Why Graphic Novels Work

I just finished reading Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic— a graphic memoir written by Alison Bechdel. An insightful fast-read, Fun Home follows a young girl as she dodges the pitfalls of her dysfunctional family (is there any other kind?) while navigating through the currents of her sexual awakenings. This award-winning graphic novel has also been adapted into a Broadway musical, and will resonate with anyone who didn’t grow up in a “normal” family.

Years earlier, I had the pleasure of reading Stitches by David Small—another graphic memoir dealing with family dysfunction. Graphic novels are an ideal vessel for delivering dark humor as told through the eyes of a child. The innocent design mixed with dark subject matter works in delivering a unique and appropriate mode of storytelling.

As I look at my own novel, Chasing Crazy, still hiding on my computer, ready for its entry into the literary world, I wonder, what if I made Chasing Crazy a graphic novel?

What if…