Taiye Selasi Quotes

Writing fiction was a way to take the ideas that troubled me or confused me and put them under pressure.

You write it down because finally, when it's written down you do get it out of your system somewhat.

I have a tendency to face my bad fantasies in my books.

May I make a suggestion, hoping it is not an impertinence? Write it down: write down what you feel. It is sometimes a wonderful help in misery.

I think poetry was always where I went to deal with my deepest feelings.

The reason I write is that I'm not in dialogue with my emotions; writing puts me in touch with myself.

Writing helps me process things that are happening to me.

I have a mess in my head sometimes, and there's something very satisfying about putting it into words. Certainly it's not something that you're in charge of, necessarily, but writing about it, putting it into your words, can be a very powerful experience.

For me, writing essays, prose and fiction is a great way to be self-indulgent.

Writing makes everything else in my life okay; it makes everything make sense.

My only way of processing anything for me is by writing.

When I lead essay workshops, I ask students to come up with at least five topics, which they'll narrow down to one. The winning idea should be the story the student is most excited to tell because it honestly reflects his or her best self.

I tend to write it and then let go emotionally.

I don't see it as a form of healing, because if you have wounds that are bleeding I don't think acting will ever get them to stop. But I find acting is a form of illumination.

I really enjoy the therapeutic value of writing songs.

I think that when you're writing fiction what you're doing is reflecting life as you see it, and putting down how you think and how other people think, and the sort of confusions that you don't normally like to admit to.

'Warm Bodies' ended up becoming one of the most personal relatable things I've written.

Sometimes I feel like I have a dozen different people inside of me. I've always been that way, and I've always written stuff down.

I'm shy, and I can hide behind my acting and discover the truth about myself because it's cathartic in that way. But I tend not to read reviews.

I had feelings that I didn't know what to do with, and I felt better when I started writing them. I thought of it as poetry. I did notice girls really liked it. Better than football. They liked the combination.

I was 12. Our, teacher made us write an autobiography and I realised that I wasn't very interesting. I began to make things up, and that's when I thought maybe I was a writer, or at least a fiction writer.

I love writing and directing because it's great therapy. Every project I've done, there's been a personal connection.

Writing gives me the opportunity to explore ideas, play with language, solve problems, use my imagination, and draw on my own childhood.

For me, writing is a parenthesis where I can make sense of life.

I love sharing my story. It's endlessly healing.