“Identity issues are hardwired into the way I think about character - it's almost as if I can't get away from them even if I want to.” IfsThinkingWayWantI CanCharacterIssuesIdentityGet Away Author:Dan Chaon
“Maybe it's because I grew up during the MTV generation, but to me a perfect song is one I can imagine a music video to, a song that can take you into a dream.” I CanDreamSongPerfectImagineGenerationsGrewGrew UpVideoMtv Author:Dan Chaon
“I can't understand how people can settle for having just one life. I remember we were in English class and we were talking about that poem by - that one guy. David Frost. 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood-' You know this poem, right? 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth-" "I loved that poem. But I remember thinking to myself: Why? How come you can't travel both? That seemed really unfair to me.” PeopleThinkingKnowsLongI CanTwoRememberGuyTalkingClassSorryWoodsSettlingJust OneYellowUnfairTravelerBentFrostTwo RoadsEnglish Class Book:Await Your Reply: A Novel Source: Await Your Reply: A Novel
“I never wanted to get to a point in my life where I knew what was going to happen next. I felt like most people just couldn't wait until they found themselves settled down into a routine and they didn't have to think about the next day, or the next year, or the next decade because it was all planned out for them. I can't understand how people can settle for having just one life.” PeopleThinkingYearsI CanHappensWantedNextFoundFeltWaitingDecadesSettlingJust OneRoutineNext DayNext Year Author:Dan Chaon
“I usually have more than one thing I'm working on at once -- I've been working on three different novels. When I get stuck on one, I hop back and forth. It's sort of freeing: I can say I'm abandoning this thing that I hate forever and I'm moving on to something that's good. I'll find that I'll go back to [the other project] in a day or a week and like it again. But that moment of wanting to trash something -- that Virginia Woolf moment when you have to be stopped from filling your pocket with stones -- comes pretty regularly for me. Switching is probably a good thing.” I CanDifferentMomentsMovingHateThreeNovelForeverOne ThingWeekProjectsStonesI HateGood ThingsStuckPocketsHopsThat MomentFillingTrashBack And ForthVirginiaSwitchingWoolf Author:Dan Chaon
“For the last few years I've tried to force myself to write at least one page every day, which doesn't sound like much but it's actually pretty hard to manage. Because I'm not allowed to do a make-up day. I can't do two pages the next day. The punishment for not completing my page is that I have to eat a vegetarian meal the next day.” WritingYearsI CanTwoHardLastsNextForceSoundPagesPunishmentManageMealsVegetarianNext DayCompleting Author:Dan Chaon
