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How do you adapt a novel into a screenplay? Award-winning, bestselling author Mathew Tekulsky joins me to talk through the choices he makes when bringing his own fiction to the screen.

Mathew wrote his novels before adapting them, but a finished book is only the starting point. He describes how he finds scenes to dramatize, why he removed a character from the screenplay of Saving Annie, and how he created new action in a scene when a short story gave him the seed of a film.

We also discuss keeping screenplay description lean, leaving room for actors, and studying movies with a writer's eye.

Learn more about Mathew and his books: https://www.mathewtekulsky.com/

This episode is for you if you're asking:
- How do you adapt a novel into a screenplay?
- What should you keep or cut when adapting a book for film?
- How do you turn a prose scene into action an audience can see?
- Can you remove a character when adapting your own novel?
- How do you expand a short story into a feature-length screenplay?
- How much description should you put in a screenplay?
- Should you write the novel or the screenplay first?
- How do you get started on a writing project you've been putting off?

Episode 029 | Ep 29