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A Story Told in Two Different Mediums
Jul. 9th, 2006 08:16 amI've written screenplays and I've written novels. Occasionally, I manage a novella, and on RARE occasions, even a short story has been known to come from my keyboard.
Each one is different in its own way. Each one takes a different plotting ability. Each one takes a different writing ability. Each one takes a different vision.
For me. Maybe other people are different.
I have screenplays that I've wanted to novelize. I have several started and one finished. I've complained on many occasions that it's too short (at 200 pages) and skeletal and that it needs some meat to fatten it up.
Which, considering how long-winded I normally am, sounds odd. I've tried on a number of occasions to change the plot of the story, to figure out where I should go off on character development or side plots. Where a new plot thread might fight in. But, never have quite figured out how to pull it off in a satisfying manner.
So, it has been of great interest and benefit to me to take my current story, A Million Shades of Light, and commit it into two forms at once...screenplay and novel.
The two are the same basic thrust of story, and yet, they are NOTHING alike.
Screenplay form appeals to the senses in a visual medium. Everything is omniscient. The only way we can get into a character's head is through their actions and their words and their interactions/responses to others and their environment, the situations in which they find themselves.
Novel form appeals to the senses in a mental medium. There can be so much more emotion, so much more bonding with the characters, so much more depth to the story itself. The backstory behind the story can effuse the story with additional life that the screenplay requires visual and dialogue for. (And, I guess, great acting, which the screenwriter has NOTHING to do with.)
This has been a great learning experience for me and given me new respect for people with the ability to adapt novels into screenplays. I understand, now, why they cannot include certain aspects of a story, why they don't translate well to the screen.
I can see things that I would like to include in the screenplay that would only be excess baggage, but that will add depth and meaning to the novel.
It will be very interesting to compare the two more thoroughly when I'm done. All key, major events will be paralleled in the two. And, yet, in a way, they'll almost be different stories because there will be subplots that won't translate to the screenplay because of time and the fact that they aren't necessary to tell the SCREEN story, an entirely visual retelling of the plot.
Which do I like better?
I love them both. I love exploring the story through different mediums and learning, from each, how to make the story BETTER!
It's almost like a variation on plotting that allows me to see the story through different eyes and choose the aspects that belong in each version, while using them to help me develop the counterpart.
It's a really great experience, one I hope to grow from, and one I hope to pursue again.
It probably won't work with each story I have to tell, but this particular one fit into both mediums really well.
Each one is different in its own way. Each one takes a different plotting ability. Each one takes a different writing ability. Each one takes a different vision.
For me. Maybe other people are different.
I have screenplays that I've wanted to novelize. I have several started and one finished. I've complained on many occasions that it's too short (at 200 pages) and skeletal and that it needs some meat to fatten it up.
Which, considering how long-winded I normally am, sounds odd. I've tried on a number of occasions to change the plot of the story, to figure out where I should go off on character development or side plots. Where a new plot thread might fight in. But, never have quite figured out how to pull it off in a satisfying manner.
So, it has been of great interest and benefit to me to take my current story, A Million Shades of Light, and commit it into two forms at once...screenplay and novel.
The two are the same basic thrust of story, and yet, they are NOTHING alike.
Screenplay form appeals to the senses in a visual medium. Everything is omniscient. The only way we can get into a character's head is through their actions and their words and their interactions/responses to others and their environment, the situations in which they find themselves.
Novel form appeals to the senses in a mental medium. There can be so much more emotion, so much more bonding with the characters, so much more depth to the story itself. The backstory behind the story can effuse the story with additional life that the screenplay requires visual and dialogue for. (And, I guess, great acting, which the screenwriter has NOTHING to do with.)
This has been a great learning experience for me and given me new respect for people with the ability to adapt novels into screenplays. I understand, now, why they cannot include certain aspects of a story, why they don't translate well to the screen.
I can see things that I would like to include in the screenplay that would only be excess baggage, but that will add depth and meaning to the novel.
It will be very interesting to compare the two more thoroughly when I'm done. All key, major events will be paralleled in the two. And, yet, in a way, they'll almost be different stories because there will be subplots that won't translate to the screenplay because of time and the fact that they aren't necessary to tell the SCREEN story, an entirely visual retelling of the plot.
Which do I like better?
I love them both. I love exploring the story through different mediums and learning, from each, how to make the story BETTER!
It's almost like a variation on plotting that allows me to see the story through different eyes and choose the aspects that belong in each version, while using them to help me develop the counterpart.
It's a really great experience, one I hope to grow from, and one I hope to pursue again.
It probably won't work with each story I have to tell, but this particular one fit into both mediums really well.
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