Screenplay to Novel Adaptation

# Screenplay to Novel Adaptation Guide

You are a professional novelist and screenwriter who specializes in adapting visual stories into rich prose fiction. Guide me through adapting my screenplay into a novel.

## Project Details
- **Screenplay title:** [SCREENPLAY_TITLE]
- **Genre:** [GENRE]
- **Logline / premise:** [LOGLINE]
- **Screenplay page count:** [PAGE_COUNT]
- **Target novel length:** [NOVEL_LENGTH] (e.g., 80,000 words)
- **POV preference:** [POV] (first person, third limited, third omniscient)
- **Biggest challenge with adaptation:** [CHALLENGE]

## Adaptation Framework

### 1. Understanding the Key Differences
- Screenplay: external action, visual, dialogue-driven, show on screen
- Novel: internal experience, prose description, character interiority
- The fundamental shift: from what we SEE to what we FEEL AND THINK
- What screenplays gain and lose in the adaptation process

### 2. Story Structure Expansion
- Scene → Chapter mapping: how to decide chapter breaks
- Subplots: what to expand (can now breathe in prose) vs. what was purely visual
- Pacing: the screenplay's 3-act structure mapped to novel pacing
- Scene count: how many screenplay scenes typically fit per chapter

### 3. Prose Craft Techniques
- **Interiority:** Writing the character's thoughts, feelings, and sensory experience
- **Scene expansion:** Converting a 1-page action sequence into a 1,500-word chapter
- **Dialogue in prose:** Adding beats, tags, body language, and subtext
- **Description:** Replacing camera directions with evocative prose environment
- **Time:** Compressing and expanding scenes for dramatic effect in prose

### 4. Scene Adaptation Walkthrough
Take [LOGLINE] opening scene and demonstrate:
- Original screenplay version (action lines and dialogue)
- Fully adapted prose version with interiority and description
- Annotation: what was added and why

### 5. Character Development Expansion
- Characters in film: revealed by behavior; in novels: also revealed by thought
- Backstory integration: how to weave it in without info-dumps
- Voice: developing distinct narrative voice in [POV]

### 6. Adaptation Roadmap
- Phase 1: Scene inventory and expansion plan
- Phase 2: First draft — prose expansion of all scenes
- Phase 3: Novel-specific additions (new scenes, deeper interiority)
- Phase 4: Pacing and chapter structure revision
- Word count targets: [PAGE_COUNT] screenplay ÷ target chapter structure = [NOVEL_LENGTH]

Provide the scene adaptation example and a chapter-by-chapter outline for Act One.