A novel with pictures vs one without pictures

[AA Institute]

Hi Group,

I would like your opinions please on which of these types of books you prefer: a novel that's traditional and with no pictures at all, versus one with some pictures. As a personal preference, I want all my books to have pictures in them, though not 'excessively'... maybe just one per chapter.

Now, I'm wondering if having pictures in my novels would place such a novel in a 'comic' or 'graphic novel' category? What is an average reader opinion on this?

Thanks for all thoughts

 

[StillILearn]

What kinds of novels will they be? I like to see photos in non-fiction, so I guess a picture or twelve in a fictional novel would be nice. Didn't they use to do this back in the nineteenth century? Bookplates and suchlike?

 

[Sitaram]

What kinds of novels will they be? I like to see photos in non-fiction, so I guess a picture or twelve in a fictional novel would be nice. Didn't they use to do this back in the nineteenth century? Bookplates and suchlike?

Here is a gorgeous on-line full version (including illustrations) of the very first American novel to become a "best-seller", and written by a young woman no less, a definite feather in the cap of Women's Study scholars.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/warner-susan/wide/wide.html

THE
WIDE, WIDE WORLD.
BY
ELIZABETH WETHERELL.

NEW EDITION.

ILLUSTRATED
BY FREDERICK DIELMAN.

Here at the portal thou dost stand,
And with thy little hand
Thou openest the mysterious gate.
Into the future's undiscovered land
I see its valves expand,
As at the touch of FATE!
Into those realms of Love and Hate.
LONGFELLOW.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
1892.

 

[pontalba]

As I mentioned over in "Just Purchased", my friend gave me a copy of Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and the illustrations are beautiful. All of the stories were originally in various magazines of the day such as The Strand, The Windsor Magazine, Pearson's Magazine, The Royal Magazine, Cassell's Magazine etc. Some of the drawings are sort of pen and ink, but many, many of them are wonderful charcoal drawings that have the detail and clarity of a photograph, but more charm.

So, I'd have to say, Yes, I'd like some pictures done in this manner. And of course it goes without saying (but I will ) that in non-fiction autobiographies especially they are essential.

 

[Peder]

i have no objctions at all to having pictures in novels and still calling them novels or literature, whether genre or classic. However, it will be tough to match the standards set by some of the old color illustrators for such books as Treasure Island. The illustrators themselves are well known -- except by me at the moment.
And although graphic novels are not quite my preference, I have to say that Sin City on the screen was absolutely fabulous!
Pedr

 

[Sitaram]

When I was 10 years old, I went to play with the neighbor boy, whose parents were Roman Catholic. He brought out the huge Bible, with many drawings and illustrations, and proudly announced to me that he had looked at each and every one of those drawings. Our Protestant Bible at home had no drawings whatsoever. I realized at that moment that he stood upon higher moral ground.

Illustrations are definitely advantageous.

That same boy, upon a different occasion, gave me a valuable moral lesson (this is not a joke, but actually happened). He said: "Imagine that Eisenhower, the Pope, and Bridgette Bardot are all in the same room, and someone breaks wind!"

He began to laugh uncontrollably, and was never able to finish his parable, but I surmised that the blame of flatulence would definitely fall upon Ms. Bardot, for all her naughtiness, and never upon the other two bastions of sanctity.

I could see that his meditation upon that large illustrated Bible had definitely given my chum a sort of spiritual vision into ethical matters of importance.

 

[Sitaram]

One would certainly hope that any edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray would contain some sort of illustration.

 

[Isabell]

One would certainly hope that any edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray would contain some sort of illustration.

I have a copy and mine has not one picture...go figure.

Personally, I do not care for pictures in my books. I rely on my visual imagination to tell the story.

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

Hm. I read graphic novels, mostly manga, but I've never minded books without pictures. I have a good healthy imagination, which some would argue is over-exterted from running so much. ^^ I like pictures, but they don't affect whether or not I buy a book.
Unless there were pictures on every page, I don't think it would be considered a graphic novel.

 

[Mari]

'What is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures?'

 

[AA Institute]

I have a couple of fantasy books out and the details are on my sig link below. The first one became a bestseller on Amazon sales ranks in Europe. Naturally, I'm left wondering if the pictures in the novel had a part to play in that I mean, okay granted, it ain't every single day that someone shoots for the stars in a realistic interstellar ark... but I want to keep similar pictures in my second book.

If you want to take a peek, my first book has a 'search inside' feature on Amazon.com. I just feel readers will get a better visualisation of the story if a picture was included at the beginning of each chapter. As there are only 10 chapters, there'll be 10 pictures per book, so it isn't going to push my novels into the 'graphic novels' category. Since these books are targeted at young adult readers (teens) I like to think pictures would be welcome.

Cheers

 

[Occlith]

An illustration or decorative art at the beginning of a chapter is nice. Phillip Pullman drew pictures in this manner for His Dark Materials. Lionel Shriver made illustrations of the characters in Checker and the Derailleurs. They were loosely drawn and abstract interpretations of what one might imagine the characters to look like.

 

[mrkgnao]

I like pictures in a novel, it gives it an extra dimension. I also like it when e.g. poems or songs break into the prose.
For it to count as a graphic novel, I suppose there'd have to be pictures on each page, with the text in the pictures.

It seems it's more common with pictures in children's and YA books (a brilliant example: The books of Abarat by Clive Barker), and in Fantasy books there's usually a map or two. But I've found some adult novels with pictures too, e.g. The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss (there's actually a graphic novel version of the novel too!) and The mysterious flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco.

Then there's another version: novels about artists, where their works are described in detail in words, not pictures. E.g. What I loved by Siri Hustvedt, Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates, Drawing blood by Poppy Z Brite, and Tales of protection by Erik Fosnes Hansen.


*mkrgnao*

 

[Sitaram]

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/warner-susan/wide/wide-52.html

First published: New York, G. P. Putnam, 1850.
This edition: Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1892.
CHAPTER LII.
Hon. –Why didn't you show him up, blockhead?
Butler.–Show him up, sir? With all my heart, sir.
Up or down, all's one to me.
GOOD-NATURED MAN.

(excerpt)

Mason left her; and feeling the want of something to raise her spirits, Ellen sorrowfully went to her Bible, and slowly turning it over, looked along its pages to catch a sight of something cheering before she went down stairs.
"This is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death."
"Isn't that enough?" thought Ellen, as her eyes filled in answer. "It ought to be–John would say it was–oh! where is he!"

She went on turning leaf after leaf.

"O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee! "

"That is true surely," she thought. "And I do trust in him–I am blessed–I am happy, come what may. He will let nothing come to those that trust in him but what is good for them–if he is my God I have enough to make me happy–I ought to be happy–I will be happy!–I will trust him, and take what he gives me; and try to leave, as John used to tell me, my affairs in his hand."

For a minute tears flowed; then they were wiped away; and the smile she gave Mr. Lindsay when she met him in the hall was not less bright than usual.