Bore children, and they stop reading. There’s no room for self-indulgence or showing off or setting the scene. — Mark Haddon
I don’t remember deciding to become a writer. You decide to become a dentist or a postman. — Mark Haddon
I don’t mean that literary fiction is better than genre fiction, on the contrary; novels — Mark Haddon
I better make the plot good. I wanted to make it grip people on the first page and have — Mark Haddon
From a good book, I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness. — Mark Haddon
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
I started writing books for children because I could illustrate them myself and because — Mark Haddon
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
Most of my work consisted of crossing out. Crossing out was the secret of all good writing. — Mark Haddon
My book has a very simple surface, but there are layers of irony and paradox all the way through it. — Mark Haddon
Science and literature give me answers. And they ask me questions I will never be able to answer. — Mark Haddon
The one thing you have to do if you write a book is put yourself in someone else’s shoes. — Mark Haddon
When I was writing for children, I was writing genre fiction. It was like making a good chair. — Mark Haddon
I’ve written 16 children’s books and five unpublished novels. Some of the latter were breathtakingly bad. — Mark Haddon