Common Ground: Screenwriting Techniques To Transform Your Novel

A man wearing unusual rings is writing on paper. The post title "Screenwriting Techniques to Improve Your Novel" is superimposed on the side

by D.J. Williams, @djwilliams316

As an Executive Producer and Director in the TV industry, I understand the difficulty and challenge of transforming a novel into a visual experience on film. As a novelist, I’ve enjoyed the freedom of writing and storytelling without worrying about the limitations of turning those novels into a screenplay. Many of my readers have said, “Your books would make great movies.” I’m humbled each time I hear those words, but I’m also realistic about surviving in an ocean with sharks. Writing a novel and writing a screenplay are two different animals that don’t always play well together in the same body of water. So, if your dream is to write a novel in hopes you’ll get it optioned for film so a studio can spend millions of dollars producing your story, you might find yourself throwing a penny in a pond hoping to retrieve a pot of gold. Let’s just say, the odds are not in your favor. But there are techniques we can use as novelists to transform our stories that share common ground with screenwriters.

In my novels, The Disillusioned and Waking Lazarus, the chapters are written as scenes in a film as a way to keep readers engaged. Since my writing tends to be more visual, much like a screenwriter, I use this technique to keep the story moving forward at a quicker pace. I don’t want to bog readers down with pages of backstory, inner thoughts, or showcasing my writing prowess that leaves them trudging through a swamp. I’m not a literary genius like Tolstoy. I write commercial fiction, and what that means is I must use some of the same techniques as a screenwriter because we live in a visual age. Isn’t that how we want readers to respond? We want them to envision the world we’ve created, to connect with the characters, and to imagine where the story will lead. Our words on a page create a visual experience for our readers.

One huge advantages for novelists is we can take our time delving deeper into our characters’ thoughts and emotions. We can leave breadcrumbs of hidden clues, backstory, and reveal aspects of our characters’ storylines that maybe only the reader will know, most of which would never be played out on screen. And, you do this within a 380+ page book instead of a 120 page screenplay. But there is a downside, one we can avoid when using other screenwriting techniques.

Have you ever noticed how at around the thirty minute mark in a film there is a twist to the story? It’s that moment that leads us into the second act. A character makes a choice, faces a tragedy, or loses what they value most. In that scene the story goes deeper and keeps viewers on the edge of their seat. If we were to call this the thirty-minute rule for screenwriters, then we could define that technique as the crossroads chapter for novelists. While I won’t give away which chapter that might be in my novels, I will say that this chapter marker is a roadmap that leads me to the second act of my story. Why do this? For my writing style, it helps me know that the story is moving forward. I’m not simply writing chapters that bring nothing more to the story. The chapters leading up to the chapter that will remain unnamed, are centered on introducing readers into this world, revealing unique characters, and setting readers up for the plot twist.

In this scenario, the big difference between novels and screenplays is that in a screenplay you should only write what you see or hear on screen. Internal thoughts won’t work. Narration is tricky because it can slow the story down. Novelists can dive deeper into inner thoughts, longer dialogue, and more descriptive settings, but in either scenario, character and setting are still king. By the time you reach the thirty minutes, or the crossroads chapter, your characters and story should be in full affect. If the characters are flat, or the story isn’t progressing quick enough, then you know it’s time to go back and rework your first act.

One note to remember: as novelists we aren’t restricted by production budgets, so if we need to enhance our characters’ setting, or build a bigger more interesting world, then we can simply write that on the page rather than begging a studio to give us a bigger budget. That’s one of the challenges screenwriters have that novelists don’t. Screenwriters have to create a world and characters that fit within the overall production budget of a studio.

In this day and age another technique novelists can learn from screenwriters is to keep our stories concise. Reminders to move the story forward should be planted on our walls, computer screens, notebooks, and tattooed on our arms if necessary. If the story isn’t progressing then we’ll lose our readers. Too much backstory and we’ve lost them. Give too much information away in the beginning and our characters become less interesting. Writing chapters filled with inner thoughts, dream sequences, flashbacks, or sharing pieces of the story that won’t matter in the end forces readers to close the book, unless they are written in a concise way that adds momentum to our story. It’s why screenwriters are constantly cutting, scrutinizing every word of a script, because they only have so many pages to fit the story. Every scene. Every piece of dialogue. Ever word is weighed to make the screenplay as tight as possible. In the end, cutting in a screenplay makes for a better story. For novelists, we can learn a great deal from this technique. While some view editing as the process that is done to finalize the last draft of a novel so we can publish, the truth is that editing is an exercise where we’re constantly fine-tuning each chapter. Much like a screenplay, ruthless cutting/editing makes the novel shine.

While this is by no means all of the screenwriting techniques we can apply as novelists, they are common ground exercises that can enable us to transform our writing to become more effective storytellers.

Image of author D.J. Williams standing on a bridge

D.J. Williams: Currently based out of Los Angeles, Williams continues to add to his producing and directing credits of more than 350 episodes of broadcast TV syndicated worldwide by developing new projects for television, film and print.

Photos of books Waking Lazarus and The Disillusioned by D.J. Williams

Waking Lazarus 

Jake Harris’ life hasn’t turned out the way he planned. Battling his addictions, and the shattered pieces of his family, he is hired to ghostwrite a memoir. From the 1920’s story of a controversial evangelist, to the present day mystery of a former District Attorney, everything changes when his search for the truth leads to an atrocity hidden from history. With a past he can’t remember, he begins to discover that he is not the person he believed himself to be. Rather, he is a threat to a secret society that has remained in the shadows for nearly a century. Jake is drawn deep inside a world he never knew existed that brings him closer to his own extraordinary destiny.

This latest novel is accompanied by a full soundtrack. Williams has worked alongside composer, Jené Nicole Johnson, to create an enhanced reading experience that has not been done before in book publishing. The soundtrack has been customized to fit readers of all kinds, whether they read fast or slow. It is a groundbreaking addition to the series that is already receiving rave reviews.

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Photo via Kelly Sikkema via Visualhunt.com

Elizabeth Spann Craig

View posts by Elizabeth Spann Craig
Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series (as Riley Adams) and the Southern Quilting mysteries for Penguin and writes the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink and independently. She also has a blog, which was named by Writer’s Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers. There she posts on the writing craft, finding inspiration in everyday life, and fitting writing into a busy schedule.

9 Comments

  1. Alex J. CavanaughJanuary 16, 2017

    Well, Save the Cat is my favorite writing book…
    Like you, I write commercial fiction, plus I’m a bare bones writer. But I know tackling a screenplay is beyond what I could do.
    Congratulations on your success, DJ.

    1. D.J. WilliamsJanuary 16, 2017

      Thanks Alex! Good book choice!

  2. Margot KinbergJanuary 16, 2017

    This is really useful! I hadn’t thought about the realities of turning a story into a screenplay, but as you say, there are big differences, and it certainly can get tricky. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

    1. D.J. WilliamsJanuary 16, 2017

      Thanks Margot!

  3. L. Diane WolfeJanuary 16, 2017

    So much has to be cut from a novel to make a screenplay because every word does count. And a lot is lost in the process. I think that’s why so many book to movie translations fail. They need the treatment of a series instead of a two hour film.

    1. D.J. WilliamsJanuary 16, 2017

      Great insight!

  4. HilaryJanuary 17, 2017

    Hi Elizabeth and DJ – what an interesting post. I guess we could take a book, with a film, we enjoyed and compare the two to get a better idea of what you’re suggesting. Some films wander on by half an hour or so and could ‘hold off’, with books sometimes the ends aren’t ‘nicely’ tied up and again wander off to complete the story.

    Similar to writing a book – there are ways of doing it … short chapters, as they used to do in Victorian times, novellas, writing a series of linked ideas … memoir too …

    Thanks this was a great post – cheers Hilary

    1. D.J. WilliamsJanuary 17, 2017

      That’s a great idea. One that comes to mind is Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. If you were to watch the movie and read the book you’d see how the two relate, and also how these techniques help the storytelling throughout. Cheers! D.J.

  5. Fayr BarkleyJanuary 18, 2017

    Publishers today seem obsessed with word count. I don’t think every story worth writing warrants or is made better by higher word count. If “longer” meant “better ” we would not need two words. Bloating a manuscript to hit word count also means loads of editing when transposing the book to a screenplay. I find writing a concise synopsis of the screenplay prior to writing the screenplay makes it easier to stay organized and on course. Thanks for the article, DJ.! Fayr Barkley, Fayr Barkley Media.

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