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Posted by John Wilde
March 27th 2010Hi William, I really like your work, especially movies Elizabeth & Elizabeth: The Golden Age. And I wonder if you want to continue and write third part. It would be really great. I think it´s a pitty let just two movies and don´t finish it with third part, but it´s just my opinion.
William Nicholson responded:
The first one wasn't written by me; the decision on a third movie would be made by the producers. Maybe they're waiting for Cate Blanchett to age gracefully?
Posted by Paul Daniggelis
March 27th 2010Re: Firelight Sir - Will you expand on the story in print? Thank you!
William Nicholson responded:
I've long moved on from this story, I'm afraid. But thank you for being so interested.
Posted by Paul Daniggelis
March 27th 2010Re: Firelight Sir - Godwin wanted an heir and I'm reasonably certain he wanted a 'male' heir. We don't know how he (you, that is) reacted to the birth of a girl. You go to some length to ensure that Elizabeth educates her daughter in order to prepare her for a male-dominated society. Was a female heir always in your mind?
William Nicholson responded:
Yes, I planned the story that way. The truth is, of course, that although set in the past, I write as a person of my own times. I was particularly interested in the issue of parenting, and the balance between love and education in its broadest sense.
Posted by beth
March 27th 2010I'm writing an essay for my university course about how you and two other fantasy authors portray issues of good and evil through your characters and how sometimes the lines between the two are blurred. I was wondering what your opinion is, in relation to the wind singer, and how and why you chose to present your characters with good and evil traits?
William Nicholson responded:
You'll find if you follow my story into the next two books that all my 'evil' characters turn out to be not so evil, and that the greatest evil is one in which all share. My view, expressed in my books, is that all of us have the capacity for evil, but that no one is innately evil.
Posted by dalton whaley
March 27th 2010in your new book titled "Rich and Mad" is that because the people in the book are named Rich and Mad or is it because they are Rich and Mad
William Nicholson responded:
It's the names of the main characters.
Posted by Paul Gosling
March 25th 2010Hi William - I am researching the writing career of C.S. Lewis and researching 'Lewis on film', in terms of adaptations, so am very interested in your approach to portaying Lewis on stage and in bio-pic form. I wondered why you didn't portray the other 'Inklings' by name and took the 'composite character' approach ? Were there any legal issues inloved or was it purely an artistic decision ? Beyond 'A Grief Observed' and 'Surprised by Joy' what were your main sources of biographical information on Lewis ? Did you have co-operation/approval from the CSL Estate ? Many thanks - Paul Gosling
William Nicholson responded:
Shadowlands is in a sense a bio-pic/play, but it's also an imagined drama. The skeleton of the story is true, everything else is imagined by me. I didn't approach the Lewis Estate, but late in the day I came into contact with Douglas Gresham, who was at first taken aback by my many very great liberties, but on seeing the finished (TV) version, concluded that I had achieved a kind of truth. He has since been a great supporter of Shadowlands. With the others, I took the composite character approach to free myself from biographical literalism. Given that Tolkein himself is so famous, I wanted to be able to create characters to perform dramatic functions in my play. So artistic reasons, not legal.
