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
I have long admired Caroline Leavitt's probing insight into people, her wit and compassion, her ability to find humor in dark situations,… — Dan Chaon Ability Copy Share Image
You can't tell people how to feel when they read your work. You can only hope to connect. — Dan Chaon Feels Copy Share Image
People write fiction in their minds all the time - every time we read a 'human interest' news story, or a true… — Dan Chaon Behave Copy Share Image
I've had a lot of different lives. I was adopted, I grew up in Nebraska, and then I went to Northwestern... Then… — Dan Chaon Adopted Copy Share Image
“The circumstances of life-the events of life-the people around me in life-do not make me the way I am. They reveal the… — Dan Chaon Life 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 Feelings 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 Human life Copy Share Image
It doesn't matter what you do. In the end, you are going to be judged, and all the times that you're not… — Dan Chaon Cartoon 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 Bits 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 Able Copy Share Image
“The first time she had tried to kill herself, she had intuited that there was no escape. She had seen, with sudden… — Dan Chaon First time 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
There are so many people we could become, and we leave such a trail of bodies through our teens and twenties that… — Dan Chaon Abandon 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
“The two of you stood there, side by side, and the tectonic plates of your lives began to shift and resettle, continents… — Dan Chaon Love lost Copy Share Image
I usually have more than one thing I'm working on at once - I've been working on three different novels. When I… — Dan Chaon Books Copy Share Image
In the end, there probably isn't much difference between being in love and acting like you're in love. — Dan Chaon Acting Copy Share Image
“There is hardly anything at all. His life is suddenly a large, empty house, with each vacant room waiting to be furnished.… — Dan Chaon Life Copy Share Image
“In these journals I would frequently write messages to myself, a person whom I addressed as Big Me, or The Future Me.… — 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
“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 Copy Share Image
I tend to like order in almost every other aspect of my life, but for me, the process of writing is really… — Dan Chaon Aspect Copy Share Image
I knew I wanted to play around with genre-esque imagery, and the identity theft stuff came in the middle, when I was… — Dan Chaon Character Copy Share Image
