“A lot of time, with stories, I'll start out with a title and try to dream myself into the story that it evokes - a kind of subconscious exercise in which I'm trawling for some kind of entryway into fiction.” TryingKindStoriesDreamFictionExerciseTitlesSubconsciousEvoke Author:Dan Chaon
“A lot of people work really diligently to maintain a "profile" in the writing world, but that's so hard, and so boring most of the time. So you just keep doing what you like to do, I guess, and try to enjoy it.” PeopleWorldWritingTryingHardEnjoyBoringProfileSo Boring Author:Dan Chaon
“I started out as a poet who primarily wanted to write about image and moment. Over the years I've been trying to teach myself how to do plot and scene. My first story collection had the most issues with the plotlessness, and when I was writing my second collection I was teaching myself how to make things happen.” WritingTryingYearsFirstsMomentsStoriesHappensWantedTeachIssuesTeachingPoetSceneThings HappenCollectionsPlotMake Things Happen Author:Dan Chaon
“I've always been a horror movie fan, since I was a kid. And I was also a really scared kid. I was easily scared of the dark. One of the ways I would try and get away from my fear of the dark was to pretend like the monsters were my friends.” TryingKidsDarkHorrorScaredGet Away Author:Dan Chaon
“Sometimes he thinks that if he could only trace the path of his life carefully enough, everything would become clear. The ways that he screwed up would make sense. He closes his eyes tightly. His life wasn't always a mistake, he thinks, and he breathes uncertainly for awhile, trying to find a pathway into unconsciousness, into sleep.” IfsThinkingWayTryingSometimesEnoughEyeSleepMistakePathClearBreatheMake SenseHis EyesPathwaysScrewed UpUnconsciousness Author:Dan Chaon
“Fiction is fun because you get to steal an identity and try to make it authentic.” TryingFunFictionIdentityStealing Author:Dan Chaon
“Fiction is a particular kind of rhetoric, a way of thinking that I think can be useful in your life. It asks you to image the world through someone else's eyes, and it allows you to try to empathize with situations that you haven't actually experienced.” ThinkingWorldWayTryingKindEyeAsksFictionSituationHavensParticularRhetoricWay Of Thinking Author:Dan Chaon
“People write fiction in their minds all the time - every time we read a 'human interest' news story, or a true crime tale, we find ourselves fascinated because we're trying to understand why people behave the way they do, why they make the choices they do, how we become who we become.” PeopleWayWritingTryingMindHumansStoriesChoicesInterestFictionCrimeNewsTalesBehaveFascinatedNews Stories Author:Dan Chaon
