The same, but different

Wouldn't it be great if your book were made into a movie? Wouldn't it be great if your screenplay were adapted into a novel, so people could read it?

Sure. But are you prepared for the changes that adaptation to for from print and/or screen will make to your story?

I've worked on a few screenplay-to-novel adaptations. Those projects are great fun, but the sceenwriters don't necessarily understand what's missing from their screenplays: primarily description and action. In TV and movies, "show vs. tell" is actually displayed in action on the silver screen. One need not be told a character moves from inside the house to his or her workplace, because it's shown on the screen. Movies and TV involve the two senses of vision and hearing. We see what's going on and we hear what's going on. Explanation is not required.

Books, however, ride the fine line between boring readers with too much description and frustrating them with not enough description. Effective description hints, alludes, implies, and otherwise states key descriptive traits, allowing the reader to use his or her imagination to fill in the blanks.

When a story meant for the screen is adapted to book form for reading, everything the viewer once saw and heard becomes imaginary in that the reader must now "hear" the dialogue and sound effects and "see" the details and action in the mind. There are no crutches the reader can use beyond the author's words and his or her own imagination. Therefore, adapting a screenplay into a manuscript means adding a lot of detail, possibly adding characters and subplots, and even dialogue to connect those details.

Adapting what's intended for video to book often requires enriching the story with information and explanation not included in the script.

Likewise, adapting a book to TV or film means incorporating much of the author's descriptive details into the set, dropping plot details too finicky for video, and sometimes ignoring what's in the book. The screenwriter may add or subtract characters from the book and veer away from the storyline to make the story more appealing onscreen.

I recognized this tendency toward diversion when I was a youngster and saw The Black Stallion . I'd read the book (indeed, the series ) by Walter Farley years before the movie came out. I immediately noted some discrepancies. In the book, Alec's uncle dies; in the movie, his father dies. In the book, Alec wears Henry Daily's old racing silks; in the movie, Alec gets fancy new silks for the big race.

More recently, I have watched and read the Spenser series (Robert B. Parker), the Harry Potters series (J. K. Rowling), the Longmire series (Craig Johnson), the Twin Pines series (Louise Penny), and the Bridgerton series (Julia Quinn). All three veer substantially and substantively from the books, yet I enjoyed them both.

I no longer compare the books to the movies, because I know to expect myriad discrepancies. Only the most important details will remain: the protagonists, some important secondary characters, and the story's end. The Black wins the race. Spenser, Walt Longmire, and Armand Gamach solve the mysteries. Daphne Bridgerton and her siblings find their happily-ever-afters.

I have learned these discrepancies do not diminish my enjoyment of either the books or the screen adaptations. I now enjoy them for what they are.

If you have a book you want adapted to film or a screenplay you want adapted into a book, then be prepared for your audience to notice the changes. The more skillfully those changes are integrated, the better your audience will accept them and appreciate them.

If you're looking for a ghostwriter to adapt your screenplay into a novel, let's talk.

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