After finishing yet another round of edits on my latest work-in-progress—a holiday-themed women’s fiction novella/script—I decided to look back on the journey this story has taken.
The Spark
The idea started as a Facebook post. It was the holiday season, and I’d been binging Hallmark movies. I wondered how many people actually found a partner using popular romcom tropes—you know, heading to a small town, having car trouble, or running into a prince. Since the movies were at the center of this post, this story started as a screenplay.
The Script
Sometimes starting from a blank page can be daunting, but because of my romcom trope-filled plot, I had plenty of inspiration to pull from. I also incorporated that intimidating writer’s block into the main character’s problem. Problem solved.
Looking back on some of my old scripts, I noticed huge blocks of dialogue. I’ve learned from directing these scenes on stage and camera that less is more. Shorter dialogue also makes for better banter—another romcom staple that I wholeheartedly admire.
Once I got the draft to a place where I was comfortable sharing, I registered it with the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA). Those in the industry say this is a way to help prevent others from stealing your story. Some people won't even consider reading it without registering first. But who knows. All I know is that submitting it to a known entity in the screenwriting world made me feel like a real writer. As if writing an entire script wouldn’t make a person feel like a writer already.
The registered draft made the rounds to other screenwriters looking to swap stories for feedback. I collected their thoughts on what worked and what was confusing and revised. Scenes were cut, descriptions became more detailed, and character motivations shifted—all to the point I felt confident enough to submit the script for coverage. This is when an industry professional reads and provides feedback on what works and what doesn’t (in their opinion). While they liked the story overall, they suggested revamping the structure and getting to the problem sooner. Some of the notes called for even more setting description and character development. I figured, as long as I was adding this detail, I might as well novelize the whole thing.
The Novel
Looking back on my previous books, I never seemed to make it past 150 pages. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing (in my opinion) it’s not considered a standard novel, which typically consists of 300 pages or more. Shorter novels, or novellas, are a thing, but they’re also less likely to get traditionally published, especially if it’s holiday-themed. But stranger things have happened, and where there’s a will, there’s a way.
While novelizing the script, settings came alive by detailing surrounding sights, sounds, and tastes. Being set around the holiday, this included decking all the halls. Characters grew and arcs developed, creating tension and new relationships in subplots. Once this version felt more rounded, it went through a few more rounds of critique partner reviews. They also wanted to learn more about certain characters, so the story kept growing and the plot thickened. However, even though I broke my previous page count record (up to 195 now, woot!), it’s still not thick enough to be considered a novel by the trad-pub community. So self-publishing was back on the to-do list.
The Publishing Process
Getting this far in the writing process, it’s hard for me to let a story sit. I’ve heard many writers say they leave books in a drawer, on a shelf, or in a digital document unpublished. I certainly have my share of abandoned ideas, but none of them are fully-fledged manuscripts. After all the hard work of writing and revising, the creative and impatient part of me decided to forgo any gatekeepers and long trad publishing timelines and get back on the path to self-publishing.
Having already published two novels, I had an idea of what I was getting into. But it’s been about a decade since my last book was released, so there was a lot to relearn. One of the first new routes I took on this particular writing journey was sending the manuscript to a developmental editor. My last novels were edited by friends and family. Even back then, this was frowned upon, but I carried on anyway.
This time around, I wanted someone who wasn’t already familiar with my voice to give a professional, unbiased opinion. I wanted to know if there were any plot holes, weak arcs, or maybe even too much description. This round of editing revealed other areas of strength and confusion. So more content was added to clear things up.
The Next Steps
In the end, a lean 109-page screenplay transformed into a 195-page manuscript. It’s wild that the current draft alone was edited four times in one month. This all happened while repeatedly reading it aloud:
All the way through.
After making some edits.
After realizing I need a timeline to ensure the events lined up.
After making more edits.
The plan was to send it to a proofreader for final edits before choosing a publishing platform. But I’ve learned that many proofers want the manuscript properly formatted and ready for publishing, or to pay them to do it, so I’ll be figuring out how to do it myself.
If you haven’t gathered this already, self-publishing is not cheap—rather, you get what you pay for. Before, it seemed like the only viable self-pub option was Amazon. Their service used to be called Create Space, but now it’s Kindle Direct Publishing. They offer everything from editing to marketing packages. But now there are other options I’ll be exploring. Including, maybe getting it traditionally published after all.
Yup, publishing is a rollercoaster. After thinking I was going to take this story out on my own, the stars aligned and an opportunity arose to submit it to a few agents. While it’s no guarantee they’ll take it on, I’m going to at least give them time to consider it. Stay tuned.
Back to the Script
While waiting to hear from agents, I’ve gone back to the screenplay to clean things up. Now that I know more about my characters, I want to see what I can sharpen visually on the page. Having written the novel, I don’t feel as protective over some of the details. It’s easier to kill my darlings in the screenplay knowing they’re alive and well in the book. This is why there are 90-page (approximately 90-minute) scripts and 300-page manuscripts (don’t ask how long that takes me to read, it varies, but definitely over 90 minutes).
I’ve also signed up to have my script read aloud by a group of talented actors! I was referred to the Indie Film Theater by another writer. Once a week, they read through full scripts over Zoom. It gives the writer a whole new perspective to hear what words may not sound quite right. There’s also a general feedback session afterwards to discuss overall thoughts. It’s incredibly helpful to have this option and thrilling (sometimes cringy) to hear your words performed.
The Future
While it’s possible to produce a movie yourself (I’ve done it before), it’s not as easy as self-publishing—which isn't necessarily that easy either. So who knows if I’ll ever see this story come to life on screen, but at least I’ll have a feature script in my portfolio. I’ll also get to hold the book, one day, whether I go through the process myself or with an agent and publisher.
For me, writing a screenplay and manuscript at the same time was like having checks and balances for the story. Each format informed the other. As long as I was writing drafts, I might as well get the most out of it! It’s all part of the journey. It’s a wild one, but one I continue to take with no sign of leaving the path any time soon.
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