I'm a huge planner, more and more so as the years go by.

If you have written something that the film people want, like a book, it does give you a way in.

What's crucial about being an executive producer is that you stay in the loop, information-wise. They have to share all their major decisions with you.

And as the years flowed by, some villagers told travelers of a beast and a beauty who lived in the castle and could be seen walking on the battlements, and others told of two beauties, and others, of two beasts.

The great thing about a short story is that it doesn't have to trawl through someone's whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side.

Seriously, I think what all the puzzling over parenthood I had to do to write [a novel] ROOM taught me is that children can thrive in a remarkable range of situations.

I tend to be so lost in the work that I don't notice the weather. My partner will come home and say, 'Beautiful day, wasn't it?' and I'll say, 'Was it?' as I won't have noticed the real world at all.