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I'm a prose writer, can I make the transition to screenwriting?


Anne R., Lobster Bay, Maine


Dear Anne,

With resolutions flying about like spitballs in a school cafeteria, it's the perfect time of the year for a question like this. And why's that? It's the diet time of year, and you'll need to put your writing on a diet to jump over to screenwriting. You generally have up to 2 hours of screen time (approximately 110-120 pages) to get your story told in screenwriting, while novels can ramble on for 3-5 hundred pages (and up to 800+ pages if you read books like the Wheel of Time series).

So, you're probably used to fitting your novel into a size 16, but to sell that screenplay, it needs to be slim and sexy. Don't expect your screenplay to turn any producer/studio eyes unless you can squeeze it into a size 2. So, how do you do that? With The Creative Adviser's Superfabulicious 5-Step Screenwriting Diet for Novelists.

Step 1: Cut Calories

The secret to success in the screenwriting diet is to key onto one important element. Smaller is better. When you load up on those hefty-sized portions of prose, you may enjoy it a lot more and get a nice fuller feeling, but all that extra volume is just gonna slow down your screenplay's metabolism. This gives your screenplay a lot of extra flab and leads to lethargic reactions from readers. Let's give this a nice little before/after shot for comparison.

Before

John's sprint turned to flight as a tidal wave of sensation crashed into his back. Shards of glass ripped through his skin and burrowed into his muscles. Shockwaves slammed into him bursting capillaries and pushing the flexibility of his joints past the limits of what a vindictive yoga instructor might put him through. The scents of smoldering clothes and seared flesh pushed him into a state of nausea. The force of the blast bounced him like a pinball from mailbox to parked car to the decorative metal fencing protecting the tree on the sidewalk.

After

The explosion tossed John through the air bouncing him off a mailbox, parked car, and into a tree.

Extremely Skinny

John leapt away and BOOM!


Step 2: Eat the Right Foods

You've all heard the saying, "You are what you eat." Well, the same thing applies to your screenplay. It is what you feed it. You have a buffet of options in prose... different viewpoints, different perspectives, different voices, and even the ability to skip through the thoughts of all the players on the field. If you fill your screenplay up with seconds, thirds, and fourths of all that, it'll be making the seams in those biker shorts nervous in no time. The best thing to do for this is to keep is simple and...


Step 3: Get Physical

Like having the ability to skip through the thoughts of the different players on your make-believe field? Like going into details on the intangibles that really help define a character? Like going into little tidbits of history about various objects and places to give readers that extra bit of satisfaction?

Tough.

You need to be physical to get your story down in screenwriting. The viewers can't read the thoughts of your characters on the screen (yet), so make sure your script is 0% mental and 100% physical. Your characters need to come alive through their actions, so keep them busy moving around and doing stuff. Take a hike through those new places and bring that history to the viewers through exploration.


Step 4: Drink Plenty of Fluids

This step is pretty much the same for writing novels and screenplays. Except with the screenplay, it's easier to sneak in more inspirational and creativity enhancing drinks between scenes instead of waiting for the chapter breaks.


Step 5: Fortify With the Proper Nutrients

A healthy body needs all the right stuff to stay... well, healthy. You could write any old screenplay and say, "Look! It's a screenplay. Buy it! Pleeeease." But you give that screenplay the proper nutrients, and it'll have strong teeth, a shiny coat, and a bounce to its step that says "buy me" without you having to resort to begging upfront.

The only problem with this step is that there are hundreds of formulas you could take to give your script the fortification it needs. You'll need to mix-and-match to find the right mix, but as with any supplement, you need to make sure you keep the following in mind:

• Don't overdo it. Sure, you can easily get dozens of chase scenes into a novel, but cram that many into screenplay, you might run into some problems. Two or three chase scenes a script should get you by. If you need a little extra or a little less, adjust as needed to fit your individual needs. But imagine a script with twenty chase scenes. Sure, you got excitement and tension shooting out of your exhaust pipes, but where do you have time to develop your story? Where do you give the audience a breather to stretch and relax before starting the next thrill ride.

• Beware of contraindications. With all that room in a novel, you can sneak some things in every now-and-then without much impact to your story. In the skinny screenplay though, be careful what you sprinkle into your story. There's only so much room in the smaller screenwriting stomach, and each scene can cause a bit rumbly in the tummy if it doesn't get along with the other scenes. Having a slasher character suddenly show up to tear out the intestines of that pompous jerk member of your love triangle and toss them into a ceiling fan on its highest setting--in the middle of your romantic comedy--might catch people off guard, but it'll be as appealing as vomit if the people willing to shell out money for a romantic comedy can't stomach it.

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Got a question about breaking in for The Creative Adviser?  Ask away!  It might even get answered!

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All material in The Creative Adviser is fictitious and intended solely for the purpose of entertainment. Names are fabricated and any similarity to real people or places is purely coincidental except in those cases where public figures are being satirized.

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