“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
“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
“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 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
“Beth had been a middle school science teacher and Joni was a librarian and they both had collections of weird stuff they… — Dan Chaon Bizarre 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
“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
The earliest impetuses for writing, for me, were simply the strange things I happened to notice in my everyday life, stuff I… — Dan Chaon Anecdotes 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
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'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
“He had built his own future brick by brick around himself but there were no doors or windows, at least that was… — Dan Chaon Brick 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
I know a lot of people don't listen to music when they're writing because it distracts them, but for me it's almost… — Dan Chaon Hypnotic 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
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
“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
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
Fiction is fun because you get to steal an identity and try to make it authentic. — Dan Chaon Fiction 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
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'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
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
