Hybrid comic/novels?

[ThunderChicken]

A question for writers, but first a bit of context:

I started writing my first novel with the plan to turn it into a webcomic. In fact, it was originally intended to be just an outline for a webcomic, but the further I went the more I decided to do a novel instead. This decision was partially helped by the fact that I work 50 hours per week and just wouldn't have the time to do a webcomic, and also, I discovered that really enjoy writing. Next thing I know I was 180,000 words in.

I also really enjoy drawing, though. I used to draw a lot, but for some reason I just put away my pencils in the mid 1990's and didn't pick them up again. Finally I missed it enough to invest in a new tablet and stylus and learned to draw on it (back in the 1990's I drew on the PC using a mouse).

This all started happening right around the time that I discovered Tapas. I honestly had no idea such a platform existed. Suddenly I had a whole world of novels and comics, and also I had a platform to publish my own work. And so I decided to do just that. I combined my two loves into one work: A novel published in episodes, but with illustrations. At first the illustrations came slowly, only one image for every five or so episodes, but then I fell into my groove art-wise and started including an image with every episode. Now into my second book, and I always include an image, and sometimes two.

And this leads me to my question: Does anybody else include images with their writing? I ask because I have yet to stumble across a webnovel that has images with regular updates. Is this a thing, or am I just being stupid?

Here's an example from the first one (note, this is a non-fiction coming-of-age LGBTQ story):

...And an example from the second story (this one is a shapeshifter fantasy, also LGBTQ themed):

[vapidink]

Yep, I add pics to my chapters for Tales of a Teenage Henchman. One per chapter, and it works great. I always liked having a bit of a visual reference, and it's always fun to make art for my stuff. If you have the time to do it, go for it!

[HGohwell]

They're not the easiest thing to find, since there's no agreed on tag for them or offical, but they do exist and they're not exactly rare. They're definitely in the minority, but they're popular enough, thanks in part to the influence of Light Novels, that Tapas implimented a proper image option for novels, and I've been around years and people have been talking about them as long as I've been here. I intend for my upcoming novel to be illustrated. But, generally people don't do them with every singla episode update, in my experience, more like one a chapter vs episodes, so it can be hard to just stumble upon them.

[bulgariansumo]

Oh yeah, both of my series also started out as webcomics. Making pages took so much time and effort that I wasn't really able to keep up. I thought I hated writing at the time, but later found out that I like writing, it's much easier for me, and I can cover more story in each update. But I still like drawing, so I started including images to go along with them.

[Katzalcoatl]

I wouldn't call it a hybrid tbh. That's just a novel. Including images in novels has existed since long ago.

I would suggest working on learning where to place your images to create a bigger impact. Placing an image in the exact place you describe the scene goes a long way for your readers.

Creating an image for every episode is fine. But do remember that sometimes less is more. It really depends on the circumstances of your own novel. In novels using the imagination of the reader can be way more powerful than adding images.

That being said you have to look for the balance to get the best of both worlds. Now most novels in tapas don't include images since the authors are not artists. But if you look at professionaly made light novels you will notice they do add images from time to time.

[Emalie]

Well, I do a bit of both, I write a novel and I do illustrations for each chapter. I was inspired by a sci-fi novel I'm reading and really liked, whose author does the exact same thing.

I think I bring life or dynamism to the story, so that the readers know a little bit about what the characters are like. I don't know, this is a personal appreciation.

[Kazuha_Kirito]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[IndomitableX]

I think have seen novels with illustrations on tapas and it also exists in the real world of publishing books professionally. I have seen some novels with illustrated images, so it's not odd.

[cherrystark]

Like others have said, I have seen people do illustrations to start chapters or a larger drawing if the image relates directly to the story at hand (often this is used in books for children.) For professional books, the images are often pencil drawings. Photo quality paper books cost more to print.