The older I get, the more fun it is to write young people. It's just a holiday from what is becoming old age, really.

I had a mother who was very emotionally demanding, wanting to be the centre of attention. As they say in EastEnders, she thought it was all about 'er. I spent a lot of time trying to work out what was going on.

Look at Jane Austen. Her characters derive in a reasonably straight line from fairy tales.

I prefer love scenes to be shot up close with a lot of focus on eyes and mouths. Otherwise it can feel uncomfortable and voyeuristic.

When you see two writers named on a movie, one of them did some drafts and got the boot.

As a fairly innocent teenager, growing up in a village in Wales, I just thought, "God, I would like to go and hang about Soho and write great poetry and try to avoid drinking myself to death."

People like bonnets. I don't think you can under-estimate that.