<strong>On coming to Dubai </strong> I have to say this is extraordinary for me and it's great to see so many people here at such an amazing setting. I am a little worried because I spoke to my family this evening and it is raining in London and I have given them the impression that being here is very hard work. I went to the town today and I thought I better make it up to them. I heard that Dubai is famous for it's gold and all I got for them so far was a box of dates. So I need to find another justification for taking off for five days and coming to this wonderful place. <strong>On his blockbuster novel One Day </strong> It was published two and a half years ago and sometimes I feel guilty that I am still talking about it and that I should be talking about something else. But I am very proud of it and it came at a strange time in my career because my first novel did really well in the UK but it had a specific English cultural background so it didn't travel too well. My second book<em> The Understudy,</em> which was inspired by the time I spent as a failed actor, I am also pleased with it but it didn't do too well. So I felt like I was heading on a downward trajectory and I thought <em>One Day</em> would continue that, so this has been a great surprise. But I did love writing it, it is a personal book and something I am proud of. I had no expectations of any of this but it has been a great journey. <strong>On screenwriting </strong> With screenwriting, structure is everything. I always encourage a screenwriter to work on the structure before the dialogue because the worst thing you can do is write a joke, or a line or description and cling to it. What you have to do is work out the structure of the story, then fill in the characters, dialogue and details. <strong>On his former acting career </strong> I wasn't much of an actor. I was more like living furniture, if there was a gap in the stage they would put me there. In <em>The Seagull</em> I understudied Constantine but actually played a servant with long-johns with no shirt on. I had to run on stage every night and nod at Dame Judi Dench. So I have not really acted with Dame Judi Dench, I nodded at her. It was a disastrous career. But I got a book out of it (<em>The Understudy</em>). So it was not 10 years of misery. <strong>The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is on until Saturday at the InterContinental Hotel Dubai, Festival City. For all event details, go to <a href="http://www.emirateslitfest.com">www.emirateslitfest.com</a> </strong>
