A writer uses a pen instead of a scalpel or blow torch.
Michael Ondaatje
2
I don't have a plan for a story when I sit down to write. I would get quite bored carrying it out.
Michael Ondaatje
3
I tend not to know what the plot is or the story is or even the theme. Those things come later, for me.
Michael Ondaatje
4
I'm a Canadian citizen. But I always want to feel at home in Sri Lanka. I'm a member of both countries.
Michael Ondaatje
5
In the book the relationship with Katharine and Almasy is sort of only in the patient's mind.
Michael Ondaatje
6
It doubles your perception, to write from the point of view of someone you're not.
Michael Ondaatje
7
It's a responsibility of the writer to get the reader out of the story somehow.
Michael Ondaatje
8
It's an odd state to be in, blowing the whistle on your home country.
Michael Ondaatje
9
It's why you create characters: so you can argue with yourself.
Michael Ondaatje
10
Once I've discovered the story, I might restructure it, maybe move things around, set up a clue that something is going to happen later, but that happens much later in an editorial capacity.
Michael Ondaatje
11
Research can be a big clunker. It's difficult to know how you can make the historical light.
Michael Ondaatje
12
Right now, I have no idea what I will write or if I will write again.
Michael Ondaatje
13
The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human. Meander if you want to get to town.
Michael Ondaatje
14
The last three books are much more a case of a moment of history, what happened almost by accident or coincidence, like being in the same elevator or lifeboat.
Michael Ondaatje
15
The past is still, for us, a place that is not safely settled.
Michael Ondaatje
16
To write about someone like myself would be very limiting.
Michael Ondaatje
