Writing can be tough. People think writing is just putting your thoughts down on paper and voilá! Sometimes my thoughts are too jumbled to be able to put them together in a coherent sentence. It has taken me a long time to just get this blog post written.
I’ve been working to gather my thoughts on what to do with my new story idea. At first, I thought about having it be my second novella or first novel to publish, but as I look over the story and start to figure out the details it’s beginning to come to me as a film. I’m sort of surprised because lately I’ve been writing short stories and other works of fictions. So, it’s a bit exciting to think that I’ll be writing a new script!
Check out a preview of its synopsis on my patreon! (You need be a patron to read it and it’s available to all tiers!)
Someone asked me how I know when I want it to be a fiction novel or a screenplay. I tried to explain it like this: If I can visualize it better than describe it, I feel that it’s best to be written as a screenplay. I’m going to explain it a little further here.
When I was in high school, I used to write a lot. I would write fiction, but I kept visualizing each paragraph as different scenes, each with its own camera angles and cuts during the dialogue. When I learned how to write screenplays, it felt like every story I wanted to write had that visual in my head. It made it easier for me to write everything out in script format and I just took off from there.
After college, I was having a really hard time getting out what I wanted in my scripts. I felt like I had the technique, the setting, the characters, and the dialogue, but I was losing the story. That’s why I returned to writing fiction.
In fiction, there’s a part of it where you can really get into the heart of the story. The in depth details and the inner monologues that you don’t get in films. Every screenplay I’ve written always fell flat in the overall story category and I hope now that I’ve been writing straight fiction for a year, I’ll be able to work on a compelling award-winning screenplay.
After reading Harry Potter for the first time a few years ago, I noticed what I’ve been missing from just watching the films. I was amazed at all the extra details that went unnoticed or unmentioned. Now when we have a Harry Potter Marathon I’m constantly pointing out what parts of the book should have been inserted into the film. Especially those extra scenes that would allow the characters relationships make more sense! I finally get why my sister was so upset all these years.
This is all still a work in progress, though. It may end up being a novel and a script! Look at me putting more work on myself! All in all, the thing that matters is that I’m writing something new! I’ve been tirelessly editing and working on rewrites for my novella and short story anthology that it is nice to be working on something else for a change.
Thanks for reading!
-Emi
Did this post inspire you? Have you wondered what format you should do your story in? Tell me in the comments below!