Quotes from Ayana Mathis

Fiction writing is an act of imagination, lived experience is secondary in many ways, writing a novel really is all about inventing worlds and people.

All of us, writers and non-writers alike, have incredible well-springs of personal experience and history. And we also have imagination - which I think is a kind of human miracle.

One thing I am learning is to slow down. Multitasking is great, but I when try to do everything at warp speed I just end up with typos and stress.

Voice isn't fixed or unmalleable, it adapts to the characters you are creating and the story being told. I suppose in some way that's true in life - a little flexibility goes a long way.

I've been writing all my life. Even though I didn't have sort of careerist aspirations as a writer, it was very much my identity.

I try to find the beauty in things. On dark days, I sit in my armchair looking at clouds and I am awed at how rain is made.