Archive for July 21st, 2010

Jul 21 2010

Questions from Google Users

We provide advice about how to write novels, comic books and graphic novels. Most of my content applies to fiction-writing in general, but we also provide articles specifically about superhero stories.

  • Should I mention fan-fiction in my query letter? No.  Nor would I recommend mentioning self-published works unless you’ve sold at least a few thousand copies or blogs unless you have hundreds of thousands of readers.
  • cool superhero names. the superhero has all powers. I think your story has more pressing issues than character names.
  • how long should a novel be. Adult novel manuscripts are usually 80-100,000 words but there is some variation by genre.  YA novel manuscripts are usually around 40-60,000 words.
  • how do i represent foreign text in comic books? If the character is speaking another language but you want to translate it into English for readers, I would recommend something like this.

    If the text is in the art rather than the lettering (such as a store sign in Shanghai or a Babylonian tablet), then I would recommend sending the artist a copy of the text in a  large font, as well as a screenshot of the text in a large font (in case the artist’s word-processor can’t read the language).

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