How many of you wrote novels you want to redo as screenplays?

I'm going to try to sell the film options first, but if not, it is very likely that I will do what you are doing. Good luck!

there are a few screenwriting books specifically on adaptations. i think you should invest in one good one. it's quite a different approach to the story-telling process then writing a script from scratch.

I've tried adapting shorts, novelettes, novellas and novels into screenplays with varying degrees of success. Some translated reasonably well, others had too much material and had to be shaved down to the bone which rendered them almost unrecognizable, while others still just didn't contain enough material and fell 'way short in pagecount. If you're expecting to write a straight adaptation of your beloved novel without making big adjustments, prepare for disappointment! Anyways, it was darn good writing experience if nothing else, but I wasn't under any illusions that this would somehow help me to sell a screenplay, not unless the source material was already a best-seller with legions of eager fans willing to pay to see the movie.

If you haven't already, take a peek at Michael Hauge's RULES FOR ADAPTATION article, here's the link from the screenwriting tips thread:
http://www.screenplaymastery.com/Rules.htm

-Derek

I've written a couple of short stories that I'd like to adapt into --or I should say use as the basis for -- screenplays. I'm currently writing the screenplay for a story, which began as a novel, but which I decided to do as a screenplay before getting too far into the novel. Hence, have been learning the screenplay art and craft for a year and a half as I write the script.

I suggest, if you've already done the novel, do what nikee suggested before adapting it as a screenplay. Good Luck.

I wanted my first script to be an adaptation of my novel but when I sat down to start it I realized it was more complicated then it looked. The screen play was for a class and I figured "hey, I already have the story, how hard could it be?" I found it much easier just to write a new story.

I still plan on doing the adaptation, but I am planning on an extensive treatment that will help me cut down on the items within the novel that will be useless on the screen. To organize my thoughts in this way I think that the treatment is key. . . pick 10-12 scenes from the novel as key points and work around them. Sparse them appropriately throughout the treatment then try a script. If certain scenes in the novel are more information than plot they can be easily dropped and hinted at throughout the movie or given as exposition through dialogue somewhere.

I have put quite a bit of thought into how I am going to tackle this project but I actually agree with what someone above said "I am hoping to sell the rights first."

I just spent the last 2 weeks going thru several script writing books just for that reason. I've had a completed manuscript that has gotten some good feedback but no sale as of yet. I'm getting to that point of perhaps putting it away and finishing something else when I wondered if maybe since the idea of it has drawn a few agents and editors in, that maybe it would work better as a screenplay.

If nothing else I spent 2 weeks reading some great stuff that I think even novel writers should read so all is not lost if I don't go that direction.

It just seems daunting to have to start looking into agents and producers to look at your work once its finished.

Mine is actually is a mutual kind of thing. The scripts I have written I want to write them as novels as well and some of my novels/shorts I've written I want to see them as scripts. So it goes both ways. Some though are just meant to be in the form they are in. Mostly novels because the budgets would be horendous if they were ever made.

At least three of my projects (one of which has long been scrapped) have jumped between media over the course of their development. Both of the survivors are now most definitely going to be written for the screen.

One of which is greatly reliant on the impact of its aesthetics. If I wrote it as a novel I could definitely explore the philosophy in a lot more detail, but I'd sooner imply it subtextually. It would probably end up reading like a textbook otherwise.

The other just doesn't lend itself well to the novel format. First of all, the source material was born in a different medium. It has to work as a visual piece. The narrative is also too filmic to work as a graphic novel or comic. It needs to blend together really well to come off plausibly; and comics tend to be very sharply edited. You can jump back and forth through time, but it's very difficult to subtly suggest that time has passed (a long fade always works well in film).

All three ideas began as screenplays though. It's only when I realised I didn't fancy selling my soul to the industry that I considered writing them as novels.

The novel I'm currently working on could only really work as a novel. It's too long for comics, and too complex for film. A film needs to keep it succinct, in my opinion. Sure, you can write in a load of subtext to compliment the central narrative, but it should remain subtextual.

The same goes for comics. You've got to keep in mind how many frames are needed to accommodate and convey your story. Easter eggs and subtext are great, but keep them in the background.

With a novel you've got to be careful about going overboard, but you have a lot more freedom to explore your ideas. It's just striking the right balance between showing and telling.

I reckon it's essential to keep these things in mind when deciding what medium you wish to write for.

I'm in the process of turning my published novel into a screenplay.

Pamster said:

How's the work coming Ray?

Click to expand...

Um... slowly.

[anyone interested in taking a shot at it? ]

I think a writer can be too close to his or her work. To adapt a novel, you need to break it down and trim the fat and get down to the basics, and also rearrange, etc. All that is tremendous work for the original author, who already has that story deeply ingrained in his or her mind. Granted, the writer has an advantage -- the writer knows the story inside and out, and all the characters. The problem is also, the writer knows it too well.

Last year Idid the opposite. I adapted a screenplay into a novel. Or at least that was the plan...about a third of the way in, it morphed into its own story.

I'm currently racking up rejections on the novel. (The screenplay already has it's own set, plus a couple of contest placements and an option, so the story can't be ALL bad...I hope...)

Over the years I've turned four of my novels into screenplays (as yet unproduced, but that's a different long story)... as others have said, paring them down is difficult, but it has given me a feel for where I tend to "bloat" and I think my friction writing is all the better for it.

I've also sucessfully turned some of my short stories into scripts that have been produced, and I found that a whole lot easier... especially if the story is mainly a visual one in the first place.

Willie

The second novel I tried to write, I didn't finish. I thought (and think) it was an enjoyable romantic-comedy premise, and I liked the characters, but ultimately I thought it was both too chick-lit to sell as a straight-up humor novel, but not chick-lit enough to sell as chick-lit. And while I enjoyed it, I didn't love it enough to soldier through with it knowing that it was very unlikely to get published.

In the past few months, I've revisited the idea and think it might make a better screenplay than a novel -- and this might've been part of the problem all along. Right now my focus is on my books, but if I ever have the time/cash to take a screenwriting course, that is the project I'd work on adapting.

I wrote a novel (only got about 30k words) for NaNoWriMo last year, and I'm turning it into a screenplay. That was my idea when I signed up for NaNo. I'm glad I did b/c it was a great way for me to just write as much and as fast as I could without editing, which normally I get hung up on. It's serving as a semi-outline for me now.

I really want to turn all my stories into screenplays but I'll just focus on one which is the most marketable (ofcourse I may not have the time to do write the screenplay).

I believe that writing a story out in novel form is a great first step before the screenplay, which is usually shorter than the original and more "intense" due to the need to cut back on unnecessary details etc.