: 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

@Kevin153

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Technology has potentially impacted this answer within the last 10 years. It's possible now to film a feature-quality film on a smartphone, which dramatically lowers the costs of making an indie film. Even so, making a movie is inevitably an expensive, time-consuming process involving multiple collaborators, and a host of uncontrollable variables.

You were given good general advice. That's not to say it couldn't have worked out to start with a screenplay. But your friend was correct that you have a LOT more command of the final product with a novel. The missing information here is what kind of writing do you most enjoy doing? And/or what are you good at writing? Screenwriting and novel writing are very different. If you enjoy writing novels, and are good at it, then your friend did you a huge favor. If your true love is writing for the screen, however, then it might not make as much sense to go the long way around. For instance, I've come to realize that, while writing books makes "more sense," in a general way, my own existing strengths (plot, dialogue, characters) and weaknesses (descriptive passages) match up better with screenplays.

It's inevitably a long, tough, journeyman's journey to become a successful writer, no matter which path you choose, so you may want to orient yourself towards your final goal, no matter what that is. But there's nothing that says you can't work on your novel and your screenplay simultaneously. Just remember they are different forms, and the same concept might be very different depending on the medium in which it's realized. The best adaptations have the flavor of the original, not the specifics.

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