Defects

“Another thing we talk about a lot is how a piece’s flaws and virtues are always the same, how they’re always tied together. The traditional workshop tendency is to just cut a problematic bit. But we say, “Well, how does this really, really banal dialogue relate to this incredibly killer description of nature? What is the writer not understanding about her own work?” So what I try to do is to get writers to think about their special virtues/defects. Because style comes from a frank recognition of your defects.”

George Saunders interviewed by Andrew Lewis Conn