Is Screenwriting harder than Novel Writing or do the different mediums present challenges unique to their Story Forms?
When does a screenplay evolve from being a solitary creation to being a work of art? If this is possible, then what group of human beings are equipped to make this designation?
If we can adapt novels into screenplays and vice-versa, where is the chart or map designed to show what we lose in the translation?
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I find screenwriting easier, as it's what you see without internal monologue and there's less focus on pesky grammar! However; selling screenplays is harder than selling books, which in itself is near impossible.
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Hi Miquiel Banks , having written both, I have to say I find screenwriting easier, but for very specific reasons. The underlying requirement of writers in any format to create compelling stories driven out of true 360-degree characters is exactly the same. So the hardest part doesn't get easier.
BUT screenplays require far fewer words. So if you decide to make a major change, it's less actual verbal work. Re-doing 20k words is a tall order.
Also, if you appreciate feedback, as I do, it's much easier to get people to read a script than a fiction manuscript. So you actually get feedback, promptly, and without always having to pay for it.
Movie-making is also fundamentally more social, so you get a better social life during the writing process.
I love writing and I enjoy talking about it with others. Submitting to my screenwriting group and getting feedback is a lot more fun -- A LOT -- than writing novels by myself and sending them to literary agents in hope of any type of comment.
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I've written short stories, part of a novel, a radio play, etc. way back Miquiel Banks. I'm not sure if they're harder to write than scripts, but screenwriting is a lot more fun.
"When does a screenplay evolve from being a solitary creation to being a work of art?" I think a script is a work of art from the get-go, and it becomes a bigger work of art during production and post-production.
I'm not sure there is a way to show what we lose in the translation. Unless a writer compares the script to the book and vice versa.
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I believe that screenwriting is much harder than the novel form. A novel form has far more access to reality than a screenplay does. We only have visual and dialogue.
A novel has access to people’s internal dialogue as well as non-visual explanations. For example:
“Craig rolls listlessly in his bed. He knows dawn is only a few hours away. But he has suffered from bouts of insomnia from his childhood. He knows he will still be able to operate based on experience with sleepless nights”.
In a screenplay “Craig rolls listlessly in his bed”. Everything else is lost or we need to find other ways to bring it in. Which is more difficult than just stating it.
You can self publish a book on Amazon and be of the same quality as Stephen King. You can find an audience for virtually zero dollars. For a screenplay to become a movie available to the general public, someone has to spend millions of dollars, which is an added complexity or difficulty that novels do not have.
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Craig, if you can find an audience for virtually zero dollars; self-publishing on amazon, then I think there are a boat-ton of self-pub authors that would love to talk to you! :) It's possible and happens but the odds are not in your favor.
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Tom Schneider the qualifier is “quality of Stephen King”.
Rarely do you see professional drivers do multiple race circuits in the same year or career- F1, Nascar, drag racing. Generally ppl master one skill and the best of the best make the highest income, keep working, become global names.
IMO, there isn't enough human time to do both- in any occupation. Whether racing multiple cars or making movies & writing books.
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I'm thrown back to my grad school theory days! Great to see some talk about the different mediums that is neither right nor wrong.
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Some people can do both. I tried writing a book and gave up which is why I took up writing screenplays which I found easier for me. Everyone is different.
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I write both and they are different.
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Scott Frank describes screenwriting as a blue collar job - creating within a structure on a time table - with novel writing being a much more open form where a writer must fill in every moment in what can be 300+ pages of prose. It's an interesting take from one of the best to ever do it. Somehow it makes creating art within a screenplay structure seem that much more of an accomplishment to me even if Frank meant something a little different or more self-effacing.
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I wrote a novel and then decided to adapt it for the screen (WIP). A new challenge, and I have fallen in love with script writing way more than novel writing - I will never go back !
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"Show, don't tell" says it all for me Miquiel Banks. It's what makes screenwriting so challenging and rewarding. Write on!