Selling out and living with it

A confession: I did not write my first novel, A FALSE DAWN, because I loved the idea of writing a novel. I wrote it because I wanted to get the story out there, to readers, especially in Hollywood, and my first version, which was a screenplay, did not sell.

Taking a screenplay and trying to turn it into a novel is a terrible idea, believe me. Screenplays are so skeletal, and so focused on the action in front of the camera, that they miss the richness, the atmosphere and the historical background that a novel requires in order to pull readers into the world you’re trying to create.

When I started the book, I had no idea how much rethinking I would have to do in order to turn the screenplay of A FALSE DAWN into a good novel, and this task saddled the final manuscript with limitations that I believe I was not able to overcome. Readers have told me that the book is a good read, a good story with interesting characters, especially Louise. I hope, actually I know, that I can do better with the sequel, SUNRISING.

I console myself with the thought that writers with crasser motivations than mine have been able to write good novels.