Is Your Novel a Screenplay?

Or vice versa?

Now in Paperback! Perfect for the Beach!

Hello friends,

I’m getting a little help from MY friends this week, as we saw on Tuesday with my chat with author/editor Christine Pride and her fantastic writer’s retreat. Today, we’re talking with Bobby Finger, author of two-soon-to-be-three novels, one of which came out in paperback last week, and co-host of the hilariously addictive podcast Who? Weekly. And how I came to work with him is a funny story.

Bobby is a long time internet funny person and a terrific writer so when he first reached out to me (mumble mumble) years ago and said he wanted to share a project with me, I was S T O K E D. A Bobby Finger book? Sign me up!!!!

And then he sent me a screenplay. I went back to look at our first email exchanges and he actually references this post I wrote many years ago:

Your Screenplay is Probably Not a Novel

LOL. He said his story “could be an exception to the ‘Your screenplay is probably not a novel’ rule because, frankly, I don't think it ever should have been a screenplay.” Bobby went on to describe the plot and it sounded great. And I was honest with him. I told him I didn’t rep screenplays but if he wanted to turn this into a novel, I’d take a look. (I wasn’t the only one who suggested this to him.) He did and I did and BOOM, that became his first novel The Old Place. I circled back to Bobby recently to talk more about screenplays and whether they should all be novels or not. (Answer: no)

KM: When it comes to your goals as a writer, did you want to be a screenwriter or a novelist first? Or both? Why?

BF: I've wanted to be a screenwriter since I was a teenager. It was my primary concentration in college, until I added a second major so that I could maybe get a job without having to move to Los Angeles, a city I frankly despise. I had grainy visions of myself as a novelist back then, but didn't take them too seriously. Because I studied screenwriting in school and spent those years honing that particular craft, I felt like novels were out of my league, like I'd somehow missed my shot because I didn't start trying college. In retrospect, how ridiculous is that?!

KM: Did one come more naturally than the other? Does one feel more comfortable at this point?