Holy cow🌷😳😳😳 the Met. Can’t wait to see it! Congratulations. I’m so happy to be here. And I’m delighted to report my micro from one of your prompts “Farkhunda” is shortly going to be published 🎺🥂😎 It's live now. Editor just told me. The link: (click on "click here" & scroll down. https://unbrokenjournal.com
At a lovely online poetry/prose poem journal called Unbroken Journal. I waited a long time to find the form to write about Farkhunda and you gave it to me(us.) I’ll post the link when it goes live if I have your permission 🌷and thanks to Mary G who lent me her eyes 🌷🌷
No. The prompt was to write a 200 word story, no more no less that uses repetition & to keep the word inventory small. I'll find the section & try to repost. Maybe George will give another similar prompt soon.
I just read it and wow, the before...before...form builds up the list of horror like a burden we long to put down and then the inevitable ending is the swoop that stays with you.
Hey, Lucinda! Well done! Moving, rhythmic, engaging. And a heartbreak. You'd mentioned somewhere in this long & happy thread the inspiration coming from George's 50/200 word exercise, which I could never get to go. Somehow, I kept losing track of the word count. Duh. Still, it's remarkable how exercises like this, constraints, as it were, can bring up the best material from within. Yay you!
Try it again! I have spent years writing micros & that gives me an edge. Constraints are very helpful. This is also a terrific exercise for long stories, which are made up of beats / smaller parts. Restraint of length, & reigning in your word inventory is a wonderful trick. You could write a whole story this way. I just read The Semplica Diaries, which is composed of diary entries that I’m sure were worked with similar constraints. I am always amazed how GS is generously giving away his “tricks. “ the incredible thing is we would each come up with our unique stories using what GS teaches here. This is like a second MFA🌷🌷🌷❤️
Thanks, Lucinda. And I agree. I've gotten (or maybe retrieved is the better word) & published stories that were "constraint-driven", up from the unconscious, both short & long. (I have a couple coming out in April, one long & one short.) I love a constraint---so much easier & more forgiving than the blank page/screen. It's just that the 200/50 didn't work for me. Apparently, I'm no good at math or even, in this case, arithmetic! I think George had said, somewhere, that the Semplica Diaries had come from a dream, yet another source. There are many, in several fields of the arts, and even science (especially science), who have come to good through dreams. I'm really not a woo-woo person, but I will take what I can however it appears! But, again, yay for you!
Speechless, Lucinda. Thank you for this burning light.
Great journal. I hope to read all of it soon. I got to your piece and a few others. I like “Jesus On The River.” But your story is a counterweight to madness.
🌷TY for bearing witness. Elie Wiesel said that when we bear witness then whomever writes/sees/hears what we've written/painted/played then they have born witness as well.
I thought about Farkhunda for so long after reading about her terrible death. As I said it wasn't until George gave us that 200 word prompt using repetition and a limited word inventory that it came to me. A gift from Story Club. 🌹
Sometimes it takes forever to get it right. Your story has broken open my own way of working. So many Story Club gifts! I’m so grateful that you shared this with us!!
Lucinda. What a powerful and hypnotic piece. Thanks so much for sharing. It’s so interesting to see work from others in the club - one does get curious.
We'll need LOTS of notice so we can plan other events for our Story Club Union. We can have a Reunion when "Lincoln in the Bardo" comes to Santa Fe Opera!
Wow. What a wonderful and amazing thing to happen. Sitting at your desk all those years ago Writing tech papers, imagine if an Angel popped up and let you know that one day they would do an actual opera of your work! I can’t think of a more splendid thing to happen. Congratulations.
So the "stupid Lincoln play" will become a magnificent Lincoln opera! How's that for the ugly duckling revealing itself to be a swan. How exciting for you, and for us, your fans.
First: Congratulations! Such exciting news! (Also had no idea Breaking the Waves was made into an opera . . . am going to have to check it out.)
Week after week I marvel at the time and energy you put into Story Club--on top of teaching, on top of writing, on top of everything else you must have going on in your life. I can't presume to know what a more generous mind might look like for you, but I am so grateful for (and touched by) the generous mind that you have now.
On an unrelated note: I was recently going through old journals (and I mean OLD, from when I was a teenager, the stuff I avoid rereading because it makes me cringe) and I was absolutely shocked to see your name on a list of names, in my younger self's handwriting. I think I had copied the list from some early version of the New Yorker's 20 writers under 40 issue (?).
Oh, yes - that was around...1998? I just made it under the wire, I think, and they brought the group to NY. Somewhere I have a group photo of that day - me and a few others, including David Foster Wallace.
Those calendar pages really just fly away like they do in old movies!
I guess I should add that I was shocked because for years I've had a "the first time I read George Saunders" story and it involved picking up a copy of Civilwarland in Bad Decline by "some dude I'd never heard of before" and feeling an *immediate* kinship, but this didn't happen until a few years later. Also, some of the names have little stars and exclamation marks by them but . . . not yours, George. I debated telling you this because I don't want to hurt your feelings but it's also kinda funny :). Plus, you recently wrote about Chekhov not resonating with you right away, needing some time to grow on you. Maybe some of the most rewarding "relationships" are the ones that require a little more from us than we're ready to give right away?
(But oh god, it makes me wonder: what else have I been wrong about?!)
Retrospectively, your name gets circled, underlined, highlighted, and all the stars and exclamation marks. A note in the margin that says "this is it!" Not just saying that because you're the teacher :)
George, I was in NYC last fall, scheduled to leave the day before your event. My husband asked if I wanted to change our tickets. I said, "No, I'll take a road trip to Santa Cruz for November 1 event." Road trip didn't happen. Sooo, give us advance notice and we'll be there! P.S. Is there a particular piece of CommComm we're looking at for next time?
congratulations Lucinda and George. George do you know Mathew Acoin: He wrote The Impossible Art - He is an amazing writer and his opera is commissioned by the Met. His father
Don Acoin writes for The Boston Globe and once gave my first book a wonderful writeup. You’re riding with the best so Good luck and stay well. Awesome on NPR.
As an enthusiastic (albeit amateur) opera fan I’m thrilled to hear about the commission with the Met. I have a request, which I hope others will endorse. How about taking us the through process of collaborating with the composer and librettist to bring the opera version of Lincoln in the Bardo to fruition? Also, it would be wonderful to learn to what extent you wind up working with the set and costume designers. That would be a really unique learning experience for us!
Next stop: an operatic version of Liberation Day, perhaps with the composer Osvaldo Golijov (who happens to live around the corner from me)? :)
In Off-Office Hours over on my Substack, I thought I'd tell you about a new book called "The Age of AI" which is a pretty interesting look at the evolution of AI and how its quickly taking over large areas of business, research, and military uses. It's also something we writers are going to have to contend with with the explosive use of "Chat GPT" which can turn out boilerplate copy with ease and is rapidly learning how to mimic writers' styles. (Better watch out, George...) For those of you that enjoy Chess, I also introduce you to the Bad Boy of Chess instruction, Ben S., as well as show you some of the cutest animals you've ever seen. Come have a look!
Btw, on a personal/professional note, I urge all of you to create your own Substacks. I've been playing with it for about two weeks now and although its still more basic than I'd like it to be, it's pretty much a snap to make a simple post with graphics, even on a smartphone. The site automatically saves your drafts so its easy to bang out a draft of a piece then go back to it. Substack is free to use and only charges you ten percent when you start making money off of it (Sigh...someday) so its a good place to dip your toe into cyberpublishing. It's the Future, guys. Might as well Boldly Go and meet it...
I saw Glass's Akhenaton this summer. OMG it was a circus. juggling. Juggling & more juggling. Even the end-the troop crawled on all fours chasing the balls (the Aten) across the stage. I love that opera & the juggling undermined both the story & the music. I never thought I'd finally see something I adored and laugh. But I did. 😳
Thank you for sharing the Vanity Fair link, George. Hilarious! Especially on reincarnation, “most marked characteristic”, and “how would you like to die” - I was laughing out loud.
Loved reading George's Proust Questionaire in Vanity Fair which is true proof and a benchmark of some sort...maybe that a heck of a lot of people know who you are! And if they don't they should. Wise and witty as always.
Living person you most despise? "Fiction writing is the practice of (through revision) coming to despise nobody. Not that I don't. I'd just prefer not to."
Through revision...Yes, they might be reading! And also, why waste the precious time and energy of life. And your answer to when you were happiest was so sweet.
George, guiding star of writers everywhere, but especially in Story Club and Syracuse U, master of short stories, and writer of the profound novel Lincoln in the Bardo(which I still have not read, but am meaning to) and now Opera, Vanity Fair, Colbert...What's next? You are slaying it!
The MET, bravo. My husband's grandfather who emigrated from Italy in the 1930's sang baritone with a small NYC company, The Verdi Grand Opera Company. We are a family of opera lovers.
Holy cow🌷😳😳😳 the Met. Can’t wait to see it! Congratulations. I’m so happy to be here. And I’m delighted to report my micro from one of your prompts “Farkhunda” is shortly going to be published 🎺🥂😎 It's live now. Editor just told me. The link: (click on "click here" & scroll down. https://unbrokenjournal.com
That's great! Where is it being published? Many congrats, Lucinda.
At a lovely online poetry/prose poem journal called Unbroken Journal. I waited a long time to find the form to write about Farkhunda and you gave it to me(us.) I’ll post the link when it goes live if I have your permission 🌷and thanks to Mary G who lent me her eyes 🌷🌷
Yes, please, let us all know.
The editor forgot to tell me it had gone live. Here's a direct link. TY. https://www.theunjournals.com/unbroken-36-kempe
Congratulations Lucinda! I just read it. Such powerful writing. So moving.
TY for reading, Vishal🌷
I'm late to this, but congratulations! I love your story. So powerfully written, the language vivid. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Lucy🌷 Your generosity & kindness is appreciated. 💓
Congratulations, Lucinda! A real tour de force. Well done and with great heart 🙏
TY, Charmi🌷🌷
This is great news. Congratulations, Lucinda!!
🌷
Warm congratulations, Lucinda.
TY, Michele🌷
Wonderful Lucinda hoping to read it soon.
Congrats!
Congratulations!
Ooh what was the prompt? Was the prompt the word Farkhunda?
No. The prompt was to write a 200 word story, no more no less that uses repetition & to keep the word inventory small. I'll find the section & try to repost. Maybe George will give another similar prompt soon.
Wonderful use of a tight form. What a moving piece! Thank you.
TY, rroseperry🌷❤️
I just read it and wow, the before...before...form builds up the list of horror like a burden we long to put down and then the inevitable ending is the swoop that stays with you.
TY, Georgina. It really is the form George gave us & then of course the image of Farkhunda's beautiful soul💙
Hey, Lucinda! Well done! Moving, rhythmic, engaging. And a heartbreak. You'd mentioned somewhere in this long & happy thread the inspiration coming from George's 50/200 word exercise, which I could never get to go. Somehow, I kept losing track of the word count. Duh. Still, it's remarkable how exercises like this, constraints, as it were, can bring up the best material from within. Yay you!
Try it again! I have spent years writing micros & that gives me an edge. Constraints are very helpful. This is also a terrific exercise for long stories, which are made up of beats / smaller parts. Restraint of length, & reigning in your word inventory is a wonderful trick. You could write a whole story this way. I just read The Semplica Diaries, which is composed of diary entries that I’m sure were worked with similar constraints. I am always amazed how GS is generously giving away his “tricks. “ the incredible thing is we would each come up with our unique stories using what GS teaches here. This is like a second MFA🌷🌷🌷❤️
Thanks, Lucinda. And I agree. I've gotten (or maybe retrieved is the better word) & published stories that were "constraint-driven", up from the unconscious, both short & long. (I have a couple coming out in April, one long & one short.) I love a constraint---so much easier & more forgiving than the blank page/screen. It's just that the 200/50 didn't work for me. Apparently, I'm no good at math or even, in this case, arithmetic! I think George had said, somewhere, that the Semplica Diaries had come from a dream, yet another source. There are many, in several fields of the arts, and even science (especially science), who have come to good through dreams. I'm really not a woo-woo person, but I will take what I can however it appears! But, again, yay for you!
Thank you for this powerful piece, Lucinda.
Speechless, Lucinda. Thank you for this burning light.
Great journal. I hope to read all of it soon. I got to your piece and a few others. I like “Jesus On The River.” But your story is a counterweight to madness.
TY, David🌷 It is indeed a fine issue.
The one about the freezing frog is quite intriguing. Everything in there inspires me!
I'm fond of "Translucence." Such interesting form. they ask you to put the piece into a para, which gives it a new take IMO.
I will check that out!
Lucinda, thank you. Heartbreaking, beautifully written.
TY, Sea💓
That's lovely, Lucinda. Heartbreaking. Thank you for bearing witness.
🌷TY for bearing witness. Elie Wiesel said that when we bear witness then whomever writes/sees/hears what we've written/painted/played then they have born witness as well.
One of the most important things writing and art can do.
Yes. It burns a path through me. Thank you for writing this.
I thought about Farkhunda for so long after reading about her terrible death. As I said it wasn't until George gave us that 200 word prompt using repetition and a limited word inventory that it came to me. A gift from Story Club. 🌹
Sometimes it takes forever to get it right. Your story has broken open my own way of working. So many Story Club gifts! I’m so grateful that you shared this with us!!
TY, Nancy🌷🌷
Lucinda. What a powerful and hypnotic piece. Thanks so much for sharing. It’s so interesting to see work from others in the club - one does get curious.
TY for reading, Stephen. 🌷
Yay Lucinda!!! I look forward to read it❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
🌷TY, Sea💞
I got this from another substack, too. Earth to substack. Helllloooo.
I just got this, too. Got it twice. Something doesn't sound right. George? Can you explain?
Not me. For sure. Some sort of spam....I'm deleting them where I can find them.
New York City 2025! What a treat!
We'll have to do a Story Club field trip/tailgate party.
I’m there with my oven mitts!!
We'll need LOTS of notice so we can plan other events for our Story Club Union. We can have a Reunion when "Lincoln in the Bardo" comes to Santa Fe Opera!
New Mexico the Beautiful!! (Not to mention enchanted…)
That sounds amazing. Count me in!
Tailgate with the Story Clubbers. That's...quite an image.
And then we all barge into the opera.
With our beer hats and giant foam fingers!
In our Story Club t shirts, hats, and little flags, reeking of ink, too many cups of coffee and tea...ready to for our Night at the Opera!
I've found my tribe! Now for the tattoo. (But not on the face...never on the face!)
Me too! I can't decide whether it should be in ball caps or Lincolnesque top hats.
Sounds like my kind of tailgating!!!!
And of course, Bravo, George!
This image took me quite by surprise with its warmth and hope
The Met sells group tickets at a discount.
Tailgate at the Met...sounds fun. I'm in!
I will be there in spirit and with my soul.
Wow. What a wonderful and amazing thing to happen. Sitting at your desk all those years ago Writing tech papers, imagine if an Angel popped up and let you know that one day they would do an actual opera of your work! I can’t think of a more splendid thing to happen. Congratulations.
So the "stupid Lincoln play" will become a magnificent Lincoln opera! How's that for the ugly duckling revealing itself to be a swan. How exciting for you, and for us, your fans.
What fun! Royce is my second cousin.
Really? What a wildly talented person he is.
Double wow!
Wow!
This makes me so happy. It's the perfect novel to adapt into an opera! Mazel tov, George!
Interview with Missy Mazzoli about Lincoln in the Bardo at the Met https://operawire.com/composer-missy-mazzoli-on-working-with-lincoln-in-the-bardo-for-the-metropolitan-opera/
Congrats George!
Thank you! Lovely interview!!
Dear George,
First: Congratulations! Such exciting news! (Also had no idea Breaking the Waves was made into an opera . . . am going to have to check it out.)
Week after week I marvel at the time and energy you put into Story Club--on top of teaching, on top of writing, on top of everything else you must have going on in your life. I can't presume to know what a more generous mind might look like for you, but I am so grateful for (and touched by) the generous mind that you have now.
On an unrelated note: I was recently going through old journals (and I mean OLD, from when I was a teenager, the stuff I avoid rereading because it makes me cringe) and I was absolutely shocked to see your name on a list of names, in my younger self's handwriting. I think I had copied the list from some early version of the New Yorker's 20 writers under 40 issue (?).
Oh, yes - that was around...1998? I just made it under the wire, I think, and they brought the group to NY. Somewhere I have a group photo of that day - me and a few others, including David Foster Wallace.
How the years fly by, good Lord.
Those calendar pages really just fly away like they do in old movies!
I guess I should add that I was shocked because for years I've had a "the first time I read George Saunders" story and it involved picking up a copy of Civilwarland in Bad Decline by "some dude I'd never heard of before" and feeling an *immediate* kinship, but this didn't happen until a few years later. Also, some of the names have little stars and exclamation marks by them but . . . not yours, George. I debated telling you this because I don't want to hurt your feelings but it's also kinda funny :). Plus, you recently wrote about Chekhov not resonating with you right away, needing some time to grow on you. Maybe some of the most rewarding "relationships" are the ones that require a little more from us than we're ready to give right away?
(But oh god, it makes me wonder: what else have I been wrong about?!)
You can always go back and add retrospective stars. :)
Retrospectively, your name gets circled, underlined, highlighted, and all the stars and exclamation marks. A note in the margin that says "this is it!" Not just saying that because you're the teacher :)
Speaking strictly for myself: very nearly everything!
DFW!! Nice!
So exciting. Congratulations, George. I hope it doesn’t evolve to resemble the Semplica Girls.
Absolutely down to tailgate opera in New York. We can wear Lincoln era top hats!
Tailgate subway party? Or at Lincoln Center? Central Park?? Atop Empire State?!??
The answer is always “yes. Yes yes yes”. Molly Bloom ain’t got nothing on me.
Molly can whisper yes into my ear any time she wants…
George, I was in NYC last fall, scheduled to leave the day before your event. My husband asked if I wanted to change our tickets. I said, "No, I'll take a road trip to Santa Cruz for November 1 event." Road trip didn't happen. Sooo, give us advance notice and we'll be there! P.S. Is there a particular piece of CommComm we're looking at for next time?
I've written something on the third section (pages 200 - 204) for Sunday.
I don't know if it's my biggest regret (well, I know it's not), but I sure wish we'd changed our tickets to see your event in NYC in October!
How wonderful! Time to make plans for a visit to NYC.
congratulations Lucinda and George. George do you know Mathew Acoin: He wrote The Impossible Art - He is an amazing writer and his opera is commissioned by the Met. His father
Don Acoin writes for The Boston Globe and once gave my first book a wonderful writeup. You’re riding with the best so Good luck and stay well. Awesome on NPR.
As an enthusiastic (albeit amateur) opera fan I’m thrilled to hear about the commission with the Met. I have a request, which I hope others will endorse. How about taking us the through process of collaborating with the composer and librettist to bring the opera version of Lincoln in the Bardo to fruition? Also, it would be wonderful to learn to what extent you wind up working with the set and costume designers. That would be a really unique learning experience for us!
Next stop: an operatic version of Liberation Day, perhaps with the composer Osvaldo Golijov (who happens to live around the corner from me)? :)
🌷🌷thank you, GL O R I A🎶
In Off-Office Hours over on my Substack, I thought I'd tell you about a new book called "The Age of AI" which is a pretty interesting look at the evolution of AI and how its quickly taking over large areas of business, research, and military uses. It's also something we writers are going to have to contend with with the explosive use of "Chat GPT" which can turn out boilerplate copy with ease and is rapidly learning how to mimic writers' styles. (Better watch out, George...) For those of you that enjoy Chess, I also introduce you to the Bad Boy of Chess instruction, Ben S., as well as show you some of the cutest animals you've ever seen. Come have a look!
michaeldmayo.substack.com
Btw, on a personal/professional note, I urge all of you to create your own Substacks. I've been playing with it for about two weeks now and although its still more basic than I'd like it to be, it's pretty much a snap to make a simple post with graphics, even on a smartphone. The site automatically saves your drafts so its easy to bang out a draft of a piece then go back to it. Substack is free to use and only charges you ten percent when you start making money off of it (Sigh...someday) so its a good place to dip your toe into cyberpublishing. It's the Future, guys. Might as well Boldly Go and meet it...
What? No Philip Glass score? At least say Robert Wilson is directing.
I saw Glass's Akhenaton this summer. OMG it was a circus. juggling. Juggling & more juggling. Even the end-the troop crawled on all fours chasing the balls (the Aten) across the stage. I love that opera & the juggling undermined both the story & the music. I never thought I'd finally see something I adored and laugh. But I did. 😳
Thank you for sharing the Vanity Fair link, George. Hilarious! Especially on reincarnation, “most marked characteristic”, and “how would you like to die” - I was laughing out loud.
That format is a real challenge - brevity is the soul of wit, and all of that. Very nice to be asked.
Loved reading George's Proust Questionaire in Vanity Fair which is true proof and a benchmark of some sort...maybe that a heck of a lot of people know who you are! And if they don't they should. Wise and witty as always.
Living person you most despise? "Fiction writing is the practice of (through revision) coming to despise nobody. Not that I don't. I'd just prefer not to."
Through revision...Yes, they might be reading! And also, why waste the precious time and energy of life. And your answer to when you were happiest was so sweet.
George, guiding star of writers everywhere, but especially in Story Club and Syracuse U, master of short stories, and writer of the profound novel Lincoln in the Bardo(which I still have not read, but am meaning to) and now Opera, Vanity Fair, Colbert...What's next? You are slaying it!
Thanks, Dee. What's next is: the new story that is sitting here in front of me, taunting me lovingly.
This goes on my wall: What's next? The story sitting here in front of me.
The MET, bravo. My husband's grandfather who emigrated from Italy in the 1930's sang baritone with a small NYC company, The Verdi Grand Opera Company. We are a family of opera lovers.