99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style

This is a different book, that can really open the mind of inspiring writers (or anybody else in fact). You need to read it only once, and it takes one hour or so. I recommend it as an educational gift (and it is fun as well).

I couldn't disagree more with the reviewer who dismissed this clever, funny, and insightful work as boring and unworthy. OK, it's NOT great literature and there are certainly more scholarly books out there to read if you want to work on enhancing your creativity, but let's not be snobbish about this: the book is a fast, fun read the first time through and delivers even more rewards when you go back to it. Madden is a talented cartoonist, and his purposeful imitations of the styles of other famous cartoonists is used to great effect in some of the exercises. Did this loosen me up and make me more creative? Am I now ready to write the great American novel? Well, not yet. But it has gotten me thinking about new approaches to plotting and characterization, and I think that's the whole point. Thanks, Matt!

I teach comic art at the California State University, Fullerton and in workshops. Matt Madden's book is the best I have found to present complex ideas quickly about form in the language of comics. "99 Ways" is a perfect tool to showcase how your visual storytelling would function if you used, say, a close-up vs. a full shot, a vertical panel vs. a horizontal one, or if you used a specific genre, such as film noir, manga, and so on. People studying comics get it right away. They appreciate the strengths and limitations of each approach and device Madden presents, and his examples make the point better than long verbal discussions! What I also found very attractive is the very reasonable price (one that most students can afford). Combine it with McCloud's "Understanding Comics" and you've got a power punch of a combination for learning and teaching comic art (these two books complement each other perfectly).

I need to preface my review with this: I am not usually a comic-book-reader. It is not that I don't appreciate the art form, I simply never really think about comics nor do I consider graphic novels among my preferred genre. I picked it off the shelf without looking inside, I thought, "Hmmm, perspective - let me check this out" as I had just taught a writing workshop using different perspectives and was astonished to find the insights, awarenesses and "a-ha's" the exercises had upon my students. Well, they haven't seen anything yet in comparison to what they will be able to connect with upon experiencing Madden's brilliance in this simple book. This book would be excellent for people whose job includes telling a story - it would also serve and be beneficial for those who are wanting to increase in problem solving ability and think differently. One of the intriguing bonuses is learning a lot of new words (like "Emanata" - a purely comic book term - read the sources in the back for a complete definition.) As a creative person, it opens up all sorts of different approaches, thus inspiring the reader-creative-maven to approach their art differently....which is the foundation of any life or artistic growth and transformation. The first word I scribbled on my page as I was reading this volume was "Brilliant!" and that summarizes this book perfectly. Brilliant!

The illustrator James McMullan once said the search for style is a very personal thing, like deciding if one prefers to wear silk or cotton. Matt Madden tries on 99 shirts in 99 pages here and while the results vary, in toto, the book is quite astonishing. This is not a graphic novel, not even a collection of graphic stories, but a short visual sequence repeated 99 times with great inventiveness. Visual artists such as cartoonists and graphic designers may appreciate Madden's feat most, but anyone who takes delight in creativity will enjoy this. 99 Ways to Tell a Story is a remarkable demonstration of persistence of vision within self-imposed constraints.