You have to write fiction that mirrors the actual world, which has people of all sorts in it. — Alice Mattison Fiction Copy Share Image
Teaching is very important to me, and it has become more important as I get older. — Alice Mattison Education Copy Share Image
In many cultures, women are sometimes literally kept from learning to read or from going to school. — Alice Mattison Culture Copy Share Image
I think that inevitably, the trouble our characters go through is a kind of metaphor for what's happening in ourselves. — Alice Mattison Character Copy Share Image
Writers sometimes are paid a great deal of money, but much more frequently they're not paid or are paid only a little… — Alice Mattison Copy Share Image
I think you have to remember that writing is hard; my first editor used to say that to me. — Alice Mattison Copy Share Image
The making of fiction takes literally what is suggested by our imagination. — Alice Mattison Fiction Copy Share Image
Anyone with an imagination can write about the day-to-day experiences of someone he or she is not. — Alice Mattison Copy Share Image
I'm very secretive. I'll write a whole novel and revise it, which might take me two years or more, and the people… — Alice Mattison Books Copy Share Image
Inevitably we start by thinking that if our work is any good, we'll get money. It's as we would if you started… — Alice Mattison Business Copy Share Image
“When a man I like touches my arm or my hair, I want to know if he'll touch the center of me,… — Alice Mattison Relationships Copy Share Image
There is a lot of censorship about writing that's exerted from all directions, from families or governments and society, even the fear… — Alice Mattison Censorship Copy Share Image
I heard a white writer say, 'Oh, I'd never put black people in my writing, I'm afraid I would offend someone by… — Alice Mattison Bears Copy Share Image
It's hard to say which of us is luckier, the ones who go through long periods when they can't write or the… — Alice Mattison Copy Share Image
There seems to be a tremendous desire among many people now to know authors and how they work, to know what's autobiographical… — Alice Mattison Autobiographical Copy Share Image
I've been astonished how often, when I convince a writer to tell a story more straightforwardly and to tell it more simply… — Alice Mattison Books Copy Share Image
When I've taught writing to five, six, and seven year olds, it's not very different than talking to an adult writer. They're… — Alice Mattison Adults Copy Share Image
Sometimes it's interesting to see what people who have too much control need to do to write freely. — Alice Mattison Copy Share Image
We have to give our poor, innocent, and undeserving-of-our-badness characters trouble in order to make them characters in a story. — Alice Mattison Copy Share Image
I think we need to develop the courage to write from the viewpoint of people who may seem quite different from ourselves,… — Alice Mattison Courage Copy Share Image
I think the difference between writing as someone and writing for them is that when you write for someone, you take on… — Alice Mattison Burden Copy Share Image
I think a day in your life on which nothing bad happens may be a wonderful day, but it probably isn't going… — Alice Mattison Copy Share Image
