The writer has to make pleasure for the reader - which, I think, is done by taking one's character's seriously and taking… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
All storytelling is kind of that - there's a bit of text that you put pressure on that spits out some desire… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The writer, in order to proceed, is theoretically trying to predict where his complex skein of language and image has left his… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
When you talk about a reader being emotionally moved, a feeling of empathy, I think that comes out of that line-by-line respect… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
When you write an essay, of course you're going to get pushback, but you're going to be allowed to make your case… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
To me, the writer's main job is to just make the story unscroll in such a way that the reader is snared… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Early on, a story's meaning and rationale seem pretty obvious, but then, as I write it, I realize that I know the… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
For me, the game would be to assume a very intelligent reader who can extrapolate a lot from a little. And that's… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you understand writing as primarily engaging an imaginary reader, well, you've kind of been doing that your whole life. You walk… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
There are some things fundamentally off about the stance of the book. And maybe that's okay; maybe every book is flawed, and… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Now I began to understand art as a kind of black box the reader enters. He enters in one state of mind… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
On a more technical level, a story takes a lot of words. And to generate words and phrases and images and so… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I am always considering the reader. Although this is admittedly kind of odd: Which reader? On what day? In what mood? For… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
As far as which writers embody this form of gentle power - Tobias Wolff, for sure. His persona and his writing both… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I was, not an altar boy, but a reader of the Epistle, and I walked in on a nun and a priest… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“I was thinking the other day about the idea that you have a reader and a writer, and they’re different and they’re… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
[In the moment of reading writer and reader] are both briefly their best selves, or at least better selves. A flawed human… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
That's one of the reasons I take a lot of consolation in fiction. You have years to work on it. I think… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In the moment of reading, the writer comes up to the surface and the reader comes up to the surface and they… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
As a writer I'm essentially just trying to impersonate a first-time reader, who picks up the story and has to decide, at… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I think the trick of being a writer is to basically put your cards out there all the time and be willing… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I believe that, when [meeting of writer and reader] happens and the reader goes out into the world the next day, there's… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The beginning [of Lincoln in the Bardo] is strange, and I did a lot of work calibrating that so that a reader… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If I can be more efficient, I'm actually being more respectful to the reader, which then implies a greater intimacy with the… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Success is like a mountain in front of you that keeps growing. If you're not careful, it will take up your whole life. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Wow wow wow is all I can say! Remember how I always buy lunchtime Scratch-Off ticket? Have I said? Maybe did not say? Well,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“None of it was real; nothing was real. Everything was real; inconceivably real, infinitely dear. These and all things started as nothing, latent within… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“We must see God not as a Him (some linear rewarding fellow) but an IT, a great beast beyond our understanding, who wants something… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
America, to me, should be shouting all the time, a bunch of shouting voices, most of them wrong, some of them nuts, but please,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In my case, when I am trying to be "kind" I often default in a sort of toothless loving-all stance that is, actually, not… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Whatever your supposed politics are - left, right - if you put it in a human connection, most people will rise to the occasion… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“A Clinton staffer tells me his theory. Think about Frank Sinatra, he says: born to sing. Think about Willie Mays: born to play ball.… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate - and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“You were torturing a cat," she says. "With a freaking prod." "A prod I built myself in metal shop," he says. "But of course… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Rachel got up and did this happy little shuffle, like she was some cheerful farmer chick who'd just stepped outside to find the hick… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What America is, to me, is a guy doesn't want to buy, you let him not buy, you respect his not buying. A guy… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
![“[In the moment of reading writer and reader] are both briefly their best selves, or at least better selves. A flawed human being writes something and 60 years later a reader picks up the book and something in them rises to meet it.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/538/george-saunders-317_best-self_in-the-moment-of-reading-writer-and-read_1635082.jpg)
![“I believe that, when [meeting of writer and reader] happens and the reader goes out into the world the next day, there's some alteration that might possibly inflect the person positively.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c78/george-saunders-317_alterations_i-believe-that-when-meeting-of-writer-an_2524233.jpg)
![“The beginning [of Lincoln in the Bardo] is strange, and I did a lot of work calibrating that so that a reader with a certain level of patience would get through it and in the nick of time start to figure out what was going on. In a short book, you can do that.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9f9/george-saunders-317_book_the-beginning-of-lincoln-in-the-bardo-is_3025267.jpg)
