“What I really hope for, ultimately, is that the closet will be a non-factor in American politics in a couple of decades.” Quote by Kirby Dick
“The feeling of being an outsider, and the identity theme, are hardwired into me. If there's anything really autobiographical in my fiction, it's that feeling. I always feel that way.” IfsWayFeelsFeelingsFictionIdentityThemeOutsiders Author:Dan Chaon
“That's how I work, whether with stories or novels - they start with an image that comes to me in a daydream, and a lot of times I'm walking around with these pictures in my head for awhile before I start writing.” WritingStoriesNovelWalkingDaydreaming Author:Dan Chaon
“I keep a daily journal of whatever weird thought comes into my mind, like when I had a dream I was in North Dakota in the middle of a blizzard and for some reason the Egyptian pyramids were there, too - that I was able to shuffle into the book.” MindBookReasonDreamAbleMiddleJournalPyramidsEgyptianI Had A DreamDakotaShuffleBlizzardNorth DakotaEgyptian Pyramids Author:Dan Chaon
“I start with an image, then I go from the image toward exploring the situation. Then I write a scene, and from the scene I find the character, from the character I find the larger plot. It's like deductive reasoning - I start with the smaller stuff and work backward.” WritingCharacterStuffSituationSceneReasoningPlotExploring Author:Dan Chaon
“The danger in writing about a world you don't know very well is that you can get lost in it, and sometimes I'll end up with a hundred pages I don't know what to do with.” KnowsWorldWritingWellsEndsSometimesLostDangerPagesHundred Author:Dan Chaon
“I always worry that knowing too much about a novel or a story early on in writing will close it down - it feels fatalistic in some way.” WayFeelsWritingStoriesWorryNovelKnowingToo MuchKnowing Too Much Author:Dan Chaon
“My main reader was my wife Sheila, and I haven't written a lot since she died.” WifeWrittenHavensReaderDiedMy WifeSheila Author:Dan Chaon
“For me, the process of writing a novel happens mostly in your head before you actually start writing.” WritingHappensProcessNovel Author:Dan Chaon
“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
“I knew I wanted to play around with genre-esque imagery, and the identity theft stuff came in the middle, when I was figuring out how the characters were connected to those images.” PlayCharacterWantedStuffMiddleIdentityConnectedGenreImageryTheftIdentity Theft Author:Dan Chaon