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I adapted a short story written by Stephen King and turned it into a 1 hour script.
What I did:
- I read and re-read the short story countless times to fully unterstand the point of the story and what Stephen King wanted to say.
- I then got a marker out and circled all the passages that I liked and thought would visually appeal to a movie audience.
- I then listed all the characters with their needs, goals, ambitions etc. I also wrote down what their arc was for the story.
- I then jotted down some ideas that I thought would be cool to squeeze into the story, then created a couple of new characters to compliment the main character.
- Once that was complete, I then re-wrote a new story arc (updated the story since it was 20 odd years old) so it's applicable to current events. I threw out any subplots and characters that would not move the story forward in my re-telling.
- Next up, I wrote a small synopsis with my new characters and story. Made sure it had the important plot points from the short story and from there...
- I wrote my first draft.
I changed character's names and also their character traits to best suit a visual medium. The hard thing about adapting a story is moving from an inner narrative to visual storytelling.
It's quite the challenge and I feel it's a good idea as an exercise in writing.
I've adapted a fantasy novel called "Eragon." The script is up here on this site (yes...that is a plug
Anyway, I read the novel four times before I ever started writing. But first, as I had learned that the director of Narnia did, I just wrote down everything I remembered from the book without ever looking at it. Then...
I read it once for fun, just to get back into the story. I read it again to gather information on the each of the characters and the way they talk and do things etc. I read it again to pick out big plot points that HAD to be in the film. And then I read it one last time to before I started writing just for fun again. (You don't have to do this!)
I've "changed" very little. I didn't change anything as far as names go and I didn't really make up many scenes. Only once or twice did I ever have to do this. I was just able to get rid of things and sort of hint at those scenes in other scenes just for fans of the books.
As I wrote I probably read each scene I happened to be working on at the time a billion times...meaning I read the book like five more times. lol.
Anyway, it took me three and a half months to finish the thing...well, get the first draft done. I've revised some of the story and I did revise the spelling...but I forgot to save it and...well. There were tears that night.
I didn't have many problems. All I know to tell you is don't worry about page count. About half way through the script and I thought that there was no way to fit the whole story in a 120 page script. I said "It'll be at least 150 to 160 pages if not more!" But I was wrong...the first draft clocked in at 114 pages. So don't sit there and change scenes because of page length.
I'm unsure if my question fits into this thread. But I don't wish to waste space with my question, which deals with adaption as the title suggests. My question is, which may sound a little dumb, but what does adaption entail? I just want some specific's since I'm pondering about adapting a short story. Does it really entail in creating a new story or can the originial story suffice? Does it have to be completely different from the original work?
Gabriel
Just Murdered by Sean Elwood (Zombie Sean) and Gabriel Moronta (Mr. Ripley) - (Dark Comedy, Horror) All is fair in love and war. A hopeless romantic gay man resorts to bloodshed to win the coveted position of Bridesmaid. 99 pages. https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-comedy/m-1624410571/