Guess who’s simultaneously panicking and thinking, “I’ve got this in the bag?” If you guessed “This Sushi” you’d be correct. You’d think that adapting my own novel would be a piece of cake. I’ve already written the thing and am well on my way to making it good. So why would a script of the same novel be difficult at all? Shouldn’t an adaptation of my own work be considered taking the easy way out?
That’s what I thought until I considered every book that had ever been made into a movie. I usually prefer the book to the movie. This bias especially holds if I read the book first. The reason I find myself preferring the book to the movie is because the book often contains plotlines and character development and little quirks that the movie doesn’t have time to go into. Scenes get cut. Characters get cut. Twists get changed. Yes, this means your favorites.
These cuts may be good for my adaptation, though. I’m adopting the policy that if it’s boring in the script, it’ll definitely be boring in the book. There are several one-person scenes I’m still undecided about, and they most likely won’t make it into the script because nothing happens in them. They may or may not get cut from the novel if I can’t think of a good way to rewrite them, and let’s face it. I probably won’t think of a good way.
Now to the big reason I’m nervous. I still haven’t thought of a good way to tie the second half of the novel together yet. Given my Script Frenzy track record of always finishing on the last day, this shouldn’t be a problem for at least a week, but I want to foreshadow in the beginning. The funny part is that I’ll be pantsing for a script based on a novel that I’ve already written. Isn’t that a hoot?
(Also, full disclosure: I considered writing this post and claiming that I was quitting Script Frenzy but then decided against it. I had posted too much about it elsewhere for such a joke to be believable.)
Here’s to a fifth win. Good luck to everyone out there who’s taking part!