I think that all writing is in search of lost time. I'm starting to realise that very clearly.

I think all characters are facets of the writer. In a way, they have to be if you're going to write them convincingly.

On the far side stretched the open Pacific and beyond, but the crow could not fly high enough to see its way home.

Writing is solitary. You spend so much time alone and in your own mind, telling stories.

Inspiration comes from everything from the entire world, and it's hard to pinpoint one thing. I can trace one inspiration to the writing of 13th-century Zen master Dogen Zenji, who writes beautifully about time.

Even though I was making documentaries, my films had fictional elements to them. I think I like blurring those distinctions because so much of what we see on television purports to be the truth, but it's often largely imaginary - or wishful thinking, or any number of less honorable things.