One of the interesting things about writing the novelisation of a film is that things can happen in the wrong order. I’m only around 4.5K words into an estimated 60K for the project, but I’ve already got every piece of dialogue, I already know what every character will do, and I know not only how things will end but also exactly how we get there.
If I had to pick, I’d say I’m a “pantser” more than a “plotter”. I like a rough outline and I normally have a fair idea of “beginning, middle, and end” when I start a story or book, but far more of them deviate from the plan than stick to it. Even with a book like The George Kostinen Mystery, which being part of a trilogy had to stay fairly close to plan, had a fair few deviations from the original concept to the finished article.
Another thing that has happened out of order is the cover for the book. As there’s no need for the designer (in this case, Offworld supremo Terry Cooper) to wait for me to have some image or other in the story for the cover to hang off, we’ve already got the cover for our novel fully designed.
I have to say, I think it looks rather good! I am wondering if, by the time the book is written, if we’ll be able to change “Official Movie Novelization” to something like “As seen on X” (where X is a well known network/streaming service) or even the famous “From the major motion picture” line.
Only time, and another 56.5K words, will tell…
