: Re: Why write a book when there's a movie in my head? Around a decade ago, I had a dream. An actual middle of the night dream. An entire movie played in my head, all I had to do was write

@Steve161

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I agree with all the other answers so far, but let me take a different perspective on the whole thing. If you wish, read this answer as a frame challenge.

You say "there's a movie in your head". What do you mean? Is it really a movie - does it fit into ~2 hours, do you see each frame and how it's shot, do you see the special effects and how they're done, do you have specific actors in mind?

Or is it just that you see every scene in vivid colour, full surround, like you're standing there?

If the first option is your case, I can see why writing a book rather than a screenplay would feel like you're not doing what you "want" to do, but "translating" your vision to a different medium, as it where. Maybe, if this burns in your bones, you'd want to accept the risks and disadvantages, and do the screenplay anyway. Get to know people in the industry, and follow your dream. (You might want to look at options like indie productions and animated films, as a way to mitigate the complexities of trying to move forwards with a screenplay.)

But if it's just that you see your story with the eyes and ears of your mind, it's not really a movie. It's just how you see the story. (And yes, the way we think of stories, and the way we dream, are both influenced by movies, as a matter of fact. For a while, when TV was black-and-white, people used to dream in black-and-white.) Since what you have in your mind is a story, go ahead and tell it. Tell it however you feel you can best tell it, however you would most enjoy telling it, however would let you tell it in a way that does most justice to the images in your mind. It could be a novel, it could be a graphic novel, it could be an epic poem - whatever medium is "yours", use that.

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