Paul Whybrow
Full Member
- Jun 20, 2015
Recently, I've read several adult novels that had illustrations set into the text. I wonder if this is indicative of publishers pandering to the limited attention spans of modern readers, who need visual stimuli to maintain an interest.
Stef Penney's third novel, Under A Pole Star, featured drawings at the beginning of each part. It's a tremendous read, by the way, unexpectedly erotic.
S.K. Tremayne's The Fire Child is a psychological thriller set in Cornwall. I've been reading local crime stories to check out the opposition. As I ploughed through this turgid novel, I kept thinking that it felt like a marketing exercise. Normally, I become irate with stories that are nominally located in the county, as they lack authenticity. The Fire Child takes the opposite tack, by placing too much emphasis on Cornish locations and history. If the author mentioned one tin mine, he always went on to list another nine of them, which is OK in a guide book but not so in a novel.
He overegged the cake, possibly at his publisher's suggestion, and this included having lots of moody black and white photographs, some of which were irrelevant to the plot. These were taken by 19th-century lensman John Charles Burrow.
Alasdair Grey is perhaps the best-known modern author and artist, whose drawings feature in his novels.
Illustrations are common in children's stories, of course, but I'm surprised that they're starting to appear in novels for grown-ups!
Have any of you come across examples? Would you like to use pictures in your stories?
Stef Penney's third novel, Under A Pole Star, featured drawings at the beginning of each part. It's a tremendous read, by the way, unexpectedly erotic.
S.K. Tremayne's The Fire Child is a psychological thriller set in Cornwall. I've been reading local crime stories to check out the opposition. As I ploughed through this turgid novel, I kept thinking that it felt like a marketing exercise. Normally, I become irate with stories that are nominally located in the county, as they lack authenticity. The Fire Child takes the opposite tack, by placing too much emphasis on Cornish locations and history. If the author mentioned one tin mine, he always went on to list another nine of them, which is OK in a guide book but not so in a novel.
He overegged the cake, possibly at his publisher's suggestion, and this included having lots of moody black and white photographs, some of which were irrelevant to the plot. These were taken by 19th-century lensman John Charles Burrow.
Alasdair Grey is perhaps the best-known modern author and artist, whose drawings feature in his novels.
Illustrations are common in children's stories, of course, but I'm surprised that they're starting to appear in novels for grown-ups!
Have any of you come across examples? Would you like to use pictures in your stories?
