‘FINDING THE CONFIDENCE TO WRITE IS A CONSTANT BATTLE’

Author and screenwriter Nick Hornby talks to books editor Joanne Finney about his romantic new novel and how jigsaws help him solve writer’s block

We talk to novelist Nick Hornby

One thing you definitely can’t accuse author Nick Hornby of is playing to type. Since Fever Pitch, a memoir-cum-love letter to his beloved Arsenal Football Club, he has written about everything from blokeish obsession (High Fidelity) to 1960s beauty queens (Funny Girl) and depressive TV presenters (A Long Way Down). His latest novel, Just Like You, is a May-december love story, although the twist is that it’s the woman, Lucy, who is 20 years older than her boyfriend, Joseph. What could be a raunchy read is actually a sweet and tender exploration of whether love is enough to overcome the hurdles of not just age, but also race and class.

Nick, 63, is also a highly in-demand screenwriter. In 1997, he fulfilled a long-held ambition to write a screenplay when he adapted Fever Pitch for the big screen – the result of which starred Colin Firth. He has also written the screenplays for An Education, Brooklyn and Wild, twice winning Oscar nominations for his adaptations. His TV writing includes Love, Nina and State Of The Union, both for the BBC.

Nick lives in London with his second wife, Amanda Posey, a film producer, and their sons, Lowell, 18, and Jesse, 16. His eldest son, Danny, 27, is autistic. Nick helped set up the Treehouse School in London for children with autism and is still involved in the charity.

With novels, I find that I need two ideas to rub together for something to happen.

I thought about a couple like Lucy and Joseph some years ago, and the idea that something often prevents us from getting together with anybody we like the look of, as opposed to someone from within our circle. Then, when the Brexit referendum happened, there was so much opposition and argument that I thought maybe now is the time to write this book and to be examining how we connect with people in different ways.

I had a long period of messing about in my 20s and 30s.

I was in and out of teaching and I tried to write screenplays. I didn’t know anything about them or anyone who wrote them, I’d just attempt to write these things and put them in an envelope and nothing ever happened. Finally, I switched to writing prose and sold a couple of short stories. Then, I had the idea to write Fever Pitch and that was that.

When I wrote High Fidelity, I was very nervous about writing about women.

I think that one of the things that might be wrong with that book is that I’m too kind to the female characters. I wanted the women to be the grown-ups, but life isn’t like that. As I’ve gone on, I have had more confidence in being able to write about anyone; the women might be flawed or they might not be – the same as the men.

The first two or three years after my son Danny was born was a tumultuous time.

I got little written in those years. There are lots of clichés about having kids – that they take all your time and effort – but I’ve learned a lot more about the world than I might otherwise have done if I hadn’t had them. I grew up in the suburbs in the 1970s and it wasn’t a multicultural community. My kids have grown up in London in the 21st century and their lives are very different. Their lives have enriched mine, for sure.

I always have a jigsaw on the go.

I’ve realised that it’s what you do in between the sentences that’s the hardest thing. If you’re stuck, then the obvious thing to do is check emails but, if I have a jigsaw, I can spin around and do a bit and I don’t come out of the headspace. I’m a very bitty writer. I don’t ever look up and see that three hours have passed and I’ve written 5,000 words. What tends to happen is that 45 minutes have passed and I’ve written half a sentence.

Finding the confidence to write is a constant battle.

Any success you’ve had doesn’t matter because it doesn’t help you with the book you’re writing. Each new book is a challenge. You have to develop a thick skin, which I haven’t yet!

As a writer, you have to develop a thick skin, which I haven’t yet!

At the start of my career, I’d find myself on a radio programme with somebody whose albums I’d bought.

The first time that happened, my knees were knocking; I didn’t feel I had any right to be there. But then you start to meet more and more people. With films, there’s no way you can do your job if you’re starstruck. It’s a professional relationship. For example, Reese Witherspoon approached me to write the script of Wild.

My wife and I have worked together three times.

She’s an independent film producer and we worked together on the adaptation of Fever Pitch and later on An Education and Brooklyn. Work conversations at home are unavoidable and also interesting. Making films is one long calamity that takes about five years, so there’s always something going on.

Our next project is an adaptation of a book that I love called The Giant’s House by Elizabeth Mccracken. We both know it’s really not healthy to have all one’s eggs in the home basket, as it were, so Amanda has lots going on that doesn’t involve me and I have lots going on that doesn’t involve her.

My sister, Gill [Hornby], and I see each other and speak all the time, but we don’t talk about writing.

She was so brave to start writing novels – it’s not just me, it’s her husband [Robert Harris] as well that she has to squeeze in between. She’s so brilliant and I loved her new book, Miss Austen, so much. I don’t talk about writing to anyone, I just do it.

What I’m proudest of are the solid things I’ve achieved, such as Danny’s old school, Treehouse School, which I was involved in building.

And the Ministry Of Stories, a literacy project I helped set up. In my career, there have been lots of highlights, but just being able to keep it going is what I’m proudest of.

The thing that keeps me writing is the feeling that there’s something in me that has to come out.

I keep trying to cough it up! I always think that I could do it a bit better. It’s nothing to do with money or security, it’s about creating something. I would find life quite difficult without writing.

Just Like You (Viking) by Nick

Hornby is out now