“He pictures amputated human arms flopping like fish down the center of the road; syringes floating on beds of liposuctioned fat; gelatinous… — Dan Chaon 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 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
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 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
I keep a daily journal of whatever weird thought comes into my mind, like when I had a dream I was in… — Dan Chaon 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 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
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
“I’ve always felt personally and emotionally closer to the searchers, rather than to the finders…to those who don’t get answers, as opposed… — 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
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 started out as a poet who primarily wanted to write about image and moment. Over the years I've been trying to… — Dan Chaon 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
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 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 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 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 never could figure out how those people like Bukowski could be both carousers and writers at the same time, because to… — Dan Chaon 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 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 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
“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
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
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
“That night I sat up writing in my diary writing to Big Me: 'I hope you are alive ' I wrote. 'I… — Dan Chaon 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
“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
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
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
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
“I should be arguing vehemently with doctors, demanding results, I should be surrounded by people who are bleeding and screaming and shocking… — Dan Chaon Copy Share Image
