A graphic novel has limitations:

1. A page is 8 1/2 X 11.
2. You have to draw things.
3. Frames... the drawings have to be separated from one another somehow
4. Dialogue bubble/blocks.

Creativity in what we make will be done within the confines of these limitations. There is a lot of room within these boundaries to get people off balance by doing different things. There is for sure a "cliche" comic book look. I have been asking myself lately how to get people to stop thinking "comic book" and start thinking "graphic novel." Being original within the limitations is one way to do that.
1.You can change the page size (but why? and to what? The idea is to break assumptions and to get people to judge the work on its own grounds.)
2. There is tons of room within the drawings to break assumptions and be original. I think this is one of the key places it can be done. I went to Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago to flip through comic book art and made judgments about each on in about 2 seconds of flipping through the art. People don't expect realism in the images - they expect cartoons, which is also different from something stylistic like Frank Miller.
3. The images have to be separated somehow. I think the question to ask on each page how can the look of the frames on this page serve the storytelling, be visually appealing, and creative?
4. I have been working on the prologue and putting long sections of narration in it, so it reads almost like a novel with illustrations more than a comic book. The prologue fits large blocks of text better than other sections will, but it for sure is one way to break people's assumptions.