“It's always terrible when you realize that you've married the wrong book.” — Dan Chaon Books Copy Share Image
“You really romanticize the white-trash period of your life,' Rain once said to me, which I thought was a little hurtful but… — Dan Chaon Hurtful 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
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
There is your car and the open road, the fabled lure of random adventure. You stand at the verge, and you could… — Dan Chaon Adventure Copy Share Image
When I was younger I was attracted to people who had that kind of artifice - people who were incredibly polished and… — Dan Chaon Artifice 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
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
“As her husband held her close, she could feel the pulse of other choices, other lives, opening up beneath her. Her past… — Dan Chaon Heart 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 wanted to write a horror story. But in some ways, I have always thought of myself as a kind of ghost-story/horror… — Dan Chaon Ghost 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
“This was what real grief felt like—she had never truly felt it before. All the times she had been sad, all the… — Dan Chaon Death Copy Share Image
I'd read an enormous amount but had spent so much time in my own head that I didn't have extensive social skills.… — Dan Chaon Amount Copy Share Image
“What if she never knows the end of the story? She shudders, and her mind continues to lurch forward into the future,… — Dan Chaon Psychology Copy Share Image
What if you believed that everything in life was like a prize? What if you thought of the world as a big… — Dan Chaon Alive 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
“The first time she had tried to kill herself, she had intuited that there was no escape. She had seen, with sudden… — Dan Chaon Escape Copy Share Image
“The true terror Jonah thought the true mystery of life was not that we are all going to die but that we… — Dan Chaon Jonah Copy Share Image
“It’s very hard — weirdly hard — to clear your mind of all that crap so that you can just sit down… — Dan Chaon Clear your mind 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 Back and forth Copy Share Image
Imaginative empathy is one of the great gifts that humans have, and it means that we can live more than one life.… — Dan Chaon Compassion Copy Share Image
Julie Orringer is the real thing, a breathtaking chronicler of the secrets and cruelties underneath the surface of middle-class American life. These… — Dan Chaon American life Copy Share Image
“That night I sat up writing in my diary writing to Big Me: 'I hope you are alive ' I wrote. 'I… — Dan Chaon Big-me 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
The thing that grounds you, and the thing that really gives you a sense of wholeness, is your family, friends and your… — Dan Chaon Community 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
You know, the biggest indicator of where you live is your income. If you live in this suburb you make this much… — Dan Chaon Income 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
“Fraj-ile," I say, pronouncing it the way she does - as if it might be a popular tourist destination in the Pacific,… — Dan Chaon Cove Copy Share Image
I never could figure out how those people like Bukowski could be both carousers and writers at the same time, because to… — Dan Chaon Destructive Copy Share Image
The thing that made me turn more towards writing was realizing how hard it was going to be to get a singular… — Dan Chaon Books Copy Share Image
I've never been able to sleep very much, even when I was a kid. I used to hate being forced to lay… — Dan Chaon Able 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 Exists 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
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
I think at a certain point the book develops a certain weight, or pressure. You've been pushing the rock up the hill… — Dan Chaon Book Copy Share Image
I start with an image, then I go from the image toward exploring the situation. Then I write a scene, and from… — Dan Chaon Character 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
A lot of times in my short fiction there isn't much dramatized scene - there are a lot of short, interconnected bits,… — Dan Chaon Action Copy Share Image
