George Saunders
Short-story writer and novelist; won the Booker Prize for Lincoln in the Bardo, and teaches craft weekly in Story Club.
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What they believe
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What matters is not how the writer felt while writing it but how the reader will feel while reading it.
What matters is not how we felt on reading what you’re written, but how the reader is going to feel on reading it.
georgesaunders.substack.comSaid 6 Aug 2026This on korrents
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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.
I 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.
georgesaunders.substack.comSaid 9 Jul 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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Usesrcmnd.app
The Penguin Anthology of the International Short StoryTheir words
Let’s start working on “The Good Denis,” by Marie NDiaye (translated from the French by Jordan Stump), which appears in the anthology we’ve been working from, The Penguin Anthology of the International Short Story, assembled by Rabih Alemeddine and John Freeman.
20 September
13 September
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Lovedrcmnd.app
ApplesTheir words
Today, we’re working on “Apples” by Gunnhild Øyehaug. There’s so much to say about this story. First observation: just now, after I re-read it, and before I started thinking about what it had done, or how, I just felt very happy.
10 September
6 September
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 10 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
What matters is not how the writer felt while writing it but how the reader will feel while reading it.
What 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... Said 6 Aug 2026
A first draft should not be graded good or bad; it is only the material that taste then gets to act on.
Just 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... Said 6 Aug 2026
Going to read work you know is good when your own is going badly is legitimate recalibration, not theft.
I 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... Said 6 Aug 2026
Show 7 more
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.
Write something, in any old mood – feeling great about it or terrible, doesn’t matter.
On the Perils of Self-Assessing... Said 6 Aug 2026
The only style worth having is the one you cannot help; setting out to develop a personal style is the wrong goal.
And 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... Said 6 Aug 2026
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.
Could 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... Said 6 Aug 2026
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.
I 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. Said 9 Jul 2026
Insisting on knowing whether you have talent, or started too late, closes doors that staying uncertain would have left open.
The more we know – the more we insist on being sure – the more doors we close.
The Natural-Born Artist. Said 9 Jul 2026
Years of apparent failure and waiting can be the artistic work itself rather than evidence of a missing gift.
Someone 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. Said 9 Jul 2026
The self-critical half of a maker's mind should be coached to be kind, because a gentler internal auditor produces bolder work.
A kinder assistant makes for a more daring detective.
The Natural-Born Artist. Said 9 Jul 2026
Beliefs others hold too
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. 3 hold this
Write something, in any old mood – feeling great about it or terrible, doesn’t matter.
On the Perils of Self-Assessing... Said 6 Aug 2026
The only style worth having is the one you cannot help; setting out to develop a personal style is the wrong goal. 2 hold this
And 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... Said 6 Aug 2026
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. 2 hold this
Could 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... Said 6 Aug 2026
What is a korrent?
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Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 3 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Uses The Penguin Anthology of the International Short Story
Let’s start working on “The Good Denis,” by Marie NDiaye (translated from the French by Jordan Stump), which appears in the anthology we’ve been working from, The Penguin Anthology of the International Short Story, assembled by Rabih Alemeddine and John Freeman.
georgesaunders.substack.com 24 Sept 2026
What others say about The Penguin Anthology of the International Short Story →
Loved Apples
Today, we’re working on “Apples” by Gunnhild Øyehaug. There’s so much to say about this story. First observation: just now, after I re-read it, and before I started thinking about what it had done, or how, I just felt very happy.
georgesaunders.substack.com 13 Sept 2026
Loved The Illumination of Santiago
This week we’re working on a lovely story called “The Illumination of Santiago” by the wonderful Chilean writer, Nona Fernández (translated from the original Spanish by Idra Novey.) It makes me happy every time I read it. It’s a very simple, honest story that exudes confidence – confidence that the world is beautiful and mysterious and bears examination.
georgesaunders.substack.com 16 Aug 2026
Where they publish
Newsletter Story Club His newsletter teaching how short stories work, one at a time. Has a feed.
Open georgesaunders.substack.com
Recent
- “Rotten Stench” 1 Nov 2026
- Marie’s Answers to Your Questions 29 Oct 2026
- A New Story 25 Oct 2026 “Rotten Stench,” by Eka Kurniawan
Show 17 more
- A Night at the Opera 22 Oct 2026 And what a night...
- “The Good Denis” 18 Oct 2026 Who is Denis?
- An Exciting Event in Andes, NY 16 Oct 2026 For those of you in the Catskills, I wanted to make you aware of this event at the beautiful Andes bookstore, Diamond Hollow Books - one of the most gorgeous and complete and surprising stores I’ve ever seen.
- First Opera Photos 11 Oct 2026 A Sunday Cornucopia
- “The Good Denis” 4 Oct 2026
- “The Good Denis” 27 Sept 2026 A post-blunder repost.
- A New Story 24 Sept 2026 “The Good Denis” by Marie NDiaye
- What Is “a Character,” Anyway? 24 Sept 2026
- In Which Gunnhild Øyehaug Answers Your Questions 20 Sept 2026 (Your Fabulous Questions)
- First Thoughts on “Apples” 13 Sept 2026 A wonderment of a story by Gunnhild Øyehaug
- Some Thoughts on Non-Fiction 10 Sept 2026
- A New Story 6 Sept 2026 “Apples,” by Gunnhild Øyehaug
- If You’re Near Lexington, VA... 2 Sept 2026 So Will I Be. :)
- Nona Fernández Answers... 30 Aug 2026 ...your questions on “The Illumination of Santiago”
- Some Movie News... 28 Aug 2026 ...about “Lincoln in the Bardo”
- “Rude Awakenings” 26 Aug 2026 My chat with Samuel Bercholz: Full Video.
- Join me today.... 25 Aug 2026 ...for my interview with Samuel Bercholz
Link verified 20 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
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