Novel Writing vs. Screenwriting

Question

Would love to get everyone's opinion about the following:

If one's goal was to make money, enough to quit their day job, and do write for a living, which would be a more logical medium to focus on, novel writing or screenwriting? I love both. But I can't decide which one to focus on. The deciding factor would be the one that allows me to make a career out of it and has the longest staying power. I don't want to just do it as a hobby.
Is it more difficult to make a living as a screenwriter than novel writing? Does novel writing provide more opportunities?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Would love to get everyone's opinion about the following: If one's goal was to make money, enough to quit their ... Is it more difficult to make a living as a screenwriter than novel writing? Does novel writing provide more opportunities?[/nq]
Well, the short answer in either case is don't quit your day job.

The longer and harder answer is you can make more money selling screenplays, as a rule, than selling novels, though it's probably a bit easier to break in (at least it has been traditionally, although that may be changing) selling novels.
I know a lot of people, as a member of the Horror Writers Association, who are very successful horror novelists people with major lists, who've been writing for many years and have a major fan base and major reputations within the field and they still have their day jobs. They still work as teachers, as lawyers, or whatever.

That's because they literally can't make a living writing. An advance on a novel may be no more than a few thousand dollars.

Obviously, you become a best-selling novelist, that would be dandy. But that doesn't happen too often, and most writers who write novels are not writing best-selling novels.
On the other hand, while what you get paid to write screenplays is substantially greater low to mid-six figures are common, to maintain a career as a screenwriter is much harder. Competition is greater. You rely on assignments for a lot of your work, and you have to compete to get those jobs. You may write spec scripts, but there's no guarantee, having written a spec, that it will sell. You never know where or when your next job is coming from (I guess that's true when you're a novelist as well).
And, as a rule, you will find that often no more than one in ten of the scripts that you write and sell will actually end up actually being made into movies, so you find yourself constantly being embarrassed when friends and relatives ask you "what's coming out" and you have to explain that, in fact, you've been working for a year or eighteen months on something that's going to spend the next forever sitting on a shelf somewhere.
NMS

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Would love to get everyone's opinion about the following: If one's goal was to make money, enough to quit their ... medium to focus on, novel writing or screenwriting? I love both. But I can't decide which one to focus on.[/nq]
I'm not sure why you feel that you have to. Many folks (ahem) do both with varying levels of success. You can pick and choose which ideas of yours might flow better as a book, and which might work better as a film/TV show/etc.
If I were forced to choose one path to continue down, I'd probably choose novels, simply because my workdays go much faster and I'm cheerier when writing a new book.
But I have two daughters who probably want to go off to college someday, so it's nice to have the screenwriting thing, as well. Plus, it's a lot o' fun on top, and only mildly aggravating.
[nq:1]The deciding factor would be the one that allows me to make a career out of it and has the longest staying power.[/nq]
If it's staying power you're looking for, become an actuary. My uncle once told me that the world will always need more actuaries.

Come to think of it, I don't know if that holds true any more. But that's neither here nor there.
Point is: If you're looking to hook a job with stability and long-term viability, you're better off casting your line in other waters. Bestselling novelists and bank-breaking screenwriters are the great white whale; there ain't that many around.
[nq:1]Is it more difficult to make a living as a screenwriter than novel writing? Does novel writing provide more opportunities?[/nq]
I'll say this much from experience:
When I sell a script or take an assignment, I've sold a script. For the most part, that's it. Good money, and good night.
When I sell a book, I've sold a book... and can then go out and sell the rights for a movie, comic, stage musical, video game, web presence, etc.
There's no right answer, unfortunately. Try 'em both. See which pans out. Sometimes one will pan out and lead you back to the other. That's what happened to me. Happened to a bunch o' friends, as well.

Let us know how it goes.
emg

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@reader2.panix.com:
[nq:1]Would love to get everyone's opinion about the following: If one's goal was to make money, enough to quit their ... out of it and has the longest staying power. I don't want to just do it as a hobby.[/nq]
Good luck! I know a couple of dozen full-time book writers (face-to-face, not just on-line), and NO full-time screenwriters. But all of them started out as part-time writers, doing other work to support their habit until they developed a strong following and a good reputation.

Well, all but Bradbury, Feist and Ellison. And Dave Gerrold. But those guys are, in general, on the edge of the bell-curve, and even Feist worked at other things for decades before he made a sale.
[nq:1]Is it more difficult to make a living as a screenwriter than novel writing? Does novel writing provide more opportunities?[/nq]
Look at the number of books sold every year (titles, not copies) and then do the same for the film industry. The difference is orders of magnitude.

But until you start getting reliable sales, don't give up your day job.

cd

The difference between immorality and immortality is "T". I like Earl Grey.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I love both. But I can't decide which one to focus on. The deciding factor would be the one that ... out of it and has the longest staying power. I don't want to just do it as a hobby.[/nq]
Neal covered the financial end pretty well. A lot of successful novelists have other jobs. Those jobs can be completely unrelated or they can be things like teaching creative writing at a local college (which is really not a bad way to help make ends meet).

There's another end to it, too, however. I think novelists tend to be a lot more creatively satisfied than screenwriters. Novelists see their words - almost all of them - get into a published book which people can buy in their local bookstores.
Screenwriters, on the other hand, often get paid for stuff which never sees the light of day. Or it does see the light of day, with someone else's name on it. Or it has your name on it, but it's so far from what you wrote that you're embarrassed by it. And you're often made complicit in those changes - if you want to keep your job.
-Ron

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[nq:1]I'm thinking about going into politics, but I can't decide should I start out as president, or should I take it more slowly, run for the senate, and build from there?[/nq]
Go for mayor of Los Angeles - less chance of getting shot.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Would love to get everyone's opinion about the following: If one's goal was to make money, enough to quit their ... Is it more difficult to make a living as a screenwriter than novel writing? Does novel writing provide more opportunities?[/nq]
Do both, if you can. Many can't.
The scriptwriting money's in TV, anyway, if you're thinking film.

If you add up how many books (non-fiction) and novels are published each year compared to manuscripts written and how many movies are made each year compared to scripts written, screenplays lose big time.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Would love to get everyone's opinion about the following: If one's goal was to make money, enough to quit their ... Is it more difficult to make a living as a screenwriter than novel writing? Does novel writing provide more opportunities?[/nq]
Honestly? If money is your interest, buy yourself a Cinnabon franchise.

Eric, Neal, Bill and Ron gave you the best answers (IMHO), but here's something else you might think about:
What do you want to write? You feel like you've got an epic in you that spans 7 generations and 4 continents? Then write a novel, because the 1200 page screenplay you're going to produce from that idea won't get read.

You got an idea for a superhero? Then write a graphic novel or pitch it as a new comic book series to Marvel, because nobody is going to do a superhero film based on an idea that at least 3 million kids haven't read. Same, in my opinion, for science fiction. Write it as a novel and become Phillip K. , then sit back and wait for Hollywood to come to you, because science fiction movies are generally based on popular sci-fi books.

It's not really about which is "better" to write, because there's no answer to that. It's more about how you write and what your write. If you're interested in the internal life of your characters in ways that they don't necessarily express, why not start by writing character studies. See if they become short stories or if they just feel better as static bios that might help you build a screenplay off them later.
Just write what you want to write, every day, for a long time, and see what it becomes.
Alan Brooks

A with an Underwood
Nobody but a blockhead
ever wrote for anything
but money.
(who said it?)
MWSM FAQ: http://www.panix.com/~mwsm/faq.html
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Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Would love to get everyone's opinion about the following: If ... screenwriter than novel writing? Does novel writing provide more opportunities?[/nq]
[nq:1]Honestly? If money is your interest, buy yourself a Cinnabon franchise. Eric, Neal, Bill and Ron gave you the best ... back and wait for Hollywood to come to you, because science fiction movies are generally based on popular sci-fi books.[/nq]
Marvel will pay you $5,000 for a first-timer.

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[nq:1]Would love to get everyone's opinion about the following: If one's goal was to make money, enough to quit their ... Is it more difficult to make a living as a screenwriter than novel writing? Does novel writing provide more opportunities?[/nq]
What about a "novel" screenplay?
(Everybody wants something different.)

Paulo Joe Jingy
(Sorry about that)

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[nq:1]Would love to get everyone's opinion about the following: If one's goal was to make money, enough to quit their ... Is it more difficult to make a living as a screenwriter than novel writing? Does novel writing provide more opportunities?[/nq]
I'm not trying to be glib and I don't know what your current prospects are (so I may be completely wrong in your case), but I think the only way to make a guaranteed salary writing is the become a newspaper reporter and that may not be that easy to get into either. I used to read many SF novels and was surprised when I found that authors, even those who had 20 or 30 books published, were still working day jobs. It was about that time when I figured, "what the ****, I'll just write for the fun of it." (I don't have that much drive.)
I do know this (as am example from another artistic field). There are many very talented musicians. Every now an then one hits it big right off. But, I'm guessing, that 95-99 percent of the "overnight successes" in the music business have been working at it (hard) for many years. (Paying their dues, as they say.) And, I'm pretty sure, that the most talented are not always the ones who make it. I think those who make it are the ones who gut it out no matter what. I think it's the same in writing. You've got to have talent, but I think drive and determination are more (or at least as) important as talent.
I'll turn off my cliche machine now. Good luck.

RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"

Novel Writing vs. Screenwriting

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