Even when our death is imminent, we carry the image of ourselves moving forward, alive, into the future. — Dan Chaon Alive 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
“It's hard to believe that this is how it's done. That this is how we get here into the world, by accident… — Dan Chaon Hard to believe 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 Different 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
“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 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
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
“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
“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 Cars 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
“In the basement of Sydney's new house is a little room that is about the size and shape of a coffin.” — Dan Chaon Coffin 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 Copy Share Image
I would say that all short stories have mystery naturally built into them. — Dan Chaon Built 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 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
There are all kinds of strange threads in American culture, and places where sympathy is extended and places where it isn't, and… — Dan Chaon All kinds 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 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
“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
Fiction is a particular kind of rhetoric, a way of thinking that I think can be useful in your life. It asks… — Dan Chaon Asks 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 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
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
