Good Morning Y’all! Yep, it’s that time again. It’s just gorgeous on the porch this morning. In fact, it’s downright hot! I’m sitting here with Author Din Ka, and between flaps of the fan I’m holding and chugs of sweet tea –He seems to be fine–we are talking about his journey from writing screenplays to novels. Let’s listen:

Much of what I’ve learned about writing stemmed from my early screenwriting days. Through the handful of unproduced and dust collecting screenplays I’ve written, it unknowingly carved a path that led me towards a passion and love for writing novels.

I was told my screenplays were to descriptive and needed to be more consolidated, precise and straight to the point, and how it read and had more of a novel feel to it. I didn’t know what that meant at the time, so I ignored the criticism, taking it personal rather than constructive. But as time wore on I eventually realized what they were trying to say. To write novels!

So I did. I began to tackle my first novel, “Where Tomorrow Waits,” which was in its infancy as a screenplay at the time. And by the time I finished the first chapter, I started to feel that writer’s high, that moment where I told myself this could actually work, people might actually read this. With each chapter I’d finish, the high grew stronger and stronger, and threw that strength I realized that writing novels was my calling.

My first novel taught me a lot about my own writing, what I was hoping to achieve and what emotions I wanted to draw from it. The emotions I thought I wanted turned out not to be true, and halfway through the story, the rawness and crudeness of it started to reveal itself with an overwhelming sensation. It no longer was a story of survival, but rather instead became an emotional story about the estimated millions of innocent lives lost during the Khmer Rouge Regime told through the eyes of a survivor.

Sounds like an interesting self-discovery, Din. I’ve had the same experience when trying to write a screenplay. I’m just too wordy. 🙂 Oh well, maybe you and I will just stick to what we do best. Thanks for joining me on the porch today. You can find out more about Din Ka on my Porch Guests Page.