CA – How to Write for Comic Books

Gene Luen Yang speaks and signs at Fantastic Comics on Saturday, April 6, 2013 from 3:00 until 4:30 pm!

Gene says on his blog:

Before the Avatar: The Last Airbender books, I’d written for other artists.  The Eternal Smile was written by me and drawn by Derek Kirk Kim.  Level Up was written by me and drawn by Thien Pham.  In each of those cases, though, I thumbnailed.  The artist didn’t always follow my thumbnails, but I still communicated visually with them.

The Airbender books are the first time I’ve turned in scripts that are pure words.  I’ve had to do a lot of thinking.  How do you lay the foundations of a visual story using just words?  I’ve also read a bunch of advice by words-only writers that I admire: Dwayne McDuffie, Peter David, Alan Moore, Mark Waid.

On Saturday, April 6 at 3pm, I’m going to present some of the stuff I’ve learned at Fantastic Comics in Berkeley.  I’m gonna talk about writing comics from a words-only perspective.  I’m also gonna talk about Aang and Co.  If you’re in town, come by!

RSVP on Facebook!

Fantastic Comics
2026 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 848-2988

SF – Leveling Up Lecture

Cartoonist Gene Luen Yang appears at the Sunset Branch of San Francisco Public Library on Monday October 1, 2012 at 7:00pm. Yang says on his website, “Specifically, I will address approaching comics as a writer. Drop by and say hi, especially if you’re interested in writing for comics!”

Press Release:

How do graphic novels get made? Graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang, author of the Printz Award-winning graphic novel American Born Chinese and recently Level Up, will demystify the inner workings behind this increasingly popular narrative art form.

Renowned for his sensitive depictions of adolescence and mixing of magical realist elements with the everyday to demonstrate the difficulties of growing up as an Asian American, Yang will discuss his own work and the emerging graphic novel medium.

Gene Luen Yang’s works include The Eternal Smile (winner of the Eisner Award), Prime Baby (serialized in The New York Times), Level Up (now in stores), and Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise (from Dark Horse Comics). When he’s not making comics, he teaches at Bishop O’Dowd High School. Visit his site at geneyang.com.

A book sale and signing follows the program.

Sunset Branch of San Francisco Public Library
1305 18th Ave, San Francisco, CA

WI – Zolotow Lecture

Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese, delivers the 14th annual Charlotte Zolotow Lecture on Wednesday evening, October 5, 7:30 p.m., at the Wisconsin Union Theater on the UW-Madison campus.

This is a free public lecture sponsored by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center and Friends of the CCBC.

Author/artist Gene Luen Yang won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature for his graphic novel American Born Chinese (First Second / Roaring Brook Press, 2006). His other books for children and teens include The Eternal Smile (with Derek Kirk Kim, First Second / Roaring Brook Press 2009) and Prime Baby (Roaring Brook Press, 2010). He has also written and spoken extensively on graphic novels as an art form and as a resource for educators in the classroom.

Wisconsin Union Theater
800 Langdon Street, Madison, WI