From screenplay to novel – what’s in the first draft
Well, the first draft of this latest ghostwriting gig is very nearly all done and delivered to the client.
The goal for the novel was a minimum of 55,000 words. The client will then take it over and do their own final polish and edits, maybe adding still more to the story.
It’s based on a completed screenplay. And since we’re starting with a screenplay, we have a head start, right? The core of the plot, the theme, the big action set pieces are in place, along with the characters.
But a feature screenplay is not literary fiction. By design, it has little narrative description beyond what’s necessary for the screen, and there’s no place for internal dialogues.
A novel, on the other hand, has lots more room for subplots and stylistics.
And a screenplay’s only going to be around 25-30,000 words. That varies a lot depending on how much white space there is, if it’s light or heavy on dialogue, etc. But it’s a ballpark. This particular script came in at almost 24,000 words.
So before writing, to make that 55,000 words reachable, the client suggested a series of new scenes and subplots to add that would flesh out the story. Especially elements of character backgrounds, and corporate espionage that required some research to make believable.
Once the actual writing was happening, pretty much everything in the screenplay was used — plot structure, scenes, etc. Lots of the dialogue was rewritten (the client pointed that out as a weakness from the outset) and some action sequences were rearranged, but most of it made the transition to be used somewhere in the book.
However, not all the “new ideas” ended up working. Once I’d fleshed out the characters, their backstories, and their motivations a little deeper those new ideas were hard to integrate. Sometimes they didn’t make sense for who the characters were. Sometimes they didn’t make logistical sense, because the storyworld just didn’t allow for them.
Other ideas, however, took their place. So I’d say around 65-70% of the new concepts made it in, the rest were heavily edited or removed in favor of better ideas.
In the end, the rough draft landed at closer to 47,000 words. That’s a little slight, but now the client will give feedback, we’ll do a pass to integrate their notes, and make a final pass that’ll likely get us to the 55,000 goal we were looking for.
I’m happy with the way the story sorted out, and looking forward to the next steps to really make it shine!
If you’re interested in what I do, you can check out this page for more information. 🙂
Chip Street - Writey Guy 