korrents

George Saunders

@george-saunders · 10 positions · 0 changes of mind

American short-story writer and novelist, author of Tenth of December and Lincoln in the Bardo, and a teacher of fiction at Syracuse for thirty years. He runs Story Club, a Substack about how stories actually work.

George Saunders did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

  1. Our reading

    Going to read work you know is good when your own is going badly is legitimate recalibration, not theft.

    Their wordsI do, yes, get into “funks like that” and I do just what you describe: I go find some writing that I know is good and check in against that.

    ↗On the Perils of Self-Assessing...georgesaunders.substack.com 1st of 6 in this piece

    Interesting

  3. Our reading

    What matters is not how the writer felt while writing it but how the reader will feel while reading it.

    Their wordsWhat matters is not how we felt on reading what you’re written, but how the reader is going to feel on reading it.

    ↗On the Perils of Self-Assessing...georgesaunders.substack.com 2nd of 6 in this piece

    Interesting

  5. Our reading

    The only style worth having is the one you cannot help; setting out to develop a personal style is the wrong goal.

    Their wordsAnd that there might come a moment, while reading a new, just-edited-for-the-thousandth-time draft, where that true self, or voice, pops out at you, suddenly revealed, as if someone else, not you, had done it.

    ↗On the Perils of Self-Assessing...georgesaunders.substack.com 3rd of 6 in this piece

    taste

    Interesting

  7. Our reading

    The recipe for great work is very exacting taste plus the ability to gratify it; it is easier to see ugliness than to imagine beauty.

    Their wordsCould this phrase or sentence or paragraph or section be improved, even a little? That is, can I make myself (on this very localized turf) make myself dislike it less?

    ↗On the Perils of Self-Assessing...georgesaunders.substack.com 4th of 6 in this piece

    taste

    Interesting

  9. Our reading

    A first draft should not be graded good or bad; it is only the material that taste then gets to act on.

    Their wordsJust don’t do it. Accept it, whatever it is, as a starting place in the long game of exerting your taste on your own prose.

    ↗On the Perils of Self-Assessing...georgesaunders.substack.com 5th of 6 in this piece

    taste

    Interesting

  11. Our reading

    Making art is a job you turn up to whether or not you feel inspired, and the work only arrives for people who are already at the desk.

    Their wordsWrite something, in any old mood – feeling great about it or terrible, doesn’t matter.

    ↗On the Perils of Self-Assessing...georgesaunders.substack.com 6th of 6 in this piece

    Interesting
  12. 4 weeks earlier

  13. Our reading

    There is no separate class of natural-born artists: the artistic impulse is ordinary curiosity about life turned into a wish to make someone else feel something.

    Their wordsI think of it like this: any person has an innate curiosity about life, and an energy toward it, that may manifest itself in all kinds of ways throughout the course of their life.

    ↗The Natural-Born Artist.georgesaunders.substack.com 1st of 4 in this piece

    energy

    Interesting

  15. Our reading

    Insisting on knowing whether you have talent, or started too late, closes doors that staying uncertain would have left open.

    Their wordsThe more we know – the more we insist on being sure – the more doors we close.

    ↗The Natural-Born Artist.georgesaunders.substack.com 2nd of 4 in this piece

    Interesting

  17. Our reading

    Years of apparent failure and waiting can be the artistic work itself rather than evidence of a missing gift.

    Their wordsSomeone might have to live a long time before the thing they were born to say becomes fully formed and accessible to them.

    ↗The Natural-Born Artist.georgesaunders.substack.com 3rd of 4 in this piece

    Interesting

  19. Our reading

    The self-critical half of a maker's mind should be coached to be kind, because a gentler internal auditor produces bolder work.

    Their wordsA kinder assistant makes for a more daring detective.

    ↗The Natural-Born Artist.georgesaunders.substack.com 4th of 4 in this piece

    Interesting