It’s important for a writer to learn about their craft wherever they can, for most this takes the form of studying the work of successful authors or flicking through a creative writing textbook. But one less obvious source is the script and screen. While today’s progression normally follows a successful book being adapted for a film, you can learn a lot from the methodology of scriptwriting that can help to improve your writing in your novel. For those who haven’t seen a properly laid out script before, it looks something like this:
Whether it’s the final draft of the new Stars Wars film in Hollywood or an indie filmmaker’s pitch for funding, this will be the industry standard format. To set it out properly requires specialised software, usually Final Draft or Celtx, which have the layout settings pre-programmed in. As you can see there are obvious differences in the format to a novel, yet many of the techniques that scriptwriters use can be brought to bear on our books. For instance, the tendency to “kill our darlings” in fiction is nothing compared to the ruthless cutting you’ll find in script meetings and editing rooms. Scriptwriting software is designed so that one page of the text will roughly equate to a minute of screen time, so there’s no room for non-essential words, everything must have a purpose.
This is partly to help manage the pacing, to aid in control, and for reasons of budget. But it also serves to ensure quality with every line being scrutinised – is this the best way we could say it, could we cut it down, could it flow better? Now in terms of volume it can be much more time consuming to apply this to a novel, but it’s great to develop that attitude beforehand. Obviously novel writers don’t have to be so draconian about their work; we have much more space to play with, but it never hurts to cut down the fat and make sure the story moves well. It’s the scriptwriter attitude that does the work, keeping that mentality at the forefront of your mind during the first draft, working out the best way to write a scene, could save you hours of editing time later and improve the overall quality of your work.
Looking at the section above, we can see this technique in effect in things like the scene description, there is enough detail to give a director instructions on how to construct a set and what props to use, but nothing excessive. A writer can use this method to improve their description and not get bogged down, slowing the pace. Think about what your reader needs to see, any important features that might be relevant later, what they need to create a mental image. Again don’t go too far with this method, novel writers don’t have a budget, we get to use the brain cells of our readers when making a world come to life, so don’t stint on the detail when justified.
Another useful scriptwriting technique is the method by which they introduce characters in scripts, the ideal intro is a snappy one-liner that reveals a bit about the character’s nature and is entertaining to read. This is designed to appeal to directors reading the script, give them a character concept to visualise, and provide them with a quick bio to aid in casting the actor who will play the character. In books we can really get into a character’s head and often see a much more in depth view than in film, so it might be hard to see what benefits this technique will offer. Aside from creating a nice opening when you introduce a main character, this technique can help flesh out the book when introducing the rest of the cast. The ability to deliver a witty intro sentence when encountering a supporting character will liven up the writing and help to make a relatively mundane meeting into something entertaining.
In a novel you also have the benefit of showing the meeting from your protagonist’s P.O.V with their opinions feeding into the narrative. Look at the intro for Victor above, consider if a novel had just written:
Tellan walked into the lab, looking around the darkened room till he spied the shady alchemist hunched in the corner, the robed figure waved him over.
It’s an okay sentence, it identifies the character and sets up the meeting but nothing stands out about it. The intro in the script is more interesting and reveals his character in a more natural sounding way. Let’s try that intro from Tellan’s P.O.V:
Tellan walked into the lab, looking around till he spied Victor hunched in the corner. The alchemist was a twisted old spider with a heart as black as his front teeth. Victor turned to beckon him over with a thankfully rare smile and Tellan felt nauseous just looking at the man.
Already it’s much more memorable and the writing flows better. Whether it’s a secondary character or just a bit player in a single scene, this technique can make your characters stand out and give the writing more flair.
Scripts rely a lot more on dialogue, you can probably find hundreds of guides online teaching you how to do it well for scriptwriting because it’s so important. The layout of scriptwriting software means it’s really easy to analyse the work and look for things like pacing and flow. One key aspect to go for is to make the dialogue seem natural, no back and forth “ping pong” dialogue or formal speech patterns. The script section above has one garrulous character chatting away to the more taciturn Victor, have a listen in a public place and you’ll see how many conversations are like this. More than just the words, the format can reveal things about the character, like maybe Victor only replies in monosyllabic grunts because he’s irritated or busy? Maybe Tellan never shuts up, as part of his character design he’s always babbling on in every scene? Use a scriptwriter’s eye to go over your dialogue and look for ways to improve it, admittedly it’s more difficult with the paragraphs in a novel, but you should still be able to spot places to better it.
Novels often have a problem with exposition, telling the reader too much, dropping info dumps, or getting bogged down. Scripts are excellent at moving the story along with dialogue as a way to keep the pace.
The above section reveals a lot about the plans of the two characters; the reason for Tellan’s trip, the assassination plot, overthrowing a city with the help of an outside force. All this imparted in less than a hundred words. The scene also serves to plant a sinister impression of the Krevlin, hinting at something more than mundane soldiers. This technique can be used very effectively in a book, but needs moderation, too much dialogue and your novel will become a transcript, you have just as much choice for action to move the story.
The average script is around ninety minutes, and so around ninety pages, this makes pacing very important. In such a short space there will be multiple acts, triumphs and failures, the build-up and final climax. It’s easier to see where a story falls short in such a small stack of pages, especially when contrasted to the epic novels of fantasy. But there’s no reason you can’t study scripts to help improve the pace of your book. Try to imagine them as a condensed novel – look at the techniques used to keep the story exciting and flowing well. Whether it’s an obstacle in the hero’s path, a sudden twist to a scene or love-interest subplot, look at how long it lasts for, how it changes the narrative, then you can simply resize it to fit with your work.
For all these techniques, writing a novel requires a different approach to writing a script, but learning the techniques will help to improve your craft, so you can adapt them to the situation. I’ve been to scriptwriting workshops that have helped me transform basic, functional scenes into much tighter, better written ones, and more importantly, taught me the difference between them. It’s something that can easily cross to other writing. Also, if you do well enough, your story might end up on the screen someday, and it never hurts to be prepared. Action!
Richard Marpole
Jennie Ivins