So you want to turn your movie into a novel.
Here are my thoughts on scripts vs. novels These are by no means “rules”, just my personal thoughts, but I hope you find them useful.
Movies are different from novels, so when novelizing a screenplay, we need to examine those differences.
THE BEGINNING
You’ve seen the movie trailer and you’re sitting comfortably in the theater, popcorn in hand. The movie starts and you lie down. What are the chances of you leaving the theater now? Thin to none. You’ve already bought your ticket and you’ll probably give the movie at least fifteen minutes to get interesting.
With novels we don’t have that luxury, especially if we’re not a household name. Publishers and readers will often decide whether to buy our book based on the first page. Therefore, we must grab their attention right away, from the very first sentence. The opening should hook the reader, compelling them to continue reading. If the first sentence, paragraph or page is slow, we could lose the sale.
The first scene of your script can be slow and set, which might work great for a movie, but a novel needs to start off strong.
SOUND EFFECTS
Sound is an important component in movies. Sound effects can be powerful, whether it’s the screams of aliens, the clang of swords, or booming explosions.
Novels obviously don’t make sound. However, we can create “sound effects” with similes. We can write that “the monsters screeched like nails on a blackboard” or that “the flapping of the dragon’s wings sounded like reeling saws.” In that way, we are describing sounds that the reader already knows.
MUSIC
Music is an important component in most movies and helps set the mood. Imagine “Star Wars” without John William’s epic score, or “Psycho” without the creepy violins.
We obviously can’t add music to the novels. However, we can add “music” by describing it. We can write, “As the Trog raised his sword, the angels bled” or “The goblins marched down the hill, beating their drums and singing deeply.” It’s not as effective as a Williams score, but it can help.
Ultimately, we must rely on our writing to set the mood, without the aid of a sheet music. If we write hard enough, we won’t need music.
VISUALS
Images are another component novels lack (unless they are graphic novels). But images can be described. You already have your script, so you probably have an idea of โโwhat each scene looks like.
I often think of my scenes cinematically. I imagine what the scene would look like in a movie and then describe it. I have to “see” the scene before I write it.
And hey, a movie studio would spend a million dollars to create a computer generated dragon. In a novel, we can create one in a few sentences. ๐
POINT OF VIEW
So far, I’ve described the components that the movies have and the ones that are missing from the novels. Novels, however, have a powerful tool unique to them. Novels can describe the thoughts of the characters.
In a movie, we are seeing everything. We are passive observers. But as a novelist, I can put the reader in the head of a character. The reader will see through the character’s eyes, hear through his ears, and even read his thoughts. This is powerful. It allows us to explore the hearts and minds of the characters in a way that movies can’t.
Consider the following paragraph.
Trog wandered through the dungeon, hunger gnawing at his belly. The dungeon smelled of rotting leaves and wet fur. I wish I was home with my wife Molly, eating her apple pie, Trog thought.
In a movie, we couldn’t show Trog’s hunger. We couldn’t describe the stench of the dungeon. We might see Trog holding his nose, but we still wouldn’t know the place smelled like rotting leaves and wet fur. Finally, we wouldn’t know that Trog wants to be home with Molly, eating apple pie.
LONG
Novels are longer than movies. A movie ends in two hours. A novel can take ten or twenty hours to read. That gives us more room to expand the plot, the setting and the characters.
I hope my humble thoughts on scripts vs. Novels are useful. Good luck with your script and novel.