I always worry that knowing too much about a novel or a story early on in writing will close it down -… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
“The two of you stood there, side by side, and the tectonic plates of your lives began to shift and resettle, continents… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
“You know what you learn when you study the legal system? Poor people pass down damage the way rich people pass down… — Dan Chaon Law Copy Share Image
It is not like a premonition of death. It is as if she died a long time ago, and she just now… — Dan Chaon Death Copy Share Image
“In the basement of Sydney's new house is a little room that is about the size and shape of a coffin.” — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
It's not like it ruined my life, I was going to say, but then I didn't. Because it occurred to me that… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
“He had grown fond of the old proprietress, Mrs. Matalov, who had been a magician's assistant back in the 1930s, and who… — Dan Chaon Beautiful woman Copy Share Image
At a certain point, you must be able to slip loose. At a certain point, you found that you had been set… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
A lot of times in my short fiction there isn't much dramatized scene - there are a lot of short, interconnected bits,… — Dan Chaon Action Copy Share Image
“Your Mom's Car. Think about that. Try to wrap your brain around the supernatural and spiritual implications that the name bears down… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
A novel requires a certain kind of world building and also a certain kind of closure, ultimately. Whereas with a short story… — Dan Chaon Books Copy Share Image
A lot of time, with stories, I'll start out with a title and try to dream myself into the story that it… — Dan Chaon Dream Copy Share Image
Here is the door of my mom's house, well-remembered childhood portal. Here is the yard, and a set of wires that runs… — Dan Chaon Abacus Copy Share Image
“Outside, the sleet had gotten thicker. You could hear it pebbling against the large glass windows, you could see it swirling wildly… — Dan Chaon Night Copy Share Image
I've been reading Peter Straub since I was a teenager, and his work is hardwired into my brain. A Dark Matter contains… — Dan Chaon Brain Copy Share Image
“I’ve always felt personally and emotionally closer to the searchers, rather than to the finders…to those who don’t get answers, as opposed… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
“Anxiety!” he said. “I’ve been there, plenty of times! And, you know, it’s particularly hard during the first one, especially, because you’re… — Dan Chaon Anxiety Copy Share Image
“Hesitantly, I touched the stump where my finger used to be. In my mind, something almost remembered itself, but the fumes of… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
I think that the way that I write stories is by instinct. You have some basic ideas - a character, or an… — Dan Chaon Character Copy Share Image
I started out as a poet who primarily wanted to write about image and moment. Over the years I've been trying to… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
I'm certainly very influenced by what you would call "contemporary headline horror," stuff that is true crime or for one reason or… — Dan Chaon Attention Copy Share Image
I start with an image, then I go from the image toward exploring the situation. Then I write a scene, and from… — Dan Chaon Character Copy Share Image
I think at a certain point the book develops a certain weight, or pressure. You've been pushing the rock up the hill… — Dan Chaon Book Copy Share Image
Fiction is a particular kind of rhetoric, a way of thinking that I think can be useful in your life. It asks… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
I read a lot, but at the same time I'm not a particularly good or diligent or discriminating reader. I go through… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
There are so many people we could become, and we leave such a trail of bodies through our teens and twenties that… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
I love to write when I feel like everybody else is asleep and when I feel like the world is kind of… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
“The desire to remake that shrinking expanse of life they were still allotted, to make use of it, to fill it up… — Dan Chaon Change Copy Share Image
“Fraj-ile," I say, pronouncing it the way she does - as if it might be a popular tourist destination in the Pacific,… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
A lot of people work really diligently to maintain a "profile" in the writing world, but that's so hard, and so boring… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
“There are a great number of what appear to be teenage runaways, but in Portland it seems that even the elderly dress… — Dan Chaon Hoodies Copy Share Image
You know, the biggest indicator of where you live is your income. If you live in this suburb you make this much… — Dan Chaon Income Copy Share Image
“Does a human life, a "personality," exist as a single thread that can be followed through time? Is the "me" of 20… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
I've never been able to sleep very much, even when I was a kid. I used to hate being forced to lay… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
The thing that made me turn more towards writing was realizing how hard it was going to be to get a singular… — Dan Chaon Books Copy Share Image
I never could figure out how those people like Bukowski could be both carousers and writers at the same time, because to… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
I wanted to write a horror story. But in some ways, I have always thought of myself as a kind of ghost-story/horror… — Dan Chaon Ghost Copy Share Image
Maybe it's because I grew up during the MTV generation, but to me a perfect song is one I can imagine a… — Dan Chaon Dream Copy Share Image
“I should be arguing vehemently with doctors, demanding results, I should be surrounded by people who are bleeding and screaming and shocking… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
“That night I sat up writing in my diary writing to Big Me: 'I hope you are alive ' I wrote. 'I… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
