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.

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.

I actually tried to think of the story [Room] in gender-neutral terms at first and said to myself, "OK, would this work if it were a man?" Well no, you can't make a man pregnant, so it's got to be a woman.

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.

In the publishing world, most editors are probably women. So I don't see the publishing world as a male-dominated one, especially within fiction.

I've certainly seen stats that if you have a woman director or a woman screenwriter, the number of female characters goes way up.

You cannot predict literary success; the only way you can possibly aim for it is to do your thing and do it well.