Novel in Script Format

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Gale Haut

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Has anyone here ever attempted using the screenplay format with lots of tweaks for writing a novel? I'm not talking about just writing a screenplay, but something interstitial between the two.

I've seen it done once before, differently than how I'm doing it. But I'm not sure how disconcerting it can be for a reader. Would this be a major turn off for most people?
 

Dawnstorm

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Complete with handwritten notes and coffee stains?

Mixed with other types of text?

There's a lot you can do with the format. It's quite interesting, actually. Rather than turn me off, I'd take a closer look. I mean it stands out typographically already.

I'm guessing that most people who regularly attend this forum will share this sentiment.
 

Gale Haut

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The handwritten notes, that's something I'm already doing.

But the format itself is more a representation of how the character sees the world.

I'm worried that I'm relying too much on a reader being familiar with the format.
 

Dawnstorm

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The handwritten notes, that's something I'm already doing.

But the format itself is more a representation of how the character sees the world.

I'm worried that I'm relying too much on a reader being familiar with the format.

Well, I haven't read many scripts, so I wouldn't say I'm familiar with the format. I'm pretty confident, though, that I'd figure it out. That's half the fun of reading.

If you find that your test readers don't get it, there are probably ways to address the problem without abandoning the format. (Maybe a fictional editorial layer? I'm talking in the abstract here.)

The worries about relying on one thing or other too much, I think, is something that many "interstitial" authors struggle with. We're using elements from different formats/genres/... Ideally, that'll lead to a broad readership, but potentially it loses them all.

Texts often imply an ideal reader. And that's often a very specific profile for interstitial texts. Very few ideal readers. Thus the hope lies with people who read around. They don't need to fit the profile; they just need to be willing to adopt it while reading.

Interstitial texts pretty much require active readers.

My solution? Don't worry too much and write. (Not that I'm that unconventional most of the time...)
 

Gale Haut

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Well, I haven't read many scripts, so I wouldn't say I'm familiar with the format. I'm pretty confident, though, that I'd figure it out. That's half the fun of reading.

If you find that your test readers don't get it, there are probably ways to address the problem without abandoning the format. (Maybe a fictional editorial layer? I'm talking in the abstract here.)

The worries about relying on one thing or other too much, I think, is something that many "interstitial" authors struggle with. We're using elements from different formats/genres/... Ideally, that'll lead to a broad readership, but potentially it loses them all.

Texts often imply an ideal reader. And that's often a very specific profile for interstitial texts. Very few ideal readers. Thus the hope lies with people who read around. They don't need to fit the profile; they just need to be willing to adopt it while reading.

Interstitial texts pretty much require active readers.

My solution? Don't worry too much and write. (Not that I'm that unconventional most of the time...)

Soooo helpful. Thanks! :)
 

graywillow

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Has anyone here ever attempted using the screenplay format with lots of tweaks for writing a novel? I'm not talking about just writing a screenplay, but something interstitial between the two.

I've seen it done once before, differently than how I'm doing it. But I'm not sure how disconcerting it can be for a reader. Would this be a major turn off for most people?

I sat here thinking of an example, and I can't, though I *know* there are some like this. Something in this vein (though it's a radical example) would be Danielewski's HOUSE OF LEAVES -- it's a hunk of a book, but utterly, utterly brilliant.

It wouldn't be a turn-off for me, this kind of format, but like anything that weaves, say, poetry or photographs or whatever crazy thing writers come up with -- :) -- it would have to be done flawlessly.

Good luck!!!
 

Cybernaught

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I'm reminded of Ulysses, where Joyce tells of Leopold Bloom's excursion in Nighttown through a stage play format. It's a pretty wild chapter in its own right.
 

Gale Haut

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Walter Dean Myers did it in Monster. But it's not even vaguely similar to the way I'm doing it.

I have to be honest, I've never read Ulysses. I'm a very bad English major.
 

Mutive

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I think it depends. I regularly read plays (and yes, sometimes screen plays) for fun, so I'd be up for it. That said, if you're going for a conventional readership (which it doesn't look like you are, but what the heck), I'd probably convert it to a more standard format.
 

Gale Haut

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That's what I'm wondering. How familiar is your run of the mill reader with screenplay format, and do you need to be familiar with it to read a piece of writing that's plays around with it?
 

Cybernaught

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I doubt the average reader will be too familiar with the screenplay format. You might want to download a free formatting program like Celtx and play around with your chapter in that.
 

Ria13

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I doubt the average reader will be too familiar with the screenplay format. You might want to download a free formatting program like Celtx and play around with your chapter in that.
Scrivener has a screenwriting template that you can use with it. (as well, Scrivener has a lot to recommend about it in general.)
 

Gale Haut

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Scrivener has a screenwriting template that you can use with it. (as well, Scrivener has a lot to recommend about it in general.)

That's true, but Celtx had what I needed and the only investment I needed to make was $3 for a distraction free (read: black background) full-screen mode.
 

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I don't think many readers have read screenplays, so no worries there. The only thing you might want to watch out for is that for many people, the only time they've read something in a different format, such as a play, was in school. People tend to hold pretty strong opinions about things they've done in school, so it may instantly attract some people but scare off others. But it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

It sounds like a good idea in my opinion. I'd love to read it.
 

ChaosFollowing

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Requiem for a Nun is Faulkner's part novel, part play.

Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun has a small example where the protagonist is briefly thrust into playing the part of an actor...the performance is written in script-form.

As for reader response, I can only give my own opinion, which is that I don't connect to a script in the same way I do to a traditional narrative, even by the same author. I still read it though.
 

scifi_boy2002

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Sometimes I think I should write a screenplay. My novels read like a screenplay. My writing style is is geared more to a movie than a book. I wrote a screen play around twenty years ago and it was a screwball comedy. It was outdated, much like my novels are, and I never tried to sell it. But I do like writing novels better because it just flows better while writing it.
 

Maryn

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(Why didn't I see this earlier?) Gale, get yourself a copy of WestWorld. I bought it without opening it, and was surprised that I'd purchased a script. (The movie did not appear for several years after that.) Crichton apparently decided the story was so visual that it worked best in screenplay format, and his publisher went along.

I do remember finding it disconcerting at first, but once I got into it, it was a fast read, taking right about as long as it took to watch the movie which came out a few years later.

Maryn, wondering if she still has it
 

frimble3

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Has anyone here ever attempted using the screenplay format with lots of tweaks for writing a novel? I'm not talking about just writing a screenplay, but something interstitial between the two.

I've seen it done once before, differently than how I'm doing it. But I'm not sure how disconcerting it can be for a reader. Would this be a major turn off for most people?

I don't think many readers have read screenplays, so no worries there. The only thing you might want to watch out for is that for many people, the only time they've read something in a different format, such as a play, was in school. People tend to hold pretty strong opinions about things they've done in school, so it may instantly attract some people but scare off others. But it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Most people may not have read full-on screenplays, but they've probably had some exposure to playscripts in school. Media/pop culture magazines like EntertainmentWeekly sometimes have a bit of script-format as an illustration. I'd bet that most people would recognise the format: Name, colon, speech, other name, colon, other speech.
I'd skip a professionally formatted screenplay in favour of a simplified format, though. And, is there some way to introduce or explain what you're doing, to sort of prepare readers for what they're about to see?

I have no idea what your story is like or about, but I can think of a couple of stories where screenplay (or a hybrid) would be an interesting choice:
MC has an adventure, and this is the movie they made of it (this would be good if there was some conflict between what actually happened and how the scriptwriter has interpreted it).
Movies are influencing or reflecting the MC's life, and snippets serve to emphasise this.
Story (any genre) takes place in Hollywood, and, again, the screenplay format emphasises it.

Good luck with it, sounds interesting.
 

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I'm not sure about the idea, I write screenplays but still find them tedious to read. A hybrid format might work but it depends on the story...

However, Aldous Huxley's book Ape and Essence was screenplay-ish. The way he wrote it might be a useful model for you - it's been a long time since I read it, but I remember there being camera directions and so on in it. Probably more than there are in actual screenplays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape_and_Essence
 
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scifi_boy2002

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I wrote a screenplay years before I attempted writing novels. It was a screwball comedy called It All Comes Out In The Wash. It is about some young men who inadvertently find a stash of stolen bank money in a washer they just purchased for a new business. In the end both the bank robbers and FBI chase them.

I enjoyed it, but it did not flow like writing a novel does. As Wilde at heart said, it is tedious. My novel writing does reflect my "movie" style of writing. I think my work would translate well to a script format. I don't really want to go that route, but who knows.
 

PaulLev

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I've seen talk here and there about writers self-publishing their screenplays for Kindle - those that have not been optioned, etc. That's of course a bit different from what the OP asked, which was writing something in script format which is not intended to be made into a movie, TV show, or brought to the stage. Still, if self-published screenplays start getting traction as ebooks, it could open up a new form for fiction presentation.
 
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