Are You Writing a Book or a Movie?
Writing a book requires a different approach than writing a movie. Each medium has different strengths, particularly with viewpoint. In his book on screenwriting, George Lucas briefly discusses the difference in approach between writing a movie or a book. Since this question lies at the heart of so many problems that I see with new […]
Bringing Your IP to Film
Every few months I normally have a producer or three who will call inquiring about film rights for one of my books, usually the Runelords series. It has been under option with one producer or another now for fifteen years. But by far the most interest came up recently when Jess Bezos at Amazon announced […]
Dealing with Movie Producers
Many new writers imagine that they’ll never have to worry about having movie producers come knocking at the door, but that’s a big mistake. You see, by nature, movie producers are always looking for story material, and most of the time that material is created by other storytellers, either screenwriters or novelists, but sometimes short […]
The Key to Making Your Book Better than the Movie
You’ve all experienced this: you went to a movie that was based on a book, and on the way out of the theater you heard the comments from others: “Oh, the book was soooo much better!” There are two reasons why this is almost always true: The book is far more immersive than the film. It allows […]
Are You Writing a Book, or a Movie?
As a novelist, you’re most likely to tell a story in a way that your audience will experience it. In other words, you will typically stick to one or two viewpoints for major characters. You’ll tell us how the story unfolds making sure to use all of the senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, feel—and you’ll also touch deeply on the internal thoughts and feelings of your character. By doing this, you can maximize the strengths of the novel as a storytelling medium.