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George Saunders

What George Saunders thinks about taste

@george-saunders · 10 positions · On ppll ↗

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.

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Only George Saunders on taste. See everyone on taste

3 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what George Saunders has said — not written or endorsed by them.

3 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our readingThe 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

  3. Our readingThe 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

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

    writing

    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