Tao of Guerra

Short stories may give you a new lease on your imagination. Since they don’t require the commitment of a comic or a full graphic novel, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild. That’s true both for the story and the art style. Get as crazy as you want since it’s not a big investment or your time. You can work on your story telling and plot development (keeping it short and to the point isn’t always so easy), expand on your art skills (get out of your comfort zone), and give yourself the sense of accomplishment when you’re done.

It took almost two years to complete the first two volumes of my graphic novel series, Samurai Elf – a mammoth undertaking. It sucked a lot of energy out of my creative juices, so during the break in between, I wrote and illustrated a 4-page short story called, “Bed Bugs” that was published in Heavy Metal (July 2007). It felt great to finish something so quickly and the style was something new for me.

Since then I’ve realized the major benefits of short stories, which I’ve listed here:

1. Time saver.


2. Keeps you sane.


3. Might bring in some extra cash.


4. Some ideas as too short for a comic series or a book, but they’re still good ideas. Don’t you hate reading something that has a great idea, but they drag it on too long?
   
5. 
   It’s a huge challenge to write not just a prose short story, but a sequential short story in 1-8 pages, where every panel is prime real estate.


6. Helps you to grow as a writer, storyteller and/or an artist.


7. Immense sense of fulfillment once you are done.


8. A chance to break free from the usual. Experiment with everything, even your sequence or looking camera shots.


9. Try different genres.


10. Different methods of coloring to suit the stories.


11. Improves your storytelling for both small and large projects.


12. Opens your mind up to new ideas. From every short story I do, a new river of ideas flows.

The best advice I can give? Keep it simple, but compelling. A lot of editing may be necessary, but you’ll love the end result. If you want to publish your stories, do some research on different magazines. Find out the submission editor’s name and address, how long the story should be for their publication, and always match the genre to the magazine.

Post by Miguel & Suzy