The Word Cloud

A space to talk about how you are realizing your writing project, and the problems along the way

Here's a starter. Has anyone got an opinion on illustrations and 'found items' in a novel?

My two narrators began with an icon at each change of voice. But as Rachel, who has a learning disability, loves drawing, and her drawings reflect her mood and her varying sense of self, the icons were rapidly replaced by many individual drawings, copied from originals i have met all my working life ( such as a dog with a smiley face AND a muzzle). Add in some cod-social services assessment forms and Rebecca's attempts to emulate her sister's freedom of expression... and the book is now quite crowded.

Now the question: the illustrations are definitely part of the project, but i'm still not sure if they add to the novel, or become a source of distraction.

Depends what you're writing, John. If it's about disease and poverty in a war-torn, third world country ruled by a tyrant and exploited by heartless multi-nationals, I'd say, probably a distraction.

Joan,
I think it's a blindingly good idea. Anything that enriches a story, is fine my me, and your squirls have a definite character all of their own. I've only just twigged that you must have done our logos - very fine too.

I feel that anything too specific can be a distraction - like a photo, for instance, in anything other than biog or non-fiction, pins you down too much. As a reader, you can form your own image quite early on, but then finding that the character looks different is horrid - like going to see the film of the book and the actors are nothing like the ones in your head; painful. I couldn't bear the film of "Watership Down" because it was very cartoony and my rabbits were real. However, your illustrations don't appear to limit the imagination, so go for it.
Another point about adding supporting material: In Mavis Cheek's "The Sex Life of my Aunt", her chapter headings are all appropriate 60s songs - Beatles, I think. This made me smile when I worked out what they were, but this had no particular other relevance. I asked her why she'd done it (I did a course with her, years ago) and she shrugged and said it was a whim. I quite like that it was a whimsy.
She has a lovely whacky style, btw - her hero is P.G. Wodehouse. "Aunt Margaret's Lover" is my fave of hers; if you need a good belly laugh to cheer you up, you could do worse.
Whisks

John, I really like these. The WW is working on a project at the moment that is a memoir about a woman's life in Soho in the 1940s that's illustrated with some wonderful line drawings. To me, they really add beauty & richness. I think your drawings do the same (and unlike most others in this group , I have at least some familiarity with your work.) I think they have a kind of Thurberesque charm and fill out our understanding of Becca's character and humanity.

One key commercial point: B/W pics are costless to reproduce, so they don't fill publishers with dread the way colour illustations do.

So, if it were me, I'd go for it. An agent/publisher might yet say no, but for now, I'd steam ahead. My only real worry was your suggestion that the MS was 'crowded'. Crowded = bad. Occasional adornments = good.

But I like em.

Depends what you're writing, John. If it's about disease and poverty in a war-torn, third world country ruled by a tyrant and exploited by heartless multi-nationals, I'd say, probably a distraction.

No, Tony, it's largely about the difference between wisdom and intelligence... But then if we all got that one sorted, maybe there would be no disease and poverty etc.... In truth, it's a book full of distractions, but the two narrators define distractions in quite different ways.

Ah, if I was intelligent enough to know the difference I might have been wise enough not to write a facetious reply! From the other responses, it looks like you could be on to a winner.

Yes, I really like them too, and agree, from the little bit I know of the novel too, that it really does add something.