Matt Haig Quotes

I used to think it was hard to write, and I still find the process more or less unpleasant, but if I know what I'm doing it rattles along, then the rewrite whips it into shape rather quickly.

Unfortunately, there's still a lot of beginning writers who think you can just write your first draft and hand it in.

People say you can't teach writing, but I think that's nonsense.

Nothing teaches great writing like the very best books do. Yet, good teachers often help students cross that bridge, and I have to say that I had a few extraordinary English teachers in high school whom I still credit for their guidance.

Writing can't be taught.

There is a whole industry in America of people who want to write, and those who teach it. Even if the students don't end up writing, what's good about them taking the courses is, they become great readers, learning to appreciate the writing.

You don't teach information in a writing workshop.

Mostly, I would like people to ask other writers about the craft of their writing so we could learn from one another. We ask movie directors why they chose to use certain lights and angles and speeds of film, but most of the time, we ignore the craft of a writer.

If you write enough, you begin to learn to do things. But in a way, you do start from zero each time.

Every story I write is different. Some are hard. Some aren't. 'Chronicle' was tremendously easy. I have a hard time comparing my process on different things, but I will say this: The more you write, the better you get at it. That's one of the few things that's markedly true.

I think you have to learn for yourself how to write. I'm slightly mystified by creative writing courses - God love them - because I can't understand how you can explain a process that I find so baffling.

Today I must write a paragraph or a page better than I did yesterday.

You become a great writer by writing.

I'm not a born writer, and I don't enjoy writing.

I'm very happy with the way I write. I think I do it good. But I've never really considered myself a writer.

I taught writing classes at the University of Pennsylvania for a number of years and I realized that all you can do is encourage people and give them assignments and hope they will write them.

Writing is hard. I mean, I sit there and work at it.

Writing is not an unknown territory for me.

All experience helps when you write.

I've been writing fiction probably since I was about 6 years old, so it's something that is second nature to me now. I just sit down and start writing. I don't sit down and start writing and it comes out perfectly - it's a process.

I have to always remember, writing is really hard.

I have grown in my writing and I care about it now and I know how important it is to write stuff.

What one's goal should be is just to become a better writer and to tell different kinds of stories.

I'm a great believer in the experiential theory of writing.

I find it both fascinating and disconcerting when I discover yet another person who believes that writing can't be taught. Frankly, I don't understand this point of view.