Starting With One Thing and Ending Up With Another

Recent post excerpt from SAW Instructor Jess Ruliffson in our Six-Month Graphic Novel Intensive:

“A student recently shared their experience putting a graphic novel pitch together and it made me reflect on the pitch I made for the book manuscript I just turned in. I dug up my old pitch from 2016--five years ago now. At the time, I carefully polished and refined it--and looking at it now it actually changed quite a bit. Also, I interviewed veterans that fought in Afghanistan and wonder what their words read like on the day Kabul falls to Taliban forces. Even if you get everything in place, the world continues and changes shape. Hopefully you're making the sort of work that's timeless and honest and sits on the waves of the shifting currents. At the very least, it's some type of historical record, maybe. 

I started with a pitch that emphasized my own life/memoir (I ditched this idea pretty early on after we got a publisher, it was fine). The art changed a lot, etc. etc.

All of this to say, is that your work will and should evolve a little, and no publisher or audience will begrudge you for growing as you go. It's part of the whole deal, I think.

It's a process… As a friend once told me, with his head thrown back in exasperation, EVERYTHING TAKES FOREVER!

Left: comic page first published in a magazine, Right: same story/similar part of that story in the final comic book/graphic novel.”

-Jess Ruliffson

Access more discussion posts like this in our exclusive SAW memberships like our Six-Month Graphic Novel Intensive.

I WANT TO MAKE AND READ MORE COMICS!

Do you have a story inside you that’s just itching to come out, but want some guidance to help push it out?

Learn more about intensive comics learning with teachers at SAW by checking out SAW’s Year-Long Intensive Program and our Six-Month Graphic Novel Intensive.

Be sure to also check out our Online Courses, since some courses are offered year-round and are always enrolling!

Our Graphic Memoir Intensive runs year round and is always enrolling.  It includes access to a vibrant working community, twice-monthly live online check-ins, weekly prompts, and access to SAW’s Monthly Pro Calls!

Our Comics Flow Group, or SAW FLOW MEMBERSHIP, is also year-round and always enrolling and is SAW's MOST AFFORDABLE course option with access to Monthly Pro-Calls!

And, of course, come see what we’re all up to on SAW's Mighty Network anytime!