by GAME.co.uk
Question by Madison 3:16 Anderson Rhodes: Is there a difference in the way a screenwriter would write and a novelist?
Or are they pretty much the same, but just a different type of outline and finished product. Does the screenwriter have less or more detail?
I’m asking because I just tried starting another novel, but from the looks of how I just naturally wrote it…it might be a screenwriters outline…since I’m having trouble getting it into novel form…shall I try getting it into a complete screenwriters form? Does that even make sense? lol
Best answer:
Answer by truefirstedition
A screenwriter is going to tell you the stage directions: “John enters.”
A novelist is going to “show” you what’s happening: “I turned around as John came into the room.”
If you’ve never seen a screenplay before, just stop by your local bookstore and browse through the film section (not the DVDs, I’m talking about the section of books about film) – any big bookstore should have some screenplay anthologies. Flip through a couple of the books and you should be able to see right away what a screenplay looks like, as opposed to a novel.
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