There is something about the unexpected that moves us. As if the whole of existence is paid for in some way, except for that one moment, which is free.

Kept falling in and out of it [sleep] like out of a boat or a tipping hammock.

Listen to the criticisms and preferences of your trusted "first readers".

Writing is a strange synthesis between the two parts of your mind: the analytical side and the side that knows nothing at all, and you have to allow the dreaming side free rein.

Learn from cinema. Be economic with descriptions. Sort out the telling detail from the lifeless one. Write dialogue that people would actually speak.

At the moment, I'm toying with a new idea for a book, but fully engaged with writing screenplays, so the book idea - which needs empty space in my head - is barely formed yet.

Respect the way characters may change once they've got 50 pages of life in them. Revisit your plan at this stage and see whether certain things have to be altered to take account of these changes.