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. Dan Chaon askempathizeexperience share on social
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. Dan Chaon backhavehop Change image and share on social
Our sense of self is a kind of construct. It is in some ways like a novel, and it's like a fabric of fictions that we patch together from memory. Dan Chaon constructfabricfiction Change image and share on social
Imaginative empathy is one of the great gifts that humans have, and it means that we can live more than one life. We can picture what it would be like from another perspective. Dan Chaon empathygiftgreat Change image and share on social
I guess I'm curious about how people process grief and how they process loss. And I'm also interested in the ways in which an event can have long-reaching consequences and a life over the course of years. Dan Chaon consequencecuriousevent share on social
The thing that grounds you, and the thing that really gives you a sense of wholeness, is your family, friends and your community. Those are the things that can mirror back to you what you're experiencing, and can affirm to you that the stories you are telling are true. Dan Chaon affirmbackcommunity share on social
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. Dan Chaon behavechoicecrime share on social
I'm certainly very influenced by what you would call 'contemporary headline horror,' stuff that is true crime or for one reason or another catches our attention in the media, those strange cases that we end up obsessing about. I'm always influenced by weird anecdotes and news. Dan Chaon anecdoteattentioncall share on social
I would say that all short stories have mystery naturally built into them. Dan Chaon buildmysterynaturally Change image and share on social
I've had a lot of different lives. I was adopted, I grew up in Nebraska, and then I went to Northwestern... Then I had this really extraordinary, different life than my parents. Dan Chaon adoptextraordinarygrow Change image and share on social
