High school guest author teaches kids to make comics

The Dallas Morning News ran a feature story on Bill Fountain, this year's visiting author in the Irving, Texas school district. Fountain has been conducting readings and workshops at middle and high schools on his newest work, a graphic-novel version of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," and teaching kids to make their own comics.

In recent years, school libraries across the country have stocked up on such visual books in hopes of luring teens and later piquing their interest in more traditional novels. Nimitz High School, for example, has 386 graphic novels.

On a recent afternoon in the Nimitz library, Mr. Fountain led a workshop for seven students on how to create a novel. He advised them to draw from different perspectives and angles. He warned them about "static" that may interfere with their work – such as doubting their ideas and reacting too sensitively to criticism.

"What happens to a lot of us is we get an idea, and we say 'That's crazy,' " he said. "So we stop a lot of good ideas before they hit the hand."