by Susan Watts
Not long ago, my husband showed me a fantasy movie he had been watching on social media.
I only watched a little of it, but what caught my attention was how realistic it looked. The characters appeared almost like real actors, although there was still something about them that made me suspect AI had been involved.
My husband asked me what I thought.
I replied, “I don’t think they’re real.”
He didn’t seem particularly bothered by that. He was enjoying the story.
I remember being impressed by what I saw, but I didn’t give it a great deal of thought. The movie seemed to run for more than an hour, much like a regular film, and I went back to whatever I had been doing.
A Pivotal Conversation
Then a conversation among other authors made me look at the whole thing differently.
Most weekday mornings, I listen to the Author’s Coffee Chat in the Author’s Conference Room on Clubhouse. Clubhouse is a social app that enables users to participate in real-time, audio only communication within virtual rooms. Authors at different stages of their careers gather to talk about what is happening in publishing, what they are trying, and what may be coming next. It’s like a mini mastermind.
One recent conversation turned to microdramas.
The discussion wasn’t simply about people watching short vertical stories on their phones. Authors were talking about the possibility that technology might eventually allow us to turn our own novels into them.
My first thought was: how good could they actually be?
Then I thought: could I make one?
The Movie Dream I Always Had
I have always imagined my Twelve Guardians series on screen.
I can see those stories in my head when I write them. I know what Sam looks like when she fights. I can picture the demons and supernatural creatures she encounters. I know how I would want the final battle to feel on a screen.
But imagining your novel as a movie and believing it will become one are two very different things.
For me, a movie adaptation always belonged to that wonderful category of things that could happen if lightning struck. Maybe someone in the film industry would discover the book. Maybe someone would buy the rights. Maybe all the other pieces would miraculously fall into place.
I never built a career plan around it.
But what about a microdrama?
Microdramas made me wonder whether that assumption might eventually change.
A microdrama, sometimes called a vertical drama, is a scripted story designed to be watched on a phone with the screen held upright rather than turned sideways. The individual chapters are short, but the entire story does not necessarily have to be.
In other words, we are not necessarily talking about shrinking an entire novel into a two-minute movie. A complete story can unfold over many short episodes.
And this is no longer an obscure experiment.
Reuters reported in August 2026 that market-research firm Omdia expects the U.S. microdrama market to generate about $1.5 billion in 2026, and $2 billion in 2027. The U.S. audience reached an estimated 66 million monthly active users in 2025, up from 26 million the year before. Major entertainment companies are also moving into the format.
More importantly for authors, book-to-microdrama adaptations are already happening.
ReelShort, for example, has adapted novels by established bestselling authors, including Abbi Glines’s Breathe and L.J. Shen’s Vicious. The company also adapting Sierra Simone’s bestselling Lyonesse Trilogy into a series of vertical dramas.
Could Authors Make Their Own Microdramas?
It turns out that the technology already exists.
Several companies are already developing tools and services specifically for microdrama production.
Runway allows creators to build recurring characters and locations and generate scenes shot by shot, while Picsart’s Saga can help plan a season, maintain characters and voices, storyboard scenes, and generate vertical episodes. Other companies, such as Ogun Studios, offer end-to-end production services and specifically work with publishers and IP owners to turn existing stories into vertical series.
So, can an author turn a novel into a microdrama today?
The technology can already help create characters, settings and individual shots, but the author still must adapt the story, decide how each scene should unfold visually and assemble those pieces into a coherent production.
That is quite different from feeding my manuscript into a computer and telling it, “Make me a movie.”
For me, that is a good thing.
If I ever adapt The Jade Amulet, I don’t want to hand the book to a machine and see what comes back. I would want advice from people who understand film-making because writing a novel does not magically make me a director or screenwriter.
But I would also want creative control.
That desire for control is one reason self-publishing has always appealed to me. I decide what happens to my stories.
If I were adapting The Jade Amulet, there are aspects I would not want to change simply because someone decided they would work better on screen. Sam’s character arc matters too much to me. As do the demons and other creatures that are part of this world.
Of course, if a major production company arrived with a substantial check for the rights, I would listen.
I’m not that committed to artistic suffering.
But having a book optioned never guarantees that a movie will be produced. What intrigues me about emerging technology is the possibility of another path.
We Have Seen This Happen Before
Digital self-publishing changed how easily authors could produce professional books and distribute them directly to readers. However, it did not make every independently published book good. And it certainly did not make publishing easy.
It gave writers access to tools and distribution they had not possessed before.
Something similar is happening with audiobooks.
I personally prefer audiobooks narrated by real people. A talented narrator brings an interpretation and humanity to a story that I enjoy. Sometimes I will listen to an audiobook from an author I am not familiar with because I really like the narrator.
At the same time, AI narration is creating an option for authors who could never afford traditional audiobook production.
Some listeners may reject an AI-narrated book. Others simply want to hear the story.
That reminded me of my husband watching that fantasy movie. I noticed that something seemed artificial about it. He noticed enough to ask me whether I thought it was real.
Then he kept watching because he was enjoying himself.
More Questions
That single experience certainly doesn’t tell us what audiences will generally accept, and the growing use of AI in film raises legitimate questions involving performers, consent, compensation and creative ownership.
The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) currently has agreements specifically addressing AI protections, and the union now has a Verticals Agreement designed for independent microdrama productions with budgets up to $300,000.
Those questions deserve more discussion than I can give them here. But they do not erase the other question I keep coming back to:
What happens when authors have access to creative possibilities that previously belonged almost entirely to production companies?
Maybe the Book Isn't the Only Destination
At first, I thought about microdramas the way authors often think about other media. Perhaps someone watches the series, discovers The Jade Amulet, and then buys the book.
That would certainly be nice.
But the more I considered it, the less convinced I became that selling books should be the only way to measure whether an adaptation succeeds. Some people love reading. Other people would rather listen to the story. Video potentially reaches someone else entirely.
Maybe the goal doesn’t always have to be to turn viewers into readers.
The larger opportunity may be allowing people to experience the same story through the medium they enjoy.
That possibility excites me far more than simply having another piece of book marketing.
Will independently produced microdramas become a realistic business opportunity for authors? I don’t know yet. Current tools can do impressive things, but producing a coherent series still requires adaptation, visual decision-making, editing and other skills many novelists have never needed.
And easier production will certainly not mean better production.
Giving more people the ability to create something has never guaranteed that everything they create will be worth watching. What changes is who is allowed the opportunity to try.
That may be the part I find most exciting.
For years, I could imagine the final battle in The Jade Amulet. I could see Sam fighting and the creatures around her. I could imagine what it would feel like to watch a world that had existed in my head suddenly moving across a screen.
The question was always whether someone else might someday decide to make it.
Now I find myself asking a different question:
What would I need to learn to make it myself?
I don’t know the answer yet. But if the technology were good enough and affordable enough today, I know exactly what I would do.
I would start.
If the technology became affordable and convincing enough, would you want to turn one of your books into a microdrama? Why or why not? I’d love to hear your thoughts down in the comments!
About Susan
Under the pen name Michelle Allums, Susan Watts has authored a young adult urban fantasy titled, The Jade Amulet and is currently writing the sequel. Her short stories are also included in the anthologies Christmas Roses and Forever and Always.
Susan has dedicated over four decades to training in multiple martial arts styles and holds the impressive title of a five-time US Karate Alliance world black belt fighting grand champion. Through her karate school, she is able to impart martial arts and life skills. Susan also incorporates her martial arts knowledge into her writing.
An avid triathlete, she keeps in shape by running, biking, and swimming. She lives in the country with her husband, where they raise animals and enjoy being outdoors. Susan also has three grown children and numerous grandchildren. In addition, she is a CPA and VP of finance for a company in her hometown.
Some other WITS posts by Susan Watts:
- How Repeating Character Emotion Weakens an Emotional Scene
- What Your Character Notices Reveal More Than You Think
Top Image purchased from Depositphotos.
