I tend not to know what the plot is or the story is or even the theme. Those things come later, for me.
Michael OndaatjeIt'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 OndaatjeHe came to this country like a torch on fire and he swallowed air as he walked forward and he gave out light
Michael OndaatjeShe had lived in that house fourteen years, and every year she had demanded of John that she be given a pet of some strange exotic breed. Not that she did not have enough animals. She had collected several wild and broken animals that, in a way, had become exotic by their breaking. Their roof would have collapsed from the number of birds who might have lived there if the desert hadn't killed three- quarters of those that tried to cross it. Still every animal that came within a certain radius of that house was given a welcome-the tame, the half born, the wild, the wounded.
Michael Ondaatje