To have had fame, even very minor fame, and to have lost it, got older and maybe put on a little weight is a kind of living death.

Do you miss her?' 'Who? Emma? Of course. Every day. She was my best friend.

An adaptation leads the cinema-goer to the original to find out what they're missing and if they already know the book, it can still illuminate a theme, a character, an idea.

And then some days you wake up and everything's perfect

You've got to stop letting women slip drugs into your mouth, Dex, it's unhygienic. And dangerous. One day it'll be a cyanide capsule.

I think I became a writer because I used to write letters to my friends, and I used to love writing them. I loved the idea that you can put marks on a page and send it off, and two days later, someone laughs somewhere else in the world.

Who do you think you are, Jane Eyre? Grow up. Be sensible. Don't get carried away.