Not a screenwriter, just have a question.

I'm not a screenwriter either, but I know the answer: Novelists do all of the above.

Typically, though, they do what they do best, which is write novels. If the novel sells to a publisher, and does fairly well with buyers, eventually it may come to the attention of someone in film production, either naturally or with your agent's help. At that point, the novelist makes the decision about whether s/he can adapt the work for the screen or whether to sell the option without such a clause.

While many of the skills of novelists and screenwriters overlap, being able to do one well doesn't mean you can do the other. If what you want to be is a novelist, rather than a screenwriter, I wouldn't mess with a screenplay at this point. Pick a single goal--selling that novel--and work toward it.

If, on the other hand, you want to be a screenwriter, stop writing fiction and get busy writing screenplays, with the knowledge that your first is likely to be awful. There's a learning curve.

Maryn, who'll stick to novels, mostly

Script writing and novel writing are two different skill sets. Yes, they're both a form of narrative, but a full length (around 110 pages) script will top out at around 12,000-15,000 words.

You can't describe all the intricacies of the scenes beyond what's necessary to show the action - because a script is all about action.

In a book, you can have:

Jamie ran to the store. He always forgot something off his mother's grocery list and if he didn't get the milk in the fridge before she got home he wouldn't be able to sit for a week.

In a screenplay, you pare it down to:

JAMIE, 10, sprints to the corner store.

There's no room for intent in a screenplay, and intent is what makes up a lot of the meat of a novel. You have to leave room for the actors and directors (and the next set of writers who rearrange your words...) to interpret and reinvent the characters and scenes. Print is a fixed medium, film is more organic.

And it's not as easy to translate a script to a book or a book to a script as it sounds. Fleshing out those extra 60,000 to 70,000 words is hard because the screenplay feels complete as is. Just like slashing 60,000 to 70,000 words feels like you're reducing your novel to a skeleton.

Definitely try it. It'll test how good you are with dialogue and suggestion.

If time is not a problem, by all means, try it. For instance, take one scene of the novel and write is as a scripted scene. Could be fun!

Maryn, who's done that

It was suggested to me to try and get interest on a novel that got caught up in a scam (PA) via screen play form. I thought to myself, sure, I'll give it a go. It has taken me years to get the hang of it. I'm now making good progress in both forms.

Scriptwriting is extremely competative. When the novels go to movies, usually they're best sellers. A producer or production company will then contact the novelist/publisher/agent whatever and offer to buy the rights. They then hire a scriptwriter to write it and it may or may not make it into production. There are cross overs who do both. Michael Criton was one of them.

Really it comes down to, is this something you want to spend the next few years perfecting to make a good solid go at? Or is your heart more into novel writing? It's actually harder to make into script writing. There are far fewer movies made every year than books made and it's much more dependant on living in the right places and meeting the right people.

You don't need to be able to write screenplays in order to make a novel into a movie. You can sell the movie rights and have the buying studio hire a screenwriter. That does however involve letting go and allowing someone else to interpret your vision...