A man without scenery is completely disarmed. Patrick Modiano More Quotes by Patrick Modiano More Quotes From Patrick Modiano Because I find writing painful, I try to get it over with as fast as possible. But I write every day, or I lose the thread. Patrick Modiano every-day lose day writing A novelist can never be his own reader, except when he is ridding his manuscript of syntax errors, repetitions, or the occasional superfluous paragraph. Patrick Modiano own he never errors Something happens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process of developing photographs, the way they did it before the digital age. The photograph, as it was printed in the darkroom, became visible bit by bit. As you read your way through a novel, the same chemical process takes place. Patrick Modiano place you age way At the beginning, I experienced writing as a sort of constraint. Starting so young as a writer is pitiable: it's beyond your powers; you have to lay bare things that are very heavy, and you don't have the means for that. Patrick Modiano your beginning you writing Really, I prefer not to read my early books. Not that I don't like them, but I don't recognize myself anymore, like an old actor watching himself as a young leading man. Patrick Modiano watching myself like man In the end, we are all determined by the place and the time in which we were born. Patrick Modiano end place born time That's the miracle of fiction. I use it to spray on certain moments or places from my youth. Patrick Modiano places youth miracle moments The more things remain obscure and mysterious, the more they interest me. I even try to find mystery in things that have none. Patrick Modiano try me mysterious mystery I often have the impression that the book I've just finished isn't satisfied: that it rejects me because I haven't successfully completed it. Because there is no going back, I'm forced to begin a new book so I can finally complete the previous one. Patrick Modiano new me i-can book