How do you turn a screenplay into a novel? Mathew Tekulsky returns to Fiction Writer's Toolshed to help me work through a real version of that question: I'm trying to turn a musical I co-wrote with Jacob Lowry into prose.

Neither of us has completed this exact kind of adaptation, so we build a current best approach together. Mathew suggests working through the script scene by scene, adding the point of view, interior experience, and selective description a novel can provide. We talk about how to expand a scene without padding the story, why rereading can reveal threads worth developing, and what happens when a musical's songs carry moments the novel must tell another way.

Later, we discuss another difference between the forms: a novelist can finish a book largely through their own efforts, while a film brings actors, producers, financing, and new creative input into the process.

Learn more about Mathew and his books: https://www.mathewtekulsky.com/

This episode is for you if you're asking:

- How do you turn a screenplay into a novel?
- Can you write a novel from a script or stage play?
- How do you adapt a musical into a novel?
- What should prose add to a scene that already works on stage or screen?
- How do you add point of view and interior thought to a screenplay?
- Can you adapt a script one scene at a time?
- How do you expand a script without padding the novel?
- How is finishing a novel different from getting a screenplay produced?