Writing a novel takes time. Writing a good one takes patience and having a successful one almost feels like luck, though it can happen under the right circumstances.
Now I’m finding myself in a new territory: Screenplays.
I haven’t even finished editing my latest two novels, but I grew curious of the what if: What if I started adapting Volatile and Skepticism into screenplays. Both books have been out eight years now.
As I get into fiction writing, editing, I’m also coming from a period where I’ve done more technical writing and basic, mundane emailing that comes with working with clients. Screenplays are another beast.
They’re shorter, more direct and concise, and they come with time constraints. That means getting rid of a lot of internal thoughts, unnecessary descriptions, scenes and sometimes even characters.
I’m learning to think more like a director or actor. It helps that when I was twenty, I took an acting class, and in high school I participated in our school play. Those experiences help me think about a story from the actor’s perspective. I also took a fiction writing course my junior year of college and attended writing workshops at my local community college a year before.
Each art has its own form and subforums.
I come from the land of books, especially contemporary fiction, urban fantasy, and fantasy, so delving into screen adaptations is new territory, but it’s fun. I’m trying not to take it too seriously while I learn.
I plan to pitch the screenplays when I’m finished and confident in them. Maybe they’ll go somewhere. Maybe the process will simply inspire me to more screenplays. Breaking into screenwriting may be twice as hard as getting an agent or traditionally published, maybe even harder than getting a part as an actress, which is something I considered but never pursued.
So, we’ll see.
For now, it’s a new chapter in my writing life, and I’m enjoying being a beginner again.