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
Like, Last, Almost, Elevator
It doubles your perception, to write from the point of view of someone you're not.
- Michael Ondaatje
View, Point Of View, Someone, Doubles
It's an odd state to be in, blowing the whistle on your home country.
- Michael Ondaatje
Country, Whistle, State, Blowing
A writer uses a pen instead of a scalpel or blow torch.
- Michael Ondaatje
Pen, Uses, Scalpel, Blow
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
Trust, Here, Sentence, Faint
I don't see novels ending with any real sense of closure.
- Michael Ondaatje
Ending, See, Sense, Novels
That's Anil's path. She grows up in Sri Lanka, goes and gets educated abroad, and through fate or chance gets brought back by the Human Rights Commission to investigate war crimes.
- Michael Ondaatje
Fate, Through, Brought, Commission
To write about someone like myself would be very limiting.
- Michael Ondaatje
Someone, Very, Would, Limiting
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
Down, Out, Would, Bored
You don't want to write your own opinion, you don't want to just represent yourself, but represent yourself through someone else.
- Michael Ondaatje
Want, Own, Through, Represent
I see the poem or the novel ending with an open door.
- Michael Ondaatje
Door, Ending, See, Open
It's a discovery of a story when I write a book, a case of inching ahead on each page and discovering what's beyond in the darkness, beyond where you're writing.
- Michael Ondaatje
Ahead, I Write, Discovering, Case
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
Want, Always, Citizen, Sri
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
Plot, Later, Tend, Theme
Right now, I have no idea what I will write or if I will write again.
- Michael Ondaatje
Will, Now, Idea, No Idea
When you're writing, it's as if you're within a kind of closed world.
- Michael Ondaatje
World, Kind, Within, Closed
The past is still, for us, a place that is not safely settled.
- Michael Ondaatje
Past, Still, Settled, Safely
Truth, at the wrong time, can be dangerous.
- Michael Ondaatje
Time, Truth, Dangerous, Wrong
As a writer, one is busy with archaeology.
- Michael Ondaatje
Busy, Writer, Archaeology
You want to suggest something new, but at the same time, resolve the drama of the action in the novel.
- Michael Ondaatje
New, Want, Resolve, Suggest
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
Happen, Move, Editorial, Happens
Research can be a big clunker. It's difficult to know how you can make the historical light.
- Michael Ondaatje
Light, Big, How, Historical
It's why you create characters: so you can argue with yourself.
- Michael Ondaatje
Create, Why, Characters, Argue
In the book the relationship with Katharine and Almasy is sort of only in the patient's mind.
- Michael Ondaatje
Book, Mind, Only, Patient
It's a responsibility of the writer to get the reader out of the story somehow.
- Michael Ondaatje
Responsibility, Get, Somehow, Reader
You're getting everyone's point of view at the same time, which, for me, is the perfect state for a novel: a cubist state, the cubist novel.
- Michael Ondaatje
Perfect, Everyone, Which, Point Of View
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