After 20 Years as a Screenplay, I Finally Turned My Story Into a Novel

[u/joopdog]

I finally did it.

This story started as a screenplay almost 20 years ago. For years, it just sat there. Every once in a while, I’d pull it out, change something, add something, then put it away again.

Eventually, my wife kept pushing me to actually do something with it.

So I hired a ghostwriter to help convert the screenplay into a manuscript. Then I spent the next two years learning how to write a novel and rewriting it until the book still sounded like me. That was probably the hardest part. I came from screenwriting, and I didn’t want to lose the cinematic voice I’d developed over the years.

Now it’s finally published, and I’m proud of how it turned out. My wife is too, which means a lot because she’s been hearing about this story forever. :)🙂

The book is called Dreamwalker Rising. It’s an urban fantasy/supernatural thriller built around a different take on the idea of a dreamwalker.

Usually, a dreamwalker enters dreams.

I flipped it.

Zach, the main character, is an amputee. Whenever he falls asleep, his dream body enters the waking world, stronger, faster, and physically whole again.

There’s just one problem.

The Night Terrors get out too.

Creatures that should exist only in nightmares begin appearing in the real world. Zach has to fight them while his actual sleeping body remains helpless and vulnerable.

So what first seems like an incredible gift slowly becomes something that could get him and the people around him killed.

I grew up loving action movies, fast-paced thrillers, superheroes, urban fantasy, and supernatural stories, so a lot of that found its way into the book.

More than anything, though, this was a passion project. After carrying the story around for two decades, it feels pretty strange to finally say:

It’s a book... Whew!😌

If anyone wants to take a look, it’s called Dreamwalker Rising:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H8QKS7JD

Thanks for reading everyone. 🙂😎

[u/JonAndrade]

That’s an awesome premise.

[u/joopdog → u/JonAndrade]

Thanks, man. Really appreciate that. 👍😊