“The two of you stood there, side by side, and the tectonic plates of your lives began to shift and resettle, continents… — Dan Chaon Continents 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
“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
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
The happiest I have ever been is in the life that I led with my wife and kids. — Dan Chaon Happiest 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 think we're always in some ways writing to the teachers who gave us early love. — Dan Chaon Early love 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
I guess I'm curious about how people process grief and how they process loss. And I'm also interested in the ways in… — Dan Chaon Consequence 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
I keep a daily journal of whatever weird thought comes into my mind, like when I had a dream I was in… — Dan Chaon Able 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
You can't count on notoriety lasting very long, and there's no way to predict whether anyone will care about your books or… — Dan Chaon Book 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
The feeling of being an outsider, and the identity theme, are hardwired into me. If there's anything really autobiographical in my fiction,… — Dan Chaon Feeling 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
“Her name...was Mrs. marina Orlova, and she had grown up in Siberia. Later, she would tell him that she loathed the American… — Dan Chaon Customs Copy Share Image
Sometimes he thinks that if he could only trace the path of his life carefully enough, everything would become clear. The ways… — Dan Chaon Breathe 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
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
Writing short stories was kind of like I was cheating the whole time, in some way. I went back and forth between… — Dan Chaon Books 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
“How good it felt to be alone, stacking blocks. That's what came to him again, a kind of weight solidifying in his… — Dan Chaon Self 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 Collections 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
“The pirates would kiss Hayden, and sometimes they would cut off a hank of hair - 'as a reminder of yer kisses,… — Dan Chaon Await-your-reply Copy Share Image
“There are little wisps of jelly in a living brain. Deagle knows this well: neurons, transmitting signals - and the soul, so… — Dan Chaon Brain Copy Share Image
“The baby's large eyes settled on him, and though this has been one of his happiest nights in his whole life, it… — Dan Chaon Cause and effect 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
“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
“Poor me. A murderer who got caught before he could murder anybody.” — Dan Chaon Murderer Copy Share Image
A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking. — Dan Chaon Conclusion Copy Share Image
