How to Read Graphic Novels: A Guide to Getting More From Visual Storytelling | Chapterly Blog
How to Read Graphic Novels: A Guide to Getting More From Visual Storytelling Graphic novels are a unique literary form that combines visual art and text to tell stories in ways that neither medium can achieve alone. They have produced some of the most powerful narratives of recent decades, from memoir to journalism to literary fiction. Yet many readers trained primarily on prose approach graphic novels without understanding the visual grammar that makes them work. Reading a graphic novel is not harder or easier than reading prose. It is different. It engages different cognitive skills and rewards different kinds of attention. This guide will help you develop those skills so you can fully appreciate what graphic novels offer. What Makes Graphic Novels Different Two Channels of Information When you read a prose novel, you process a single stream of text that your imagination converts into mental images. A graphic novel delivers information through two simultaneous channels: visual and textual. The art is not illustrating the words. The art and words work together to create meaning that neither could produce alone. This means that reading only the text in a graphic novel gives you an incomplete story. Similarly, looking only at...