Reading Comics

I have been researching war stories, as I am about to go back to my WWI children's novel.

Normally I read books and watch films of stories around the subject I am writing about. Not to copy, but to see what other authors and film makers have done and learn from what I like and don't like about the way they did it.

I tried video games for this book too. Playing a WW2 game.

One new thing I've done is read comics. This book of War Comics (above) is great. It has a variety of war stories. Not all gung-ho like the cover suggests. The first two are about Hiroshima and the Falkland Islands. Both anti-war. But some great gung-ho stuff too.

Comics are different. They are fast-paced. They are visual. You are carried along a bit like a film, but you're reading.

I think reading the comics will help. Films give me detail. Books give me emotions and action. Games give me a chance to be in the boots of the characters I am writing about. Comics give me a bit of all of that and something more.

It all helps.