panel art notes to each page.
Once the pagination was set I storyboarded and dummied the first two chapters. (Side note: Birtle is now only three chapters but when I submitted it, it was broken into ten shorter chapters. My editor and I reduced the number of chapters to reduce the page count since each chapter title page used a whole page. We didn’t have to cut the story to do this, we just found that we didn’t need as many chapter breaks.)
Once the first two chapters were dummied, I revised it again. When the story is laid out with text and art together, I can see the pacing, flow, and comedic timing more clearly so this revision stage is productive. I highly recommend surrendering to and exploring any redraws and/or rewrites at this stage if it will improve the flow of your book. You’ll never regret it.
SUSANNA: When did you know your manuscript was ready for submission?
TARA: This one felt like it was ready before it was even out of my head. It wasn’t. But when I sent my draft to my agent she loved it and I was like, “Huzzah, me too!”
SUSANNA: How did you format your manuscript for GN submission? In what ways is it different from a picture book manuscript format?
TARA: This part I had to research. There wasn’t much information on it, so I am including a sample of what I did, for anyone who could benefit from seeing it.
I paginated each page. Then wrote the caption (which in this case is the narrator), art notes, and dialogue for every panel on that page. The art notes weren’t excessive or masterfully written, they were just enough to give the reader/editor a clear picture of what was happening. (NOTE: Putting page breaks after each page in your document is a helpful way to keep track of your page count. You can number them later.)
– Sample Page Layout for GN Manuscript –
CHAPTER 1: PLOP!
Page 1
Panel 1
ART: A turtle sleeping on the grass.
CAPTION
It was a Tuesday like any other in Turtletown.
Panel 2
ART: The same turtle sleeping on the grass, but there is now a second turtle enthusiastically running into the frame toward it.
Panel 3
ART: Enthusiastic turtle (Tootie) taps the sleeping turtle on the shell and wakes it up.
*Boop*
Tootie: TAG! You are it!
Panel 4
ART: The sleeping turtle is awake with an anger scribble above their head and Tootie is running out of the frame away from it.
** insert page break**
This is how it looks in the book:
text and illustration copyright Tara J. Hannon 2024, AMP Kids
SUSANNA: You are right that there isn’t a lot of information available on this. Thank you so much for sharing this because it is VERY helpful! When and how did you submit? (Including original and sample palettes)
TARA: My agent subbed BIRTLE to 16 houses. We received enthusiastic responses right off the bat, which felt great. Erinn Pascal from AMP Kids responded pretty quickly that she loved the story, but was wondering if I would be willing to try a different color palette. – Um yes! Anything! – So I created three new color pallets for them to consider. A few days after sending the color samples over we got the ‘we are taking this to acquisitions’ email.
BIRTLE’s original color palette
Before BIRTLE, I had been on sub five times with no success. So news of my first acquisitions meeting was tremendously exciting! I held my breath and refreshed my email repeatedly for two weeks until the news came that AMP Kids wanted to invest in the first two books in the series. It was a good day.
SUSANNA: How long after you found out about your book going to acquisitions (if you did) or after you submitted were you told it was a “yes”?
TARA: 87 years.
Just kidding. Waiting is hard, yes?
It was a little less than two weeks from the time I heard, ‘They are taking it to acquisitions’ to the call from my agent that said, ‘Offer in!’ (Which is fast! But again, waiting is hard.)
SUSANNA: Hahaha! You are right about waiting! When did you get “the call”, which these days is more likely to be “the email”? (best moment ever! ☺) and how did you celebrate?
TARA: The day BIRTLE went to acquisitions, I was sitting at our neighborhood beach (we live by the Chesapeake Bay) with one of my best friends. We were watching our kids play and I was pretending not to be completely obsessed with my email. (I was fooling no one.) When the email came in, the subject line read, “BIRTLE News (Since I know you are on the edge of your seat)” Lindsay and I hovered our heads over my phone and read ‘They would like to invest in the series.’ Woop! She knew how much that meant to me, so she was a good person to have with me at that moment.
SUSANNA: How long was it between getting your offer and getting your contract to sign?
TARA: I have learned that contracts take time. I don’t remember exactly, but think it took about two-three months to get the contract. In case it is helpful to know, I have also had contracts take six months. This process is slow, but eventually, it all gets done.
SUSANNA: Was the contract what you expected in terms of advance, royalty percentage, publication timeline, author copies etc.?
TARA: Honestly, this was my first publishing contract as an author-illustrator, and most of my writer friends were publishing picture books, not graphic novels, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My agent kindly educated me on many of the contract details. (And my goodness, there are many details.) When we spoke she made sure to tell me what she was negotiating for and why. I appreciated that and learned a lot from the process. One cool thing I learned was how books are accounted. Since this was a two-book deal, my agent negotiated for the books to be separately accounted. That means I can earn out each book separately without waiting for both books to earn out together. That was a big win!
SUSANNA: Can you tell us a little about the editorial process?
TARA: There were no major plot adjustments but I did have to cut about 20 pages. My original submission was 100 pages and AMP wanted it at 80. I worried that the story would suffer, but my editor did a fantastic job pointing out where cuts could be made. And in the end, I don’t miss those 20 pages at all. Turns out, less is more.
SUSANNA: How did you go about illustrating the panels of your GN? Did you write first and draw second or the other way around?
TARA: I write my stories before I draw them, but my manuscript drafts are loaded with art notes. I consider myself lucky to have critique partners who are very visual and can follow the art notes in those early drafts.
Once I was working with an editor, and the process was similar. For book two in the BIRTLE series, I submitted the text-only manuscript first, with art notes where needed. Once that manuscript was accepted, I paginated and paneled it with art notes and resent it to my editor. Then I got to work sketching each page. The process felt smooth. My editor at AMP Kids is great at communicating and is very skilled at delivering critiques and providing constructive feedback. She was also very open to my process. When I asked her how she wanted to receive the text draft, she said she was open to receiving it however I supplied it. I appreciated her willingness to mesh with my creative process and give feedback whenever I needed it as I worked. Erinn is the best.
SUSANNA: Did you get to see advance reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, etc? What was that like?
TARA: I haven’t received any advanced reviews yet.
SUSANNA: How long did it take from offer to having the first copy in your hand?
TARA: I received 3 ARCs about 8 months after turning in my final art for my first book. I was DELIGHTED to discover that my cover had a spot varnish on it! That was a fun surprise.
SUSANNA: And for another fun surprise, here is a sneak peek at BIRTLE #2 due out May 28, 2024! 😊
SUSANNA: (yep, still talking) Also, for those of you who, like me, who are just a wee bit unsure what a “spot varnish” is, here is a spot of elucidation from Tara: “A spot varnish is a specialize type of gloss that is only applied to a specific area on a page. So on the BIRTLE cover, Tootie and Teeny (and the other turtles) and the Title font is glossy, the rest of the cover has a matte finish.”
SUSANNA: What kind of marketing and promotion has your publisher done for this book?
TARA: My publisher, AMP Kids has been very supportive throughout this process. They asked me to make a short promo video for Birtle, which I did. I believe they sent it to book buyers and librarians as a promotion for the book. They also reached out to other authors for blurbs, which was fun. I have received several advanced Goodreads reviews, which means they sent ARCs to book bloggers and reviewers!
I really appreciated receiving an email from AMP Kids early on, that included marketing methods, options, and ideas for authors. The email also made sure to communicate that I could do as much or as little as I was comfortable with. I liked that they gave me a lot of resources, without a lot of pressure. Book marketing is an art in itself and it looks different for everyone.
SUSANNA: Describe any marketing/promotion you did for this book.
TARA: As I mentioned above, my publisher asked me to make a short video about BIRTLE. So I spent 687 hours creating a 45-second promo video. It seemed like a daunting task, but I am actually really proud of it and glad I did it. So, if you ever wondering, “What should I do with the next 687 hours of my life?” I highly recommend making a promo video for your book. I also created a collection of what I call, ‘comic shorts’ that showcase the characters and their playful dynamic. And I created some cute bookmarks, stickers (the fun kind for your water bottle), and coloring pages for the kids!
I have opted not to throw a launch party. There was a time when I thought I had to because ‘that’s what everyone does’. But just the thought of it overwhelmed me and filled me with awkward energy. So I am an author who did not throw a launch party and I feel very at peace with my choice.
SUSANNA: (I spent some time googling hoping to find the result of these 687 hours of Tara’s life, but alas I found only wrong videos that were 1 minute and 2:54 minutes – clearly not the 45 seconds of which we speak. So we’ll just have to imagine it! I know in my bones it was a delight!) How long was it between the time you started writing seriously and the time you sold your first book?
TARA: I have wanted to illustrate picture books since I was in elementary school. So I have always been working toward that dream. I started writing picture books in 2014 when my daughter was born.
But I don’t think I started seriously doing the work for either of those things until 2017 – when I joined 12×12 and got my first critique group. Birtle sold in 2022.
SUSANNA: What is the most important/helpful thing you learned on your way to publication? (Or what is your most helpful piece of advice for up and coming writers?)
TARA: Find a critique group or a critique partner! Ideally, this group or partner will write within your genre… if you are writing fiction PBs find a group that does too. If you write rhyming picture books, find someone who knows the difference between a slant rhyme and a perfect rhyme. It doesn’t have to be a perfect match, but you will benefit from having crit partners who understand your wheelhouse.
When I started, I thought I could do it on my own. I cannot. My critique partners make my writing better. Every dang time. It’s just a fact.
SUSANNA: Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in this series and paying it forward to other writers, Tara! We so appreciate the opportunity to learn from you today. Early graphic novels open new doors for picture book writers, and it’s so great to get a chance to see how one is created! We wish you all the best with this and future titles!
Readers, if you have questions for Tara, please post them in the comments below and if she has time I’m sure she’ll respond!
Author/Illustrator Tara J. Hannon, whose favorite snack is POPCORN!!! Sometimes I go to the movies, buy popcorn then turn around and leave. 😊
Social Media Links:
Portfolio/Website: www.tarajhannon.com
INSTAGRAM: Tarajhannonillustration
TWITTER (X): @TaraJHannon
Blue Sky: @tarajhannon.bsky.social
You may purchase Tara’s book at:
(all links below are book-specific)
Indiebound/Bookshop.org
Amazon
Barnes&Noble
We can help our debut authors successfully launch their careers by:
– purchasing their books
– recommending their books to friends and family
– recommending their books to our children’s teachers and librarians
– recommending their books to our local libraries and bookstores
– suggesting them as visiting authors at our children’s schools and our local libraries
– sharing their books on social media
– reviewing their books on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other sites where people go to learn about books.
Thank you all for stopping by to read today! Have a lovely, inspiration-filled Tuesday! Maybe today is the day you’ll write your debut picture book (or early graphic novel!) 😊
Missed any previous Tuesday Debuts? Check them out HERE!
Susanna Leonard Hill 
This is so informative, and the book looks great! Thank you both!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Jodie! And the book IS great! 😊
Thank you so much for reading, Jodie!
I can imagine meeting Birtle, you know a “real” life sized version of Birtle. I love everything about your interview. The color palette is soft, cozy and thoughtful. I especially like reading about the feathers, “So let’s love them instead” Perfect. Thank you so much for sharing so much. Congratulations!!!
Can’t wait to meet Garry! Your studio great looking. Didn’t see the popcorn in it!♥️
That is one of the many things that is so wonderful about this book, Robin! There is humor and fun, but it also reminds us to love ourselves as we are 😊
Thank you so much! I real life Tootie and Teeny would be SO FUN!
I love the idea of a young graphic novel. Thank you, Tara, for walking us through Birtle’s birthing process – complete with a sneak peek into the birthing room! And thank you, Susanna, for shining the spotlight on debut authors so we can all learn from each other. I look forward to reading Birtle (and Garry). 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed learning from Tara, Bridget! She is knowledgeable AND entertaining 😊 And having read BIRTLE, which I love!, I am looking forward to reading Garry too!
I love that you call this Birtle’s birthing process! I have always wanted to be a midwife, this is probably the closest I will come! lol. Thank you so much for reading!
Thank you for sharing the format you had. It answered many of the questions I had in the graphic areas of books. Great read.
Tara was SO helpful, wasn’t she, Bru? I learned a lot from her interview too!
I am SO glad that it was helpful to you! Thanks so much for reading!
Congratulations, Tara! I can’t wait to meet Birtle!
You are going to love Birtle, Rose! 😊
Thank you, Rose! xo
This looks wonderful! And, what an accomplishment for Tara! Congratulations!
It really is wonderful, Barb! And such an accomplishment. It can be daunting to try new things, but very worth it!
Thank you so much, Barbara! That means a lot. 🙂
An early reader graphic–awesome! And a lot of interesting information. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, Marcia!
I hope it was helpful! Thanks so much for reading!
Congratulations, Tara! I can’t wait to check out your book!
You will love it, Lynne! It’s really terrific!
Thank you, Lynne Marie!
Thank you for sharing your graphic novel journey. I’m looking forward to meeting Birtle.
I’m glad you enjoyed learning a bit about graphic novels, Lyn! And you will love Birtle! 😊
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you love Birtle 🙂
Wow! Tara! I learned SO much from this post! It is fascinating to see what the journey to graphic novel author entails. Thank you for sharing in such detail.
Tara was so generous and helpful with her information, wasn’t she? I learned a lot too!
I am SO glad the post was helpful! Thank you SO much for reading!
This is awesome! Thanks!!
Glad you enjoyed it, Aubrey!
Thank you so much for reading 🙂
So much info on the whole process! Thanks so much 🙂
Isn’t it great, Marla? I, personally, have not discovered a whole lot of info on how to create a graphic novel, especially for younger readers, so I found Tara’s interview extremely informative!
Thank you so much for reading!
Wow! Lots of info! Now I know what spot varnish is and that it can take a long time to make a promo video!😂Congrats, this book looks adorable!
Hahaha, Stefanie! Definitely the most important takeaways from this interview! 🤣
Haha! I thought I would just ‘whip’ one up… turns out I am not the natural ‘influencer’ I dreamed I’d be LOL! Thanks so much for reading!
Ha ha ha! It does feel that way! Congratulations Tara!
This is such a fun book, Cathy!
Thanks so much for reading, Cathy!
This book looks adorable and so fun! Congratulations, Tara!
It IS adorable and fun, Kim! A great example of how to write a superb graphic novel for younger readers!
Thank you SO much, Kim!
My daughter is seven, I think she would love, love, LOVE Birtle. Thank you for sharing your publication story!
I think she will love love LOVE it, too, Kelly! It is so appealing! 😊
Aww, yes! Birtle is perfect for seven-year-olds, I have a 6-year-old and she loves it 🙂 Thank you for reading!
Oh! How fabulous! What an informative and inspiring interview! Thank you, both! I have a PB ‘panel’ (early-early GN-style) book that I have been unsure about but maybe it’s getting more popular so maybe there is a chance this one could get hooked! 🙂
Tara is so helpful, isn’t she, Beth? I’m glad enjoyed the interview and I hope it becomes the reason you submit and sell your idea!!!!!
Yes! Try stretching it out for slightly older audiences. OR check out some of the earlier reader GNs (like Jonathan Fenske’s Crabby Books or Ross Burach’s Bumble and Bee books), some of those share similar word counts to picture books (500ish words) but are targeted to new-to-reading-readers, which means lots or repetition and sight words. Good luck and thank you for reading!
Thanks for sharing the sample page layout, Tara. Wordplay is such fun for kids – and adults. Congrats on the series. Woo-hoo!
That sample page is so helpful, isn’t it, Marty? I have spent time casting about on the internet, looking for exactly that kind of specific information and not finding it!
I had such a hard time finding examples online when I was writing mine, so I am more than happy to share what I did! I am glad you found it helpful! Thanks so much for reading!
Congratulations, Tara! This post is so inspiring. Can’t wait to read this hilarious and fun filled book and meet Birtle and Gary.
I’m so glad the post inspires you, Suhasini! And you will love Birtle when you get to read it!
Thank you so much for reading! I can’t wait for you to meet Garry!
I LOVE this story to publication! And for a graphic novel! So cool. Thanks for sharing with us, Tara! Congratulations!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Angie! I know we’re usually all about picture books around here, but this isn’t such a big step away, and I think a lot of us are interested in learning and exploring this closely-related genre!
Thanks so much, Angie!
I’ve seen a lot of love for Birtle on Twitter and cannot wait to read this. I’ve drafted and early reader in GN format and would love to try making a longer GN story
Go for it, Stephanie! You could have the next great early GN!
Yes! Go for it! It can never hurt to try! Good luck and have fun with it! And thank you for reading!
Congratulations, Tara, and thank you, Susanna! I can’t wait to meet Birtle!
My pleasure, Elizabeth! Tara was a terrific guest to have! And you will love Birtle!
Thank you so much for reading, Elizabeth!
Love the very beginner graphic novel that has heart and fun! 2024 release, right? (see book info above)
Oops! Yes! Thanks for catching, Robin! I copied and pasted and didn’t notice the error! 2024 is correct!
How is it 2024 already!? I’m a 90’s girl at heart LOL. Thanks for catching my mistake! And thank you so much for reading!
I love these characters. This was a great interview. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed it, Christina!
Thanks so much, Christina!
What a great interview! I’ve been curious about GNs and this is very informative. The book looks super cute. Congratulations!
I have also been curious, Christy… hence my eagerness to share Tara’s interview even though it’s not technically picture book 🙂 Her book is so cute and really fun to read!
Added the book to my “wish list” and will order soon. Thanks again for the cool interview!
Thanks so much for reading!
Fabulous interview and so many fun facts about GN for the young reader. The characters are ADORABLE. Can’t wait to read. Also thinking of giving an idea I have more room and perhaps go graphic. Congrats. BTW love popcorn too.
I hope this interview gives you the information and impetus you need to try graphic with your idea!
I am SO glad that this might have inspired you to try a GN format! Writing GNs are SO MUCH FUN – especially is you have some popcorn to go with it! 😉
Hello again,
I am interested in your artist/illustrator experience with Birtle.
1) Is your art traditional or digital?
2)What program did you use for Birtle?
3) How did you lay out Birtle?
4) How many revisions did you need to do to create Birtle?
If you can share more, please do on your art process.
♥️
Thanks so much for your questions, I have copy and pasted and answered them below, I hope it helps!
1) Is your art traditional or digital? I work digitally.
2)What program did you use for Birtle? I use Procreate on an iPad Pro. Using inDesign was also helpful in laying out the test.
3) How did you lay out Birtle? I used InDesign from the Adobe Creative Suite. It was helpful to be able to lay out the text myself. So I could see the book’s pacing properly.
4) How many revisions did you need to do to create Birtle? about 8/9 revisions before it was ready to submit. My editor and I also revised a bit after it was acquired.
I enjoyed learning more about how a graphic novel is written, artwork completed, edited, and then published. Thank you for the informative interview and chance to win a copy of this fun book. I’ve been enjoying more graphic novels lately, including ones geared toward both younger kids and teens.
Glad you enjoyed the interview, Danielle! And I hope you get a chance to read Birtle – it’s really cute!
I am so glad you enjoyed it, thank you so much for reading!
Thank you so much for hosting me on your blog today, Susanna! It was an absolute pleasure! And thank you everyone for reading and commenting! This made my day!
Thank YOU so much for taking the time not only to complete the interview, but to answer all these questions! I really appreciate it, and I know our readers do too!
Wow! What an informative post. Thanks, Susanna! I’m excited to see a GN for the younger group! Tara, thank you for sharing so much information regarding the creation of “Birtle”, looking forward to reading it! 💕📖
Thanks so much for reading!
Fascinating post, Tara & Susanna. I look forward to reading Birtle!
Thank you so much for reading!
Oh my gosh, I LOVED this post! I’ve been writing PBs for years now, but recently started trying to learn about young graphic novels so I found this SO helpful! Especially the sample page layout! I will definitely use that as a guide! And this series sounds adorable! I cant wait to read it. I have a couple questions if Tara is willing to answer: 1- I’m not an artist. Do editors accept author only young GN submissions? 2- Where did you find that sample page layout? Is there a website I could find more resources for young graphic novels? 3- I have quite a few manuscripts written in all dialogue that I’ve queried as PBs. In your opinion, would it be better to query them as young GNs instead? Thank you both so much!
Hi Bri! I am so glad you found this post helpful! Thank you!
As for your questions: Yes! Editors absolutely accept GN subs from only authors. And some text only authors choose to pair up with an illustrator and submit together. (my next early GN project Grouchy Groundhog, was submitted that way, the author asked if I would sub with her as the illustrator.)
I did not find a sample layout for early graphic novels… but now that I see there is a need, I’ll share more in my newsletter, if you want to subscribe, I’ll try to get it out there within the next month. I used a movie scripts as my template and made adjustments accordingly:)
I would definitely try your dialogue heavy manuscripts as GNs and see how they feel. I DO think dialogue heavy PBs are awesome. But stretching these manuscripts into other formats is a great creative practice and you might surprise yourself with what you create, like I did. I chose to try Birtle as an GN because the story requires a lot more page turns and scenes then a picture book.
Good luck! And thanks so much for reading!
Will do! Thanks for responding! 😊
I just requested a copy of Birtle through the Nassau Library System. Can’t wait! ♥️
Oh thank you SO much! I appreciate that!
What an incredibly informative and fabulously fun post! Thank you for sharing your inspiration, process, experiences and insights, Tara. I’ve never considered writing a GN but can see how freeing it would be to let the word count flow! Congratulations on Birtle (love his name’s etymology/etiology!) and his sequel adventure!
Thanks so much, Lucretia! Yes, I hope you give a longer format a try one day, even if it is just for fun 🙂
I’m fascinated by how smoothly Tara transitioned from creating picture books to graphic novels. It sounds like PB writers who love dialogue might be great candidates for GNs, too.
Yes, I totally agree! Its always worth giving it a try 🙂 Thanks so much for reading!
Thanks for an informative and fun interview. I am looking forward to reading Birtle! Congratulations, Tara!
Thanks so much for reading, Sarah!
I think the launch party you threw with your family and CPs was perfect!!! Even the skies opened up for you!! Congrats on creating huggable Birtle!! May there be many many many BIrtle adventures in your future. xo
Haha, the skies sure did open up! I was so glad to celebrate with you! Thank you, Jilanne! xo
That was a great interview! I could feel Tara’s emotional ups and down – thank you so much!