So you want to turn your movie into a novel.

Here are my thoughts on scripts vs. novels.  These are by no means “rules”, merely my personal thoughts, but I hope you find them useful.

Movies are different from novels, so when novelizing a script, we should examine those differences.

 

THE BEGINNING

You've seen the movie trailer, and you're seated comfortably in the theatre, popcorn in hand.  The movie begins, and you lean back.  What are the odds you'll step out of the theatre now?  Slim to none.  You've already bought your ticket, and you'll probably give the movie at least fifteen minutes to get interesting.

With novels we don't have that luxury, especially if we're not a household name.  Editors and readers will often decide if to buy our book based on the first page.  Therefore, we must grab their attention immediately, right from the first sentence.  The opening must hook the reader, forcing him or her to keep reading.  If the first sentence, paragraph, or page are slow, we might lose the sale.

Your script's first scene might be slow and mood-setting, which could work great for a movie, but a novel should start with a bang.

 

SOUND EFFECTS

Sound is a major component in movies.  Sound affects can be powerful, whether they’re the shrieks of aliens, the ringing of swords, or booming explosions.

Novels, obviously, do not emit sound.  However, we can create “sound effects” with similes.  We can write that "monsters screeched like nails on a blackboard" or that "the dragon's flapping wings sounded like wobbling saws".  That way, we're describing sounds that the reader already knows.

 

MUSIC

Music is a major component in most movies, helping to set the mood.  Imagine "Star Wars" without John William's epic score, or “Psycho” without the creepy violins.

We cannot, obviously, add music to novels.  We can, however, add “music” by describing it.  We can write, “As the Trog raised his sword, angels sang" or "The goblins marched down the hill, beating their drums and chanting deeply".  Not as effective as a Williams score, but it can help.

Ultimately, we must rely on our writing to set the mood, without the aid of a score.  If we write powerfully enough, we won't need music.
 

VISUALS

Visuals are another component that novels (unless they are graphic novels) lack.  But visuals can be described.  You already have your script, so you probably have an idea of how every scene looks.

I often think of my scenes cinematically.  I imagine the way the scene might look in a movie, then describe it.  I have to “see” the scene before writing it.

And hey, a movie studio would spend a million dollars to create a computer-generated dragon.  In a novel, we can create one in a few sentences.  :)

POINT OF VIEW

So far, I’ve described components movies have and novels lack.  Novels, however, have a powerful tool unique to them.  Novels can describe characters’ thoughts.

In a movie, we’re seeing everything.  We’re passive observers.  But as a novelist, I can place the reader into a character’s head.  The reader will see through the character’s eyes, hear through his ears, even read his thoughts.  This is powerful.  It lets us explore characters’ hearts and minds in a way movies cannot.

Consider the following paragraph.

“Trog wandered the dungeon, hunger gnawing on his belly.  The dungeon smelled like rotten leaves and wet fur.  I wish I were home with my wife Molly, eating her apple pie, Trog thought.”

In a movie, we couldn’t show Trog’s hunger.  We couldn’t describe the stench of the dungeon.  We could perhaps see Trog holding his nose, but we still wouldn’t know that the place smelled like rotten leaves and wet fur.  Finally, we wouldn’t know that Trog wishes he were home with Molly, eating apple pie.

LENGTH

Novels are longer than movies.  A movie is over in two hours.  A novel might take ten or twenty hours to read.  That gives us more room to expand upon plot, setting, and characters.

I hope my humble thoughts on scripts vs. novels are useful.  Best of luck with your script and novel.