David Nicholls talks about 'Great Expectations'

David Nicholls, author of the brilliant book One Day, has been very busy of late. And all without releasing a new novel. What's he been up to? Firstly, he's been back to his first job - screenwriting - writing the script for the recent adaptation of Great Expectations starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes. He's also written a story for literary nightclub, Book Slam's second anthology Too Much Too Young, where each story takes its title from a song. Nicholls chose Pulp's 'A Little Soul'.

After hearing him read the story at a recent event, we asked if we could interview the man. We spoke on the phone about the Book Slam anthology, about adapting Dickens and about when we can expect a new novel.

What made you choose the song you did for the Book Slam anthology?

I liked the title, I liked the idea of someone feeling unremarkable and invisible. It doesn't really relate to the song. It's a fine song but it's about something else. It's about fathers and sons. I like the idea of someone immune to literature, art and culture being enriching and making a discovery about that. It's not a particularly autobiographical story but I do remember sitting up for the first time during English and feeling that was the subject I responded to the most. It didn't happen till I was 15/16, that inspiration and I wanted to write about that.

The novel I'm writing at the moment, one of the characters is 15-years-old and is starting to form his own personality. He's deciding how he wants to be perceived. I find that an interesting stage of people's lives. The point at which you decide you're a sportsman or a politician and an environmentalist or poet or actor. The story is about an unremarkable boy deciding he wants to appear complicated and profound. Which I think is a common experience for a 15/16-year-old.

One of the great things about the stories in the anthology is you can read a lot into the author's choice - whether they just like the title or they're directly inspired by the song…

I just took it from the title. It seemed a pithy way of summing up the way the boy felt about himself. He didn't respond to books or music or literature in the way his contemporaries did. At that age, you can become an advocate of a particular author or a particular songwriter, it becomes an expression of your personality. I didn't refer back to the lyrics.

It makes the solitary act of reading into something sociable and fun.What is it about Book Slam that you love the most?

I love the attentiveness of the audience. It feels very informal, relaxed and fun, and extremely attentive. It's rare to see a room of 300 people listening so intently to writing, music and comedy. It's a great night out. It's always surprising and fun. The audience is incredibly supportive and generous. It doesn't have the stuffiness, the folding chair stiffness that you get at book festivals. It makes the solitary act of reading into something sociable and fun.

Starter for Ten and One Day have been made into films. You're a screenwriter. Great Expectations is out. Do you write visually, or with film in mind?

As a novelist, Woody Allen is a great influence. I never write the books with films in mind. I always write them as books. I don't think one should write a book with a mind on a film version. I was a screenwriter before I was a novelist and I learn to write screenplays on the job. Working in television, you pay particular attention to story. You have to structure your stories properly. You have to work out what to include and what to leave out. You work out what the tension is in the story, where the climax comes and make sure it's never boring. And I did that for a long time before I sat down to write a novel. I'm full of admiration for those writers whose work is entirely unfilmic, whose work is about the quality of the prose.

For me, books and films and television have always existed alongside each other. And they've always fed into each other. I think it's not a conscious thing. If I feel anything about writing novels, it's that I wish I were better at writing pure descriptive prose. A lot of the novelists I love write beautiful, lyrical, wonderful prose and that's not something I ever set out to do. I think the two things do feed into each other, especially if they're comedic or romantic, it's hard to separate. As a novelist, Woody Allen is a great influence. As a screenwriter, Dickens and other 19^th century writers are a big influence.

I often find that some of my favourite novelists are the ones that write in a way I don't…

Absolutely. Often I get sent books and people compare them to One Day or Starter for Ten and I find it hard to pick up those books. I know I'll feel extremely jealous if they've done something better than I could have done it. I worry about unconscious plagiarism. I rarely read books in the same genre as the ones I've written. And quite deliberately so. A lot of the movies I love, I could never in a million years have written.

I feel that Dickens is rather patronised as a writer.Your adaptation of Great Expectations… what were you hoping to bring to a new version of it?

Nothing consciously. I don't think you set out to put your stamp on it. My primary source was the novel. I didn't rewatch any of the other versions. When I wrote the script, we didn't know about the recent BBC TV version (the script was written in 2009). It hadn't been done for a while. I sat down and watched the first 20 minutes of the David Lean version, just to make sure there was something else to say. I guess, you'll always feel that with a classic novel… 'Do we really need to do this again?' I feel that Dickens is rather patronised as a writer. People often say, 'If Dickens were alive today, he'd be writing a soap opera or sitcom'. There's a feeling that he's not a proper literary figure in the way that D H Lawrence or Virginia Woolf or Jane Austen is. He's seen as a hack and as a caricaturist. When I read the great Dickens novels, I don't feel that at all. What's striking is the emotion and the humanism of Dickens. I think that's what I wanted to address. The David Lean version and the musical of Oliver have set this template for Dickens as a writer of types and his writing is much more emotional and subtle than that. That was my justification for taking it on. To write the Dickens who was moving - not in the sentimental moments and the pathos, but in his observations of human relationships. If there were an intention in the version I write… he's a much more darker and violent writer than people imagine, and more touching and humane.

Did you get involved in the actual filming?

I steer clear of that, really. The biggest frustration of screenwriting is, once you've had the read-through, you're sort-of sidelined. It's very pragmatic. Filming is so fraught and hectic and you don't have a role on the set. People are under pressure to shoot the day's schedule and you're just getting in the way. I met the cast and went on-set two or three times but after that, I steered clear.

I'm just now escaping the shadow of One Day... I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about your next novel. We had hints earlier on. But can you tell us anymore?

It's hard to say. I don't know how far I am. I've been making notes. I have an idea and I'm just getting to the point where I'll decide whether to pursue it or put it to one side. I can't say anything about it really. It is different from One Day. It isn't a love story. It's a little different. It's more about family. But that's all I can say. I've written about 20,000 words and I'm going to re-read it and decide what I'm going to do. I'm just now escaping the shadow of One Day, which has been an amazing experience but I wrote it a long time ago and it's taken me until now to stop having it constantly in my mind. I'm starting to enjoy writing novels again, which I do love. I enjoyed writing One Day and I was very pleased with it and now I have to discover the same enthusiasm for this next book.

David Nicholls' website

Book Slam