David Nicholls: 'A good structure means that narrative pull is built into the story'
BY Katie Smart
12th Oct 2022
David Nicholls is a renowned screenwriter and novelist. His iconic novel One Day was published in 2009 to extraordinary critical acclaim and is now a major Netflix show. His bestselling debut novel Starter for Ten was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club in 2004. His fourth novel Us was longlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2014. As well as writing novels, David is a BAFTA-winning screenwriter.
We spoke to David about his approach to crafting characters and dialogue as well as what it was like working on our new five-week online writing course: Writing Fiction with David Nicholls.
You started your writing career in television – how does your background in screenwriting impact your approach to writing fiction? Does it help you craft dialogue – and are there any other areas where there is helpful crossover?
Planning and structure are central to screenwriting. A script isn't an art-form in itself, like a poem or novel or even a stage play which is read as literature. It's an instruction manual and while a portion of it will be 'creative' in the way that fiction is – description, emotion, dialogue – a great deal of it is objective, rather chilly, a document, a map. So, the shape, the order of scenes, the exposition, the twists and turns, all of that tends to be worked out – often collaboratively – before I start on what I think of as the fun stuff, the dialogue, the precise action, the jokes, images and character detail etc. Hence, I'm a pretty thorough 'planner' with fiction too. I wouldn't entirely improvise a novel any more than I'd improvise a script. The trick is to leave yourself treats, surprises, blank spaces, things that you're excited to write but haven't yet worked out, so that there's always room for spontaneity and surprise, so that you're not just filling in boxes.
You’re known for your clever use of time as a structural device. For example, your use of ‘then’ and ‘now’ in Us and Sweet Sorrow and revisiting one day every year (St Swithin’s Day) for 20 years in One Day. How do you decide on a time frame for your novels?
It depends on the story I want to tell – a twenty, twenty-five-year arc is terrifying in story terms – what to include? What to leave out? Finding moments, emblematic snapshots, set-pieces and scenes provides a sense of manageability, and narrative surprise too – in Sweet Sorrow and Us how did the characters get from 'then' to 'now'? In One Day, what happened on the other 364 days? A good structure means that narrative pull is built into the story.
Of course, that's only one type of novel and sometimes the story you want to tell is more intimate, more of a vignette. Sweet Sorrow has a framing device but the main action is just eight weeks told from one person’s point of view. Likewise Starter for Ten is three months. A small cast of characters, lots of two-hander scenes – I love that sense of intimacy too. The arc, the timescale, the structure has to fit the kind of story you want to tell.
Romantic and familial relationships form the core of your stories. What advice do you have when it comes to portraying a believable bond between two characters?
I think conversation is at the root of it, and I’ve always loved writing dialogue. It has the quality of a game, a pattern of call and response and I’m at my happiest as a writer just letting the characters bounce words back and forth. I write much more dialogue than I use but it’s the best exercise to work out who the characters are, what draws them together or pushes them apart, the gaps between what they say and what they mean.
When inspiration strikes, what tends to come first – the idea for an interesting hook to hold up your narrative or a character to lead the story?
I’m not sure how qualified I am to answer this as I’m really not that prolific. There are plenty of subjects that I’m passionate about – I’d love to write about food some day, or cinema or work. But without character or a compelling story, that’s all they are – subjects, and a really good narrative hook or a clear, strong character voice, well those are a little harder to come by. That’s what I’m waiting for. A novel is going to take up three, four, five years of your life so it has to feel absolutely vital.
What novels have you enjoyed reading recently?
At the time of writing, I'm preparing to interview Elizabeth Strout and so, in the spirit of revision, that's all I've been reading for the last month. I'm a huge fan – she's clearly part of an American realist tradition that I love but she's trying lots of new things; building a world, exploring what it means to write, trying to understand experiences other than her own. There’s a wonderful warm, natural spoken quality to the voice in her first-person novels. Recently I’ve also enjoyed books by Yaa Gyasi.
If you could only pass on one piece of advice to the aspiring authors reading this, what would it be?
I wish this was more original, but you must read as much as you can, and read critically, with an author’s eye, looking for clues as to how it’s done. Why does a novelist choose to describe one thing and not the other? How do I know what this character’s like when I’ve only been told about their umbrella or the parting in their hair? How are they getting in and out of rooms, why does the scene start here rather than at hello? Of course, every author has their own approach, their own style, but you’ll find the ones you love, the ones you want to emulate (without mimicking of course).
We’re so excited about the new Writing Fiction with David Nicholls course. What was your favourite part of creating the course?
Well, not the sound of my own voice so much. More the chance to collaborate with Anna and the team, to work out practical approaches. I’ve realised, too, how much I love thinking and talking about the technical aspects, how changing tense alters a passage, how structure creates tension. A lot of that stuff is instinctive so to pick it apart and analyse it – well, I could do that all day, and did.
Enrol on our online course: Writing Fiction with David Nicholls.