For those of us who live and breathe storytelling through novels, memoirs, or nonfiction, the idea of adapting our written work into a screenplay or limited series can feel both thrilling and overwhelming. You know your characters inside and out, your plot arcs are mapped with care, and the world you’ve created lives vividly on the page. But how do you take all of that and reshape it for the screen?
Whether you’re just starting to consider adaptation or knee-deep in formatting, I’d love to hear your experience:
Have you adapted one of your books for film or TV?
What were the biggest surprises or challenges in the process?
If you haven’t taken that step yet, what’s holding you back?
Let’s open up the conversation: what advice would you offer a fellow author considering adapting their work for the screen?
And if you’re looking for tools to get started, Stage 32 has some great resources on screenwriting, adaptation, and development right here:
https://www.stage32.com/education/collections/screenwriting
Let’s learn from each other and keep the creative momentum going!
3 people like this
Great question Ashley Renee Smith - I've adapted two books into screenplays and the best advice I can give anyone is to be patient with themselves and be willing to let go of things. By being patient, I mean taking the time to learn the craft of screenwriting before putting "pen to paper". Learn the formatting inside and out. That's one of the challenges that I think some forget because it's not as crucial in novel writing as it is in screenplays. "Letting go" means tightening those descriptions and using an economy of words to best describe a scene. There will be some things in the novel that won't be in the screenplay as well. Those things may sound like a burden but once you get a really good grip on formatting for example, the writing becomes so much more enjoyable. So novelists, don't hate on formatting.
3 people like this
I've adapted four. It's SO hard to figure out how to condense a book into a pilot or screenplay! I start by doing a cut and paste from the book to screenplay format, expecting it to be too long and unwieldy. I cut from there. And EXPAND. Some day, I plan on redoing the books and adding some of the scenes/characters that I developed by doing the screenplay.
3 people like this
Hello Debra. My book is less than 250 pages. However, it is my life story and all that I survived. Do you have time to take on a new project these days?