I've never forgotten what it's like to be in your early twenties, which is not a particularly easy time. You've left your family, you've left the strictures of high school, and you're trying to break free and form yourself but you have to support yourself as well. We don't really give enough credence to that time of life and to its troubles.

I think it's restrictive to typecast myself as a novelist because I enjoy other forms of expression. I love literature and I love cinema.

I, myself, don't like to see a film on Friday night and then forget it by the next day.

One of the most ephemeral and important things is atmosphere and tone and it's very hard to put your finger on what creates that.

I think striking the right tone for your story is, if you like, the alchemical work of writing.

The point is the 'me' that you see before you is not the 'me' in my private little space, shape-shifting into the writing role, nor is it the 'me' that works with the actors. Here, at the end of the film doing interviews, I feel like I'm in disguise.

I don't think good films have messages.