Basics of Adaptation: Turn Your Novel into a Screenplay

The book “Screen Adaptation Basics: Turn Your Novel into a Screenplay” is a practical guide to turning literary works into screenplays for film and television. It examines in detail the important differences between these formats and offers specific methods for converting text into a screenplay. This is a structured collection of knowledge that you can find in various professional blogs, lectures (such as Robert McKee’s), and textbooks (for example, Syd Field). The book includes: • examples from well-known adaptations; • standards for screenplay formatting; • tables of scene duration; • a comparison of literary and screenplay versions of the same episodes; • a detailed breakdown of typical mistakes when transferring texts to the screen. The book’s main idea is that cinema requires action, not description. Characters should express themselves through actions, not monologues. A screenplay is not just a retelling of a book—it is its transformation into a visual story, where every scene matters for dramaturgy. If something can’t be shown on screen, it should not be part of the screenplay. Paul Tomlinson is a British screenwriter, writer, and teacher who specializes in adapting literary works for the screen. He is the author of novels in the genres of mysticism, detective fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. Paul also participated in the launch of the official website of Harry Harrison and compiled an annotated bibliography of his works, including books, short stories, articles, screenplays, and illustrations for comics.