THE SCREEN SCRIPT NOVEL POSTTRAUMATIC

I was asked why my new novel Posttraumatic is so much shorter than my earlier Asgard Park and I want to share the answer.

Asgard Park got great reviews but many told me is was taxing to deal with so many leading characters in subordinate situations that fractured the story line. You had to be on your toes or you got lost.

As an engaged writer, I already understood the mosaic I was laying but for the reader, the bits would remain a puzzle until they came together at the end.  

I realized that if I were to write another novel, it would be advisable not to lead the readers along such an equestrian jumping trail but give them a easier read without skimping on the quality. The question was how to reign in an author bursting with ideas and keep his many sidesteps in context.

Having the premise of the Posttraumatic novel in my head, I decided to write it first as a movie script to keep me on the straight and narrow.  Little did I realize what a straitjacket that format is; a hundred pages of spare text to deliver an entire story and dialogue across to a reader.

When I had this script skeleton finished, I had a story structure that did not stray from the mainline injection of its premise. First then, in the absence of moving pictures, did I start writing the novel itself and relay the inner life of its main characters . And must I say what a lean, mean, tongue in cheek story Posttraumatic turned out to be.