Novel or Screenplay?

A couple weeks ago my writing group held a public reading night. A local bookstore gave us the space and a dozen or so members read to whomever stopped by.

Some of our group find these events unnerving but I enjoy them. Maybe there's a little frustrated ham in me. I did have childhood fantasies of being an actress. In fact, I auditioned for our class play in the third grade but I was turned down because I wasn't loud enough. (I'm glad my sons don't follow my blog - they'd be on the floor right now.)

But I digress.

I wrote a short story specifically for this night and I noticed I write differently when I'll be reading the story aloud. For one thing, I skip most dialogue tags and use a different voice for each character. Yes, I know we create separate character voices in our writing, but it's a lot easier to do verbally.

This caused me to remember a critique I once received that said my plot, action, character development, and dialogue were good but I needed to layer in a lot more setting, more visual description.

Hmmm.

I'm stronger in plot, action, character development, and dialogue. I like verbalizing (or hearing someone else verbalize) my character's voices. I'm weaker in visual description and setting.

Should I be writing screenplays?

It's an "out of left field" idea and I'll have to do a lot of research and study if I try going in that direction but does anyone have any insight to offer? Any experience you'd like to share?

Just wondering.

Couple of notes on upcoming events...

On September 5, I'll have a special guest, author Marilyn Meredith, with a special contest. Don't miss it.