Mark Haddon

Bore children, and they stop reading. There's no room for self-indulgence or showing off or setting the scene. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#children #off #reading #room #scene

Children simply don't make the distinction; a book is either good or bad. And some of the books they think are good are very, very bad indeed. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#book #books #children #distinction #either

Every life is narrow. Our only escape is not to run away, but to learn to love the people we are and the world in which we find ourselves. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#escape #every #find #learn #life

I better make the plot good. I wanted to make it grip people on the first page and have a big turning point in the middle, as there is, and construct the whole thing like a roller coaster ride. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#big #coaster #construct #first #good

I don't mean that literary fiction is better than genre fiction, On the contrary; novels can perform two functions and most perform only one. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#contrary #fiction #functions #genre #i

I knew there was a story; once you find a dog with a fork through it, you know there's a story there. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#find #fork #i #knew #know

I started writing books for children because I could illustrate them myself and because, in my innocence, I thought they'd be easier. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#books #children #could #easier #i

I think most writers feel like they're on the outside looking in much of the time. All of us feel, to a certain extent, alienated from the stuff going on around us. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#around #certain #certain extent #extent #feel

I think the U.K. is too small to write about from within it and still make it seem foreign and exotic and interesting. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#exotic #foreign #i #i think #interesting

I was born too late for steam trains and a lazy eye meant I'd never be an astronaut. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#born #eye #i #i was born #late