David Nicholls

I worry sometimes that I'm a bit moralistic; always writing about men who are learning to grow up, not be so self-absorbed, selfish or badly behaved. I wonder if that's dull and liberal and wimpy? I should probably write something that celebrates wickedness. ”

I've been a compulsive reader for as long as I can remember. ”

I've only ever been recognised in the street once. In Sweden, strangely. ”

I really was a terrible actor. I did it for years in my twenties because it was like being at university again. ”

My 20s was a sea of worry. I worried about benefit forms, about being thrown out of my flat. I never went on holiday because I thought: 'What if an audition comes up?' I was a nervous wreck. ”

Fear and anxiety are great motivators for me. ”

Most of the books and films I love walk a knife edge between romance and cynicism, and I wanted 'One Day' to stay on that line. I wanted it to be moving, but without being manipulative. ”

Well, I don't think Hollywood's a dirty word at all, I love a lot of Hollywood films. ”

I love Billy Wilder, and I love the way that his films can be very touching and very moving and very romantic, and at the same time there's always a little cynical undertone, there's always something that undercuts things. ”

I read a lot of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I love 'Tender is the Night,' and its atmosphere of doomed romance. He was one of the greatest prose stylists, with a wonderfully clear but lyrical quality. ”