Festivals

William Nicholson may be known by many as the author of the CS Lewis play Shadowlands and screenwriter on the Russell Crowe film Gladiator, but young fans of his books are more concerned with the publication of the final book in what is his second fictional trilogy.

His first book aimed at teens, Windsinger, was published in 2000. " When I wrote that I discovered I loved developing this sort of story and so turned it into a trilogy, " William explained.

The publication of his latest book Noman - the final part of the Noble Warriors story -  makes it two trilogies in a row based in a fantasy world, a world he says, you need to remain disciplined while creating.

"One of the mistakes that a lot of fantasy writers makes is that they just go crazy with their imagination - and in a sense less is more," he said.

"To start with you need to have the freedom that fantasy gives you, where anything can happen and then lock yourself down and say 'I'm now giving myself very little freedom, I'm creating clear roles so that readers can be involved and understand it in terms of their own life'."

Hollywood calls

William is currently looking at adapting The Noble Warrior for Hollywood - a world where he has already had some success and where the job of a writer is often to plug holes in other people's scripts.

Autumn is already proving a busy time for William, as well as promoting his new book and working on his adaptation of the Noble Warriors, his first big break Shadowlands, the story of CS Lewis and his love for poet Joy Gresham, is coming to the West End stage.

Originally written by William as a television play, Shadowlands was also a very successful film in 1993 starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, which won William an Oscar nomination.

Its latest incarnation has meant a bit more tinkering of the script for William, but he is very glad to see it return: " It is such a joy because each new group of performers is doing it differently," he told Richard.

You can catch up with William at a question and answer session at the Bath Festival of Children's Literature on Sunday, 23 September at 3pm at the Guildhall.