I've written 16 children's books and five unpublished novels. Some of the latter were breathtakingly bad. — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
Appalling things can happen to children. And even a happy childhood is filled with sadnesses. — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
At 20, 25, 30, we begin to realise that the possibilities of escape are getting fewer. We have jobs, children, partners, debts.… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
Writing for children is bloody difficult; books for children are as complex as their adult counterparts, and they should therefore be accorded… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
Bore children, and they stop reading. There's no room for self-indulgence or showing off or setting the scene. — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
When I was writing for children, I was writing genre fiction. It was like making a good chair. It needed four legs… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
“It was true. There really was no limit to the ways in which you could say the wrong thing to your children.… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
Children simply don't make the distinction; a book is either good or bad. And some of the books they think are good… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
If you came from Mars and tried to analyse British or American society through novels, you'd think our society was preponderantly full… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
When I was writing for children, I was writing genre fiction. It was like making a good chair. However beautiful it looked,… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
The most difficult book I wrote was the fourth in a series of linked children's books. It was like pulling teeth because… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
Most adults, unlike most children, understand the difference between a book that will hold them spellbound for a rainy Sunday afternoon and… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
“Appalling things can happen to children. And even a happy childhood is filled with sadnesses. Is there any other period in your… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
“All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what… — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
But I said that you could still want something that is very unlikely to happen. — Mark Haddon Copy Share
“So often these days she seemed to hover between worlds, none of them wholly real.” — Mark Haddon Copy Share
And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery…and I was brave… — Mark Haddon Copy Share
And what he meant was that maths wasn't like life because in life there are no straightforward answers in the end — Mark Haddon Copy Share
“when you describe something by using a word for something that it isn’t. This means that the word metaphor is a metaphor. I” — Mark Haddon Copy Share
“They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.” — Mark Haddon Copy Share
“Places remained and time flowed through them like wind through the grass. Right now. This was the future turning into the past. One thing… — Mark Haddon Copy Share
I suffer depression only in the sense that I am a writer. We don't have proper jobs to go to. We are on our… — Mark Haddon Copy Share
I better make the plot good. I wanted to make it grip people on the first page and have a big turning point in… — Mark Haddon Copy Share
“And it was strange because he was calling, "Christopher. . . ? Christopher. . . ?" and I could see my name written out… — Mark Haddon Copy Share
A lot of roles for people with disabilities are quite patronising. It's a real pity when they are just used to give dull PC… — Mark Haddon Copy Share
I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand. — Mark Haddon Copy Share
“Lots of people wrote to the magazine to say that Marilyn vos Savant was wrong, even when she explained very carefully why she was… — Mark Haddon Copy Share
I read very, very little fiction as a kid. All the books I can remember are junior science books. — Mark Haddon Copy Share
