I would say that all short stories have mystery naturally built into them. — Dan Chaon Built Copy Share Image
“Poor me. A murderer who got caught before he could murder anybody.” — Dan Chaon Murderer Copy Share Image
Fiction is fun because you get to steal an identity and try to make it authentic. — Dan Chaon Fiction Copy Share Image
I always worry that knowing too much about a novel or a story early on in writing will close it down -… — Dan Chaon Feels Copy Share Image
There's a lot of effort expended once you begin to completely trash your life. Sometimes, writing feels like this to me. — Dan Chaon Effort Copy Share Image
I like to sleep about four or five really solid hours at night, and then sometimes take a nap in the afternoon… — Dan Chaon Afternoon 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 Basement 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
“We leave such a trail of bodies through our teens and twenties that it's hard to tell which one is us. How… — Dan Chaon Big-me Copy Share Image
Even when our death is imminent, we carry the image of ourselves moving forward, alive, into the future. — Dan Chaon Alive Copy Share Image
I was worried that, as a college teacher, if I wrote too much about intergenerational sex my students would be creeped out. — Dan Chaon College Copy Share Image
“It’s called apophenia. It’s the tendency we humans have to find meaning in disconnected information. For example, some people believe in what’s… — Dan Chaon People Believe Copy Share Image
“He pictures amputated human arms flopping like fish down the center of the road; syringes floating on beds of liposuctioned fat; gelatinous… — Dan Chaon Eyeballs Copy Share Image
I guess I've been blessed with insomnia because I do a lot of my writing at night. Because I don't sleep as… — Dan Chaon Blessed Copy Share Image
I feel like I go back and forth between being fairly fatalistic and really more hopeful about the possibilities of things changing.… — Dan Chaon Election 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 Boring 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
For the last few years I've tried to force myself to write at least one page every day, which doesn't sound like… — Dan Chaon Completing 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 Bleeding Copy Share Image
I also have just my own limits about stuff. I'm not interested in writing graphically about sexual assault for example. I feel… — Dan Chaon Bleakness Copy Share Image
I can't understand how people can settle for having just one life. I remember we were in English class and we were… — Dan Chaon Bent 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 Finger 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'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've been talking to myself a lot lately. I don't know what that's about, but my mother was the same way. She… — Dan Chaon Communication Copy Share Image
How can you come to understand your life when even the beginning is so complicated: a single cell imprinted with the color… — Dan Chaon Alive Copy Share Image
I'm working with fragments a lot of the time and the connective tissue isn't there yet. I think of it the way… — Dan Chaon Block Copy Share Image
“I have to admit that most of the time I read in the same way that I smoke and chew gum and… — Dan Chaon Bits and pieces 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 don't think anybody deals well with tragedy or grief, but maybe my characters are particularly bad at it. Which is why… — Dan Chaon Character Copy Share Image
“On the seat beside him, in between him and his father, Ryan's severed hand is resting on a bed of ice in… — Dan Chaon Await-your-reply Copy Share Image
“You could say that they were sweet, or you could say that they were something out of a horror movie.” — Dan Chaon Horror Copy Share Image
Plot and scene are still the hardest things for me, though I think they're the building blocks of what makes a story… — Dan Chaon Block Copy Share Image
“As mysterious as the part of himself that was chosen and loved by her, the part of himself that was there only… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
Writing about women's sexuality is very scary for me because I'm always afraid I'll get it wrong. — Dan Chaon Scary Copy Share Image
I've always been a horror movie fan, since I was a kid. And I was also a really scared kid. I was… — Dan Chaon Dark 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 love to write when I feel like everybody else is asleep and when I feel like the world is kind of… — Dan Chaon Empty Copy Share Image
