What a Graphic Novel Editor Wants You to Know Before You Write One

Watch kids in a bookstore and you'll see where they go first: straight to the graphic novels. Lisa says she could be standing there holding her own book and they'd walk right past her to grab the latest Investigators. No wonder so many prose writers are asking the same question: Should I be writing one of these?

This week, Ivan Taurisano, associate editor at First Second Books, returns to Writers With Wrinkles to answer it. He also explains why a lot of first-time graphic novel submissions get rejected before anyone considers the story.

You're not writing a book. You're writing a screenplay.

Ivan's first piece of advice changes how you think about the whole process. "I always say to creators, you're writing a screenplay at the end of the day," he says. "You're writing a screenplay that is only going to become a book and a story after the art is done."

That means almost everything on your page is dialogue: the character's name, a colon, and what they say. Apart from the occasional caption box ("Meanwhile…"), 99% of the text lives in speech bubbles. You look at a page where two characters trade four lines across four panels and wonder, is this really enough? Ivan's answer is yes. "The art is going to do a lot."

It also means you can't lean on narration. "In a graphic novel, you will never have a line like, 'She was looking wistfully at the ocean,'" he says. If you want readers to know how she feels, she has to say something that shows it. That limit is exactly why kids bond so strongly with graphic novel characters: all the character development has to happen in the dialogue.

Talk pages, not word count

One quick way to tell an editor you haven't done your homework is to pitch a "70,000-word graphic novel." Graphic novels are measured in pages, not words. Ivan says a query like that makes him wonder whether he'd spend the next two years teaching someone the format.

What goes in the submission

Ivan walks through exactly what lands in his inbox. It depends on whether an artist is attached:

• Script only: a full or partial script (start from the beginning, roughly three chapters), a quick pitch or logline, a synopsis of the whole story, and a short bio.
• Author and illustrator: all of the above, plus sample pages. This is usually a 20–30 page PDF that mixes pencils with a couple of pages of final art. Choose action-heavy, detailed pages that show what the finished book will look like.

Here's one advantage: unlike prose novels, graphic novels can sell on proposal. You don't need a finished script.

If you have a finished prose novel, don't send it with a note asking whether it could be a graphic novel. "It's always yes, if you write it as one," Ivan says. You have to rewrite it in the format.

Go easy on the art notes

How much visual direction should a writer include? Ivan's test is whether a note clarifies something or comes from worry that the illustrator won't get it right. He prefers very little art direction and often leaves panel layout entirely to the artist. "Always make sure that you can answer the question, why am I leaving this note?"

He also shares a detail that surprises many writers: illustrators are usually paid a lot more than writers. Drawing a graphic novel can take two years of full-time work.

The mistake he sees most

Before he acquires a project, the biggest red flag Ivan sees is a mismatch between the audience you pitch and the art you send. A dark, moody color palette pitched for ages 4–7 is a different book than the one you described. He recently told an agent that a project was something "a 20-year-old would be into, not a nine-year-old."

What's on Ivan's wishlist

Ivan also shared a specific wishlist:

• Girl friendship in middle grade. He wants stories that capture how a fight with your best friend at 10 "feels like the end of the world."
• Dragons. "Dragons work all the time."
• Early reader graphic novels for ages 4–7, 64–96 pages, on any topic.
• New magic systems.
• A joyful take on the immigrant journey: the excitement of getting on the plane, not only the hardship.

His inbox is open, and he gives feedback when he passes. He'll consider unagented creators, but he encourages everyone to find an agent who can review contracts. 

Start here

Ivan's one message for prose writers is to learn the format before you submit. Read graphic novels for the age group you want to write for, and pick up Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. "Don't think this is easy because it takes less time to write it," he warns. "It's actually so much easier to fail exactly for that reason."

In the full episode, Ivan also explains why books that feel slightly "above" a kid's level turn them into lifelong readers, talks about adult graphic novels at First Second's 23rd Street imprint, and names the one book he wishes he could go back and acquire.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Writers With Wrinkles with Ivan Taurisano, then pick up a graphic novel and start studying the structure.