I'm named after Jane Austen's Emma, and I've always been able to relate to her. She's strong, confident but quite tactless.

...real loneliness is having no one to miss. Think yourself lucky you've known something worth missing.

Writing stories is my way of scratching that itch: my escape from the claustrophobia of individuality. It lets me, at least for a while, live more than one life, walk more than one path. Reading, of course, can do the same.

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.

Ma's still nodding. "You're the one who matters, though. Just you." I shake my head till it's wobbling because there's no just me.

We used to call it her Cinderella complex, because often when she had agreed to go out in the evening she would be seized by panic and announce that she had nothing to wear.