What's the difference between a script and a novel?

Writing a novel is naturally inseparable from portraying characters, telling stories, describing portraits and psychology of characters, describing social and natural environment, and explaining relevant characters and historical background. The expression method is mainly narrative; Writing TV literary scripts should also portray characters, tell stories and analyze the psychology of characters, but the expression method is that narration cannot be used, and dialogue between characters is the main method.

In recent years, many novels use indirect speech. To put it bluntly, there are no colons and quotation marks in character dialogue. The effect of this kind of writing weakens the dialogue, enhances the narrative sense and highlights the integrity, but it often causes some obstacles to reading and is easy to confuse people.

For the narrative of the novel, Mr. Lao She once said something similar, which is the most difficult to master among all the expressive techniques of the novel. It takes a lot of training and thinking to learn. Otherwise, it will be boring, dry and unintelligible. How to make the narrative authentic? Mr. Lao She pointed out a clear path for us and prescribed a prescription. He said that in the narrative, emotional color, common sense and life details should be added. I learned a lot by following the prescription, treating persistent ailments and writing novels, and applied these to the writing of professional news reports, which have the same effect and have tried every time.

As a narrative style, novels naturally focus on narration, but they do not cover all novels, except some deliberately pursued novels. For example, Lin Jinlan's Drunk Words is not narrated throughout. From beginning to end, an alcoholic is talking drunk (although it is understandable to use a person's tone to describe it). This style is generally limited to short stories. As a novella or novel, if the whole story is structured by a character's speech, it is strange that the author is not driven crazy.

Writing TV literary scripts, except for a small amount of narration, novel narration is almost useless. If the novel is adapted into a TV literary script for shooting, we must find ways to turn the story and psychological activities of the characters into dialogues through narration. Take the novel "Half Moon Falling" and the script "The Mystery of the Hidden House" as an example, and you will know it at a glance.

Novel narrative:

For decades, Wang Yidou had the same dream over and over again, sometimes clear, sometimes hazy, the content was similar, almost unchanged, and the ending was all awakened by gold bars. Every time he wakes up, his palm feels burning pain. Wang Yidou invited many fortune tellers with eyes open and eyes closed, but they couldn't interpret the dream and couldn't tell why they always had the same dream all these years. I have to agree with Mamam: "It's all your fault that your grandfather named you a bucket. Your life is at most a bucket of food. If you are crazy, you will dream of making a fortune. "

Script character dialogue:

Wang Yidou woke up with a loud cry: Ah-

Mom Manton: Are you dreaming of making money again?

Wang Yidou held out his hand: That gold bar looks like it was just cast, and it burned my hand.

Mom Manton: The same dream, after decades, didn't you wake up the gold bars? If you dare, get back a real gold bar, even if I have an eye addiction ... I see through it. You are poor in a bucket of grain all your life! Want to get rich? Dream on!

Wang Yidou: Talking about this dream is really amazing! I have lived in this yard for decades. Why do I always have the same dream? Don't go out of shape every time, sometimes it's clear, sometimes it's vague, sometimes it's like a dream, sometimes it's true.

Because the expression of TV literary scripts is mainly based on dialogue between characters, the more vivid and colloquial the dialogue between characters, the better. In this regard, as a well-known screenwriter and screenwriter of TV series such as Happy Life of Zhang Damin with a Big Mouth and The Son of Heaven, Liu Heng said that as a TV drama screenwriter, his first ability is to restore his oral English. Reduction is definitely not copying, but artistic processing, refining and sublimation. Some screenwriters can't get rid of the written language, and the fundamental reason is the low ability of oral recovery. Whether the dialogue between characters in TV plays is colloquial or not is the most important basic skill of screenwriters, and it is the touchstone to test and measure screenwriters, and to decide whether their works are good or bad and how many works they have!

How to make the dialogue between characters lively and colloquial? There is only one shortcut: study hard from life, people and books. Sounds like garlic in your mouth. But in my experience, there is no other way. What needs to be explained here is that the colloquialism of words is not the vernacular of daily life, but it must be carefully refined, pondered repeatedly, word for word and pondered hard before it can emerge from the paper. Liu Heng said that the script is very strict with the dialogue of the characters, and the lines should be vivid, which can describe the characters and promote the development of the story. Zou Jingzhi, a well-known screenwriter who has written TV series such as Kangxi's Private Visit, Legend of Liulichang, Sweet Flowers in May, Love in the Fallen City, etc., said that it is particularly important to write dialogue well, so don't write it vulgar, but have a life. What is the life of dialogue? I know, in one word, live! It takes a lot of effort and skill to make the dialogue alive, and it takes long-term practice, concentrated research and talent to make it a positive result. Bitter!

The expression form of novels is mainly narrative, while the expression form of TV literature scripts is mainly dialogue between characters, which is determined by two styles. According to my own experience, when facing the two styles, the thinking state and subtle feelings of creation are completely different. When writing a novel, I feel as if I am communicating with my heart, and the author is like a party; When writing a TV literary script, it feels like the characters are talking face to face, and the author seems to be a bystander. I believe that friends who have practiced both styles will have similar subtle feelings.

Novel: All means can be mobilized to create characters.

Script: Only lines and actions can shape characters.

Regardless of traditional novels or TV literature scripts, creating characters is the primary task of writers and screenwriters. How to create characters, write novels in two styles, create characters, and portray characters' characters can mobilize all literary means such as narration, line drawing, dialogue, action, psychological description, portrait description, etc., and do whatever you want, with 18 martial arts and their own magical powers; While writing a script, shaping characters and portraying characters, there are only two basic externalization means, namely lines and actions, and at the same time, they have to shoulder the heavy responsibility of promoting the plot, telling stories and even building structures.

The characters created in the novel are ultimately rooted in the readers' hearts. A hundred people may have a hundred Lin Daiyu and a thousand Jia Baoyu in their hearts. The TV series is different. The characters created by the script, after the actor's second creation, finally appeared vividly in front of the audience. There is often only one Lin Daiyu in the eyes of a hundred people, and there is often only one Jia Baoyu in the eyes of a thousand people.

The means used are very different.

Due to space reasons, I will simply talk about how to create characters and portray characters in novels, that is, don't let your story stop to describe still portraits (and still portraits are everywhere in novels we see). In this regard, Mr. Lao She has long taught. Write a girl's appearance, don't rush to introduce her "with a big braid, a pair of shallow dimples and two long eyelashes", but let her speak first, act first, and inadvertently convey, infiltrate and edify her portrait to readers through her words and deeds. For example, she was angry and "threw big braid back"; She cried, "tears wet her long eyelashes"; She smiled again, "revealing a pair of shallow dimples." In view of this, I once asked the calligrapher for a cursive "Let Your Story Flow" and hung it in the study to encourage myself.

The novel completes the portrait description in words and deeds, and plays the role of depicting characters, similar to TV literature scripts. Zou Jingzhi said that all characters should bring something when they appear in TV series. If you must give him something, this person will suddenly come out and his face (personality) will come out. Whether the characters in the script are "tied with big braid, with a pair of shallow dimples and two long eyelashes" doesn't need your screenwriter to worry about at all. The screenwriter should use good steel on the blade. This "blade" is the character's lines and actions (events). What lines the characters say and what actions they do are ultimately determined by the characters.

A person's experience, life experience, depth of knowledge, good or bad mentality, occupation, health status, hobbies and family environment all determine the formation of personality, code of conduct and moral orientation. For a TV series, the protagonist's personality determines the script's style, story trend, plot conflict, coherence and integration … everything in the script! Zou Jingzhi said that to write a TV series, my heart must be to make an outline and diversity, and to make a particularly detailed outline of the characters (biographies).

When you plan to create an original novel or adapt it into a TV literary script, you might as well write a short biography of the characters identified in the play first. The main characters can write one or two thousand words, and the minor characters can write seven or eight hundred words. Don't think it will waste time. Sharpening a knife is not a mistake for a woodcutter. When you later enter the script creation, even in the whole writing process, you will feel how important it is to write a biography! This is not a mystery, but Tao's true feelings.