One of my first screenplay attempts landed on the desk of a producer who said, "I'd like to read this as a novel (for teenagers)." And so I adapted it thusly. And got it published here in Canada. "Smoke that Thunders." Then it got optioned by a film company in Vancouver, complete with L.A. director attached. Never made. Today I've just finished a novel, "How to Steal a Rolls-Royce," which I call 'a movie for the teenager in all of us.' It's a novel about a kid who takes refuge from the madness of our times by imaging himself an actor in a movie. Anyway, point is, novel or screenplay, the line has blurred for me... now the point becomes: will that blurry line work and will it sell and will I be cancelled because it's way too politically incorrect? Yikes. The writing life, what fun!
I plan to use my screenplay, Transition Zone (TZ), as the backbone of a novel. My question is ... To what extent can/should I incorporate backstories in the novel? The antagonist's backstory is particularly interesting. TZ is a romantic adventure feature located where the Amazon meets the. Andes in Peru. It's Indiana Jones meets Romancing the Stone. FYI: I am 73 and recently retired from 40+ years as a college professor. I think my unique experiences could be valued as compared to the thousands of young people who have written scripts. I was born in the Ozarks, raised in New Mexico's isolated ranch country and then a small town. I love visual storytelling!
One of my first screenplay attempts landed on the desk of a producer who said, "I'd like to read this as a novel (for teenagers)." And so I adapted it thusly. And got it published here in Canada. "Smoke that Thunders." Then it got optioned by a film company in Vancouver, complete with L.A. director attached. Never made. Today I've just finished a novel, "How to Steal a Rolls-Royce," which I call 'a movie for the teenager in all of us.' It's a novel about a kid who takes refuge from the madness of our times by imaging himself an actor in a movie. Anyway, point is, novel or screenplay, the line has blurred for me... now the point becomes: will that blurry line work and will it sell and will I be cancelled because it's way too politically incorrect? Yikes. The writing life, what fun!
I plan to use my screenplay, Transition Zone (TZ), as the backbone of a novel. My question is ... To what extent can/should I incorporate backstories in the novel? The antagonist's backstory is particularly interesting. TZ is a romantic adventure feature located where the Amazon meets the. Andes in Peru. It's Indiana Jones meets Romancing the Stone. FYI: I am 73 and recently retired from 40+ years as a college professor. I think my unique experiences could be valued as compared to the thousands of young people who have written scripts. I was born in the Ozarks, raised in New Mexico's isolated ranch country and then a small town. I love visual storytelling!