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Usenet Posted 20 years ago
Screenwriting

Novel Writing vs. Screenwriting

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?
  

Top 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? [/nq] Well, the short answer in either case is don't quit your day job.

  • [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?
  • [/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.
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11 Answers
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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]
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 screenp
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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 ... 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 bett
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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-
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[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 colleg
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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.
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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]
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-
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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]
Honestly? If money is your interest, buy yourself a Cinnabon franchise.

Eric, Neal, Bill and Ron gave you the best answers (IMHO), but h
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[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 b
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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 t

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