George Saunders Quotes About Character

Quotes about: Character

• Character is that sum total of moments we can't explain.

  George Saunders

  Character, Moments

• The writer has to make pleasure for the reader - which, I think, is done by taking one's character's seriously and taking one's readers seriously -don't condescend or try to be tricky. Be a friend to your reader - I'd say that's a pretty good first step.

  George Saunders

  Character, Thinking, Trying

  Source: und.edu

• In a story, for example, you'll start off with a character who is a little bit of a cartoon. That's not satisfying and you start revising. And as you revise you always are making it better by being specific and by observing more closely, which actually is really the same as saying you love your characters. The close observation equals love of them.

  George Saunders

  Love You, Character, Cartoon

  "In Search For Answers, Author George Saunders Covers Trump Campaign". "Weekend Edition Saturday" with Lynn Neary, www.npr.org. July 9, 2016.

• When we talk about adversity, this is the moment when character really gets tested. When things aren't going the way you want and you can't see anyway that they're going to go the way you want. That's kind of when those old virtues really become valuable and vulnerable also.

  George Saunders

  Character, Adversity, Want

  Source: therumpus.net

• All storytelling is kind of that - there's a bit of text that you put pressure on that spits out some desire that a character has and then you follow that. The other part is that every scene raises an expectation in the reader's mind - that's part of its job is to make you look in and be curious.

  George Saunders

  Jobs, Character, Expectations

  Interview with Jenny Shank, www.patheos.com. March 6, 2017.

• We have that illusion that we are 'deciding' what to make a character do, in order to 'convey our message' or something like that. But, at least in my experience, you are often more like a river-rafting guide who's been paid a bonus to purposely steer your clients into the roughest possible water.

  George Saunders

  Character, Order, Rivers

  "George Saunders’s Wild Ride" by Deborah Treisman, www.newyorker.com. December 12, 2010.

• I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character in half, on his birthday. And then it starts raining. And he's made of sugar.

  George Saunders

  Birthday, Drama, Rain

  "George Saunders's Wild Ride". Interview with Deborah Treisman, www.newyorker.com. December 12, 2010.

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