On Writing & Storytelling: Today on the ‘Reunion: Coda’ Agenda…Switching a Scene from Script to Novel

Late Morning, Wednesday, July 26, 2023, Lithia, Florida

Hello, Dear Reader, and welcome to my 1,197^th post on A Certain Point of View, Too. It’s “Hump Day” – the last Wednesday of July 2023, and the third day of the workweek.

It is, of course, also a summer day in west-central Florida. Not surprisingly, it’s already hot at 86°F/30°C under sunny conditions, with a “feels-like” factor of 91°F/32°C. And since – as I write these words, anyway – noon is still over 90 minutes away, it’s going to be another scorcher. The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies, a minimal (9%) chance of rain, and a high of 94°F/34°C. It’s one of those days where folks who need to be outside must do their best to stay in the shade, drink lots of water or Gatorade – alcohol is a no-no cos it dehydrates you! – and get things done quickly so they can be safe indoors.

Action This Day

As I said, today is the middle of the workweek, so after my mandatory rest break (which usually starts at noon), I must start the task of taking what I wrote on Monday and yesterday on Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 and copy-paste it to my Scratch Sheet for Coda Word document file. After that, I must novelize the segment of Chapter 10, Scene Two – that is, change what I wrote in “screenplay” format to “novel” format to match the main text of Reunion: Coda.

This is not a complicated task, mind you, but at the same time, it is going to be laborious and time-consuming. Screenplay format – especially in the barebones way I wrote this bit – is not as “wordy,” let’s say, as the writing in a novel or even this blog post. And since I wrote this section of the scene in script form just to get the characters’ spoken lines down and not as what I want the reader to see in the finished book, I must change it, even if it were the best screenplay scene I’ve ever done (and trust me, it’s not).

I can’t even begin to guess how long this will take, Dear Reader. If everything goes well – my mood stays positive, the weather holds and there are no pesky thunderstorms to make me turn off my PC, and the writing Muse smiles down on me, I might be able to novelize the segment of Chapter 10, Scene Two by sundown today.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that everything will go perfectly, so it’s possible that I might have to mentally prepare to stretch out the “from script to novel” process by getting as much done today as humanly possible, then finish the scene tomorrow.

I still have not taken my rest break, nor do I have a Magic Eight-Ball to predict how this will play out. The bottom line is: This scene will be finished, but like most things about writing fiction, it’s a marathon, not a speed race.