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

Every parent has those moments where they look at their child and think, 'There's a demon in those eyes and no one can see it but me!

I must say, in the case of "Room," both the book and the film, I don't think being a lesbian author held me back at all.

Some writers can produce marvelous plots without planning it out, but I can't. In particular I need to know the structure of a novel: what's going to happen in each chapter and each scene.

I think ultimately the film 'Room' is a kind of hymn to motherhood and to the everyday heroism of parents who find their smiles in terrible times.

I needed to do a lot of saying no. I had a lot of [interest] from people who I just didn't think were quite right for it. And I didn't want a bad film to be made of the book, either a sentimental one or a creepy one, so I did a lot of, "No thank you." Then when the right filmmaker came along, yes, I suppose I presented myself very much as wanting to be the writer.

Change for your own sake, if you must, not for what you imagine another will ask of you.