Archive for August, 2006

Defects

August 29, 2006

“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

Mad Love

August 21, 2006

“I like high intensity, bouillon-style forms: pop songs, essays, poems, photos. Blogs can link to songs and poems and photos. Right? So if the bits all line up correctly, blogs create an extra high-density poetics….

Newspaper and magazine writers work in a logical key: Start here, take a little promenade and then circle back to the beginning, careful to not knock over anything on the way. This smooth revolution feels good. I need it more than I’d like to admit. But someone’s got to supply the mad love and raw justice, the garbage and the free food. I hope this is what blogs do.”

Sasha Frere-Jones interviewed at Gawker