I enjoy the creative process in writing screenplays, but to do a book which involves more detail and description still scares me, even though I have a good idea for one - any help anyone?.

It's daunting, isn't it.

When you write a screenplay you must imagine quite a lot of what in the end the director's going to be deciding about, not you. Can you just write that down as well? It might take you a bit of trial and error to find the right balance of the screenplay's bones and the novel's fully fleshed-out and muscled body, but that's easy to change and re-balance in revision.

If you've being writing screenplays then you know all about plot and structure, but the subjective experience of characters, which is one of the things novels are all about, perhaps less so.

If you imagine the camera as one particular character's eyes, seeing what they see and thinking what they'd think about it - touching and feeling and smelling what they would - and write it down in the words they'd use, then that might help you to break out from the omniscient, not-inside-anyone's-head position that a script writer has to be in.

Emma

Welcome to the site, Darrix

So many novels are dialogue-driven nowadays and mine certainly fall into that category - you might find once you get started, that the shift isn't as daunting as you expected.

The best way forward is to join one of groups and upload your work for some constructive criticism - and you will learn a lot from critting other work as well.

And don't be afraid - we're all apprehensive at first.

Good luck with it

Welcome to the site. I'd just get stuck into it. I don't think writing a novel's any more difficult than writing a screenplay; just different. With screenwriting pretty much everything's conveyed by dialogue or description - same with a novel. Dive in and see how you go on.

Oh, and read Stephen King's On Writing - terrifically useful.

Best,

Nik.