Comment

Comment by L. Lane on July 12, 2009 at 7:29pm

Hi Caroline! I also write both novels and screenplays. I think that, even though the formats are so different and each requires a different approach, they both compliment my writing in different ways. The use of elements necessary in writing screenplays has made my novels fast-paced and packed with info, while my novel writing has allowed my screenwriting to be much richer and detailed. I have adapted about half of my novels into screenplays, I have written a few original screenplay, and I have written one work for hire screen adaptation. I've only had one option, but I have the patience of a saint, lol.

I compare writing a adaptation to taking apart an enormous 3-D word puzzle, and then finding a way to reassemble it so that it still tells the same story--but showing it through the camera's eye. It is amazing how the format can dictate certain differences in story progression. When people complain about screen adaptations, saying the screenwriter did not do justice to the book, I have to wonder if they have any clue what goes into an adaptation: what must be imported, what must be cut, what must remain intact. It is an art.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Comment by Gwyn Nichols on July 2, 2009 at 12:28am

Hi, Caroline. Well, I do have two children and I still wish I wrote only one project at a time, and that I could pick a genre and make it stick, even for each project. I had a memoir turn novel, go on vacation as a play and a screenplay--I'm all about the dialogue--and now it's finally come home to settle down and be a novel with screenplay adaptation aspirations.

When I had horrible writer's block in college, I could only get ideas for the paper due later--not the one due tomorrow. I learned to play them against each other: focus on one, while lying in wait to pounce on the other.

I look forward to following your adventures.