Illustrated Fiction- Your opinions

As both a visual artist and a writer, I always thoroughly enjoy reading an illustrated novel (and I don't mean graphic novels, although those are great too), and yet wonder what other readers think of them. Do you find illustrations in novels enjoyable and enriching, or redundant? If you have read works such as The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Selznick what do you think of his particular take?

I ask because I am working on a series of novels currently, and wish very much to illustrate them extensively, to the point that the illustrations are essential in the telling of the story (very much in the footsteps of Selznick). A coupling of literature and visual art that links not only to film, but also graphic novels, and older illustrated novels, especially fairy tale books. So let me know what you think, I'd very much like to hear!! Thanks

I LOVE illustrations in novels. I've never read The Invention of Hugo Cabret, but The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman had beautiful illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. Personally, I think it is enriching to the atmosphere of the story. This is especially true for darker stories.

As far as to the point where they are essential to the story telling, I'm not sure. I've never really encountered something like that before, so it would definitely be a unique and eye catching route to take. Then again, some readers might be turned off. Personally, i think it's a wonderful, risky idea. You should go for it!

Illustrations are great in novels! Especially when they're done beautifully.
While it makes it easier for the reader to have an image in their mind, it also grabs the readers attention and makes them feel more connected with the story. You can even say it gives the reader a way to relate to the novel.

As for them being essential, I agree with Shino. It would be a refreshing idea for sure, and it would definitely not be an easy task, but if you could pull it off, I'm sure it would be great

Hey NG So, we have a graphic artist slash writer here! Completely interesting! Sorry for my many exclamation marks!

Here's the deal, I myself am a bibliophile, an avid collector of books, and some of the best novels I've collected are swirling with beautiful illustrations filled with flow and sincerity and beauty and ah! I can't say more. It's always refreshing to see some drawing now and there. Get this, though: almost all of them are classics.

Should the fact that most classics need illustrations due to the lack of some elements (filled by a lot more ) we have in our modern writings these days stop you? No. I think that whatever kind of novel you're writing, illustrations can fit as long as an artist who knows the work by heart does it. And also, you're the one yourself who's making them, so mixing the two elements of lit and graphics wouldn't be a problem.

You're right though, most illustrations are seen in graphic novels and old books Graph-novs are okay, but if you wish to pull off a novel with illustrations kind of thing, then do mind these stuffffffsss:

Know thy audience
The intensity of your illustrations depends mostly on the audience. If you're trying to pull of a YA novel, then turn to colorful yet nearly realistic illustrations. Children's (although I doubt) books? Try soft and very animated.

Know thy genre
On fantasies and sci-fi, scenes are VERY important; this can ABSOLUTELY help readers imagine. I would really recommend this if you're writing one of the aforementioned genre.

Know thy spacing
See, not everything is needed to be illustrated. Remember that illustrations objectives are 1.) To help readers imagine and see and 2.) TO PROVIDE SPACE. Yes, there are reader who're not used to reading a lot of words. Illustrations can help there, too. Now, what I mean by spacing is know what to illustrate and what not to. Remember that you only need to illustrate important, confusing or very interesting scenes, scene in which the hero goes to the toilet is out of the question! (Well, except when he/she needed to fight a space invader living under the cubicle or something like that ).

Yes, following these shant promise that every reader will love them. Not all novel enthusiasts actually like drawings scribbled on their good ol' books, but still, you know what you're doing and you're doing it by heart, so I think it all depends on the execution.

Hope I helped! Even by a bit

Yours indefinitely,
Alf

I always love seeing illustrations in novels, but at the same time, I'd advise against making those illustrations necessary to understand the story, except in rare cases. For example, rather than devote a lot of wordage towards describing an elaborately designed, plot-important object, it would make more sense to provide an illustration of the object right there in the text to prevent a standstill in the story's pacing.

In general, I'd advise against relying too heavily on illustrations for your storytelling. What I and other readers I know tend to do is skip over the illustrations until reaching the end of the sentence/scene/chapter and then go back to admire them because, due to page constraints, the illustration is often inserted in the middle of a sentence or scene, and we'd like to see how things in the story go before looking at something else. Illustrations work great as supplements, but you'd be adding a lot of additional formatting considerations if you were to include images as an essential part of the story, and that might be more trouble than it's worth when it comes to publishing.

With that said, if you really feel your story can't be told any other way, then go for it. It's always worth a try or two, and you might just discover a way to overcome all the technical hurdles.

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Ohyes. I forgot to mention that I have read The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It was a very interesting experience, and the approach Selznick took towards formatting was also very practical. However, it's very much worth noting that Selznick was an already established author and illustrator, which allowed him to publish such a book. You'll have a much more difficult time of publishing since you're not yet established as either an author or illustrator.

I absolutely love illustrated novels! Sometimes a short story can be told with just a few pictures and some supplementary words, and leave quite an impact.
I myself like picking up manga, webcomics, and graphic novels.
Please post some of your work in the art fourms! I'd love to see it ^_^

Thanks so much for your input guys! I hope people keep posting! I will be posting an illustration with my next chapter for one of my novels "The Girl with a Lion Mane," hopefully by tomorrow, although it is a rather rough draft of one.