THE Group for Authors! discussion

Have you ever started a book and you have this nagging feeling that it is being told in the wrong form?
The more I write this thing the more I am leaning towards putting it down in screenplay format, even though I have no idea where to start. Does a screenplay come before a novel, or is it usually the other way round? I don’t know, but it is driving me a bit crazy, and not helping with avoiding writers block. In the meantime it feels like I just have to get it down on paper and then sort it out later, but it is frustrating as I know the story is a good one.
Anyone here have the same experience?

Hi Amos. Can't say I have, but I have turned plays (stage) I've written into novels. I had an experienced director help me with the one screenplay I wrote. Perhaps you could do some online research on screenplay composition, or perhaps there are other writers here on goodreads who write for the screen who could point you in the right direction.
Best of luck, and keep pluggin' away.

Try starting with the novel. As a novelist you have a certain amount of creative rights to your intellectual property screenwriters don’t have, since most screenwriting is contractual/owned by the production company.

Jan wrote: "Hi Amos. Can't say I have, but I have turned plays (stage) I've written into novels. I had an experienced director help me with the one screenplay I wrote. Perhaps you could do some online research..."

Cheers mate

Sapha wrote: "Try starting with the novel. As a novelist you have a certain amount of creative rights to your intellectual property screenwriters don’t have, since most screenwriting is contractual/owned by the ..."

That is very true, thanks Sapha

I recently completed a novel that at first seemed very much like a screenplay. But then I realised that the dialogue scenes are much longer than you’d normally see on screen. So if it did ever become a film, there’d be much editing to do - but at a cost to the drama in my view.

So if I had to choose again whether this particular story should have been a novel or a script, I still think book form would win.

Michael wrote: "I recently completed a novel that at first seemed very much like a screenplay. But then I realised that the dialogue scenes are much longer than you’d normally see on screen. So if it did ever beco..."

Thanks mate, I am going the same way and once I committed it has flowed :)