“I thought it might be fun to ask our long-time members if they have a favorite story or Office Hours from the past.”
One of my favs was Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” from May, 2022, and it was extra fascinating when Julie Olsen Edwards, Tillie Olsen’s daughter, chimed in with even more context. I love that! Such a surprise! Here’s the links to the story and the Story Club from waaaayyyy back when.
Yes! I’ve thoroughly appreciated a bunch of the stories we’ve read, but this one stands out. I can’t say just why. Yet. I’m going to reread it and figure that out.
I am so happy for the recovery of your retriever. Mine seemed to be at the exit door two years ago, has had two cancer operations since, and now once again acts like a puppy.
So I am in sympathy with how difficult it is and know the joy of the gift of more time.
I seek for the rest of his life to be a worthy companion to him.
Maybe it's recency bias, but of all the wonderful stories we've discussed here, the one that stands out for me is Samanta Schweblin's story, A Fabulous Animal. The entire story felt like a masterwork - every word and sentence so carefully crafted and placed, and doing so much work. That scene at the end has haunted my mind (in a wonderful way) ever since. The discussion in this group was, as always, really illuminating. Also, just this week, someone in my writing group handed in a story that left me, at the end, thinking, WHAT just happened?? And, as with A Fabulous Animal, I was able to love the story deeply without needing to understand it all. (also ... glad to hear the good news about Guin!)
I’m glad you mentioned The Lady with the Little Dog! It reminded me of the first time I read it, many years ago, when I just didn’t get it at all. It made me happy to realize what a much better reader I am now - partly just due to reading volume, but mainly due to good company, like this group, my writers group, and of course, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain.
I have some of my favorite GSisms taped up around my desk. They give me such sustenance throughout the day. Of course, there is as much rigor here as you're up for, but there is also a never-ending stream of wisdom that can be applied to all parts of life and sometimes just make it all feel a little clearer. A couple of gems for the newbies:
"To be an artist means, really means, coming to the desk like a goofball everyday, knowing little or nothing but game to try, equipped only with that day's sense of what is beautiful."
"Writing is a lovely, life-affirming thing to do, even if the world never rewards us enough to allow us to make it the main thing in our lives. It's a vocation, after all, not a job--and even if we're lucky enough to have it as our job, it's still not a job, not really. I guess what I'm saying is that we could be as rich as Midas, sitting at a big old golden desk, with no interruptions for the next ten years, and someone bringing us healthy meals and sharpening our pencils and so on, but what makes us a writer in the moment is the state of our mind. Are we interested, curious, noticing, changing our view, always changing our view, loving the world, compelled by the beauty of language? Nothing can take those things away from us and, the truth is, nothing external can give them to us either."
I am part of the new swath of subscribers swept in by the NY Times interview. And am so glad!
Loved your comments. Wanted to say when I write it is all from some kind of subconscious clearing where characters & settings spontaneously show up. Also when something can not be improved upon I seem to know - almost like adding the absolute perfect shade of color to a painting.
Always afraid though that the clearing may close up - become overgrown with 'ground game' conscious mind, slinking intrusions that more often than not are negative & somehow seem jealous of the freewheeling creativity that goes on in the clearing!
Being in the clearing for me is the closest I come to being in the zone where me & my debilitating fears dissappear & I am delivered for a few precious hours to perfect, romping, delirious freedom - heavenly.
Thank you for creating the Story Club - a most wonderous place to share & convene.
A's question: "So, if a writer can’t banish the conscious mind in favor of the unconscious, are they doomed to writing “quotidian and predictable” stories?" As George says in great detail, of course not. It is, however, very much worth asking oneself this: From what is one's conscious mind protecting us; what barrier is it throwing up? In my own writing process, that something is my shadow -- the chaos of unprocessed raw materials from which I protect myself in order to function as an ego, and which I must let flow if I'm going to create something new. I suspect that A has had the experience of looking at something he or she has written and leaning something new about him/herself. That's probably the best reason I know for being a writer. It's certainly the true payoff for me.
"The brute fact is that a story is not a living organism, has no will, and is absolutely in a writer’s hands — she can do whatever she likes with it and there is literally nothing that could stop her. Perhaps there are certain choices she is unlikely to make, because they would result in the kind of end product that her culture has taught her to view as hack, cliched, boring, absurd, random, contradictory, nonsensical, etc., but still, she could make them."
Perhaps a way to tap into the subconscious, to let a story become a living organism, is to have that character do something that is culturally wrong or absurd or random, something out of character. What I find interesting in writing characters is, I don't know them until they appear on the page and once they do, I recognize some parts of them, while other parts are alien to me. I'm beginning to enjoy more and more letting those unrecognizable parts come to the fore. They can sometimes make the pieces of the character I recognize rounder, or fuller, or more interesting to me and (hopefully) a reader.
First, best wishes for Guin's recovery, from another lab owner!
I think one of the most memorable Story Club arcs was the discussion on George's story "CommComm" (linked to in the list of topics under the Story Club header) which spanned nearly two months of 2023, and generated almost (as of this writing) 3,000 comments. Much back-and-forth between subscribers, with George weighing in and even sharing some of his rough drafts. But that was hardly the only noteworthy discussion. New subscribers, enjoy diving into the archives!
I joined the Story Club recently because I felt extremely excited about the possibility of being in dialog with George Saunders. However, I think I might be in the wrong place because I am not a writer and do not face the issues that others who are commenting face. I do write occasionally for pleasure or to try to answer a personal question but not likely to gain any amazing insights by going through the exercises. Is there any real reason to stay engaged with the Story Club given my situation?
Hi Linda, I know George mentioned SC is in the middle of an exercise this week, but that's not a common thing. Exercises are rare, and in any case you can ignore content at will. That said, if you stick around your mind will get plenty of exercise, because creative thinkers abound here, and you've already noticed George is rather a thoughtful guy, and is profoundly generous about sharing. Sometimes the comments veer off on pleasant and surprising tangents that are fun, and even informative. I've been around for a couple of years. I always check in to see what's cookin'. Sometimes I stay, and other times pass by, but I always come back.
Well, Linda, if you're asking the question maybe Story Club isn't the place for you. Only you know the answer, of course, but why not stick around, see what develops. I've been here from the very first day (amazingly, I think we're on year four now) and I've found Story Club to be a wonderful source of thoughtful consideration of art & of life by way of short stories, by taking them apart sentence by sentence and engaging with the author and discussing our reactions all with George's guidance. In our comments and our responses to George, we Clubbers as a whole are equally as thoughtful, kind, enthusiastic and just all around decent. Some of us have formed friendships beyond SC which has been lovely. With every one of George's posts, there's always someone with something to say that's worth considering. Unlike you, I actually am a working writer and have found George's writerly advice and guidance to be insightful and often helpful. Often, but not always. Sometimes what he suggests is a no-go with me, sometimes a head-scratcher, sometimes completely contrary to my way of thinking. But always what George offers is genuine, valid, intelligent and worth the investment of time and effort. I hope that helps.
I'm a funny book artist so I thought I would learn something about doing comics from George in the end he doesn't really talk much about drawing at all here. :) On the other hand what he does do is introduce you to things you might not read normally and ideas you might not think about. Most importantly you learn something about reading with attention to the work and to your own feelings as you read. That in of itself has been a really profound experience for me.
And despite my opening line I'm doing the current exercise with some old work every night just fiddling away in my sketchbook and it is turning my brain inside out.
Hi Linda. Have you had a chance yet to look at any of the stories we've analyzed and discussed here in Story Club? Although I dabble a bit in writing and do enjoy the writing discussions, at the moment it's primarily the stories and George's and the SC members' takes on them that are the main reason why I and a lot of others are here. We look at stories on Sundays; Thursdays are when George answers questions from the membership. The questions asked are usually about writing, it's true, but I find the more I think and learn about writing, the better I become at reading. I've been a member for over three years now and the benefits have been tremendous. In any case, I highly recommend taking a look at some of the previous story discussions. The story titles are listed on the horizontal menu at the top of the "Home" page and in the archive. If you need a recommendation, a favorite from last year was new story from 2025, "A Fabulous Animal" by Samanta Schweblin, but there are lots of older "classics" here too.
Yes. If you enjoy reading what George Saunders publishes, you will be interested in his discussion of the processes. And the interaction between the commenters and George’s interaction with them. Then there are the stories he chooses.
Linda, hope you choose to stay awhile and check SC out! I will keep it short in agreeing with all the previous comments and also add that - look at this community of folks who support one another! I write (but am not published--yet) and this is one of my favorite places to be - around interesting and curious people who care to uphold the kindness of this community. And if you (like me, and many others I'm sure) write "to try to answer a personal question", you will be flooded with ideas and insights that can inspire all work.
Dear Linda, Story Club doesn't set out to teach you to write using exercises. It's a whole lot more fascinating than that.
Though I studied literature (long ago) I had very little short story culture. Here, we read brilliant short stories from different periods and countries, and we discuss them, then we think some more, and go on discussing them. And really, it's a very friendly place. Do stay!
I really loved reading 'In the Basement,' and the particular way it blended madcap farce with aching sadness. It inspired me to read the rest of Isaac Babel's stories.
I so admire your way of dancing with questioners, and here your explicit cautions about “teachers” and “students.” (Looking down on a person stuck in a box). It is the impulse to help, as you note, as you know. This is thoroughly applicable to leading and learning in all the arts, and I suspect even down to math and engineering.
For the questioner, I know one thing that sometimes helps me is making more explicit the "as if" that is implicit in this way of talking about stories. It's "as if" the story is resisting me, "as if" it wants to go that way, etc. For me, this helps me separate the kind of extraordinarily complex psychological construction happening from any kind of annoying woo.
Something I've also tried, which I think GS has written about before, is just actively making the non-obvious choice. So if I'm at a part in my story where maybe it's time for two characters to meet, and I'm going line by line assessing what I like, don't like, but can't crack it, I'll say ok what if there were a car crash. Because to your point, why not. I may later decide that's stupid, but it'll get me out of the mode of the "am I being cliche?" "am I honoring my impulses enough" kind of thinking.
And then Death of Ivan Ilyich is classic story club.
To the many growing and cherished storyclubers, I have an add-on question to this week's questioner. George's "method" of putting one's own preference at the center of the writing process, using the P/N-meter has been so valuable for my own writing. It helped grow my confidence in listening to myself instead of seeking an "objective" truth, which, as I already knew, doesn't exist. Editing based on preference works very well for me. Most days.
But as I find myself at the beginning of a new novel-project I'm wondering if in addition I might also need at least a bit of a plan / concept. Or would that be just a crutch? I vaguely remember Toni Morrison saying that she couldn't start writing a book if she didn't know where it was going. The plotter vs pantser debate has been going on forever, and there are many prescriptive craft-books on the market (guiding you to follow the typically arcs and beats). I know of writers who find those very helpful, but I personally don't believe in art following a formula -- though it also doesn't hurt to know the rules :-)
So my question to you is, what are writing concepts that are more in the middle of the spectrum? Something where you have lots of room to let the story evolve and take shape but also have some guardrails that lead you through the fog. I'm curious to hear what's out there and maybe you guys know of videos, articles or books that are grappling with finding an individual balance. I'm looking forward to reading your ideas. Thank you!
Christiane, I can just quickly weigh in to say that on both of my novels so far, there was definitely a middle-way type of approach, which consisted of a very light "outline" of a few sentences ("Lincoln comes to the graveyard, interacts with his son's body leaves, while the spirit if his son decides whether to stay in this place of go on") and then the improv too place around the hows and whys of it all.
Thank you, George. Your outline almost sounds like a tagline, including not only setting and character but also the main conflict. It's interesting how well this one sentence outline matches the final novel after it was written.
Favorite stories: a toss-up between "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" and the "The Death of Ivan Ilyich." I caught a bad flu last spring and kept thinking of Ivan Ilyich while I recovered -- and very glad I was not like him! Thanks so much for this space at this time.
“I thought it might be fun to ask our long-time members if they have a favorite story or Office Hours from the past.”
One of my favs was Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” from May, 2022, and it was extra fascinating when Julie Olsen Edwards, Tillie Olsen’s daughter, chimed in with even more context. I love that! Such a surprise! Here’s the links to the story and the Story Club from waaaayyyy back when.
https://shortstoryproject.com/stories/i-stand-here-ironing/
https://georgesaunders.substack.com/p/i-stand-here-ironing-2
Yes! I’ve thoroughly appreciated a bunch of the stories we’ve read, but this one stands out. I can’t say just why. Yet. I’m going to reread it and figure that out.
I'll join you!
I am so happy for the recovery of your retriever. Mine seemed to be at the exit door two years ago, has had two cancer operations since, and now once again acts like a puppy.
So I am in sympathy with how difficult it is and know the joy of the gift of more time.
I seek for the rest of his life to be a worthy companion to him.
And the roller-coaster of it all - good Lord!
Maybe it's recency bias, but of all the wonderful stories we've discussed here, the one that stands out for me is Samanta Schweblin's story, A Fabulous Animal. The entire story felt like a masterwork - every word and sentence so carefully crafted and placed, and doing so much work. That scene at the end has haunted my mind (in a wonderful way) ever since. The discussion in this group was, as always, really illuminating. Also, just this week, someone in my writing group handed in a story that left me, at the end, thinking, WHAT just happened?? And, as with A Fabulous Animal, I was able to love the story deeply without needing to understand it all. (also ... glad to hear the good news about Guin!)
I'm getting stuck thinking of ONE story, though A Fabulous Animal is on my shortlist.
Others are George's CommComm, Isaac Babel's In the Basement, Chekhov's Lady with Little Dog, and if I don't stop it'll be a longlist ;)
I’m glad you mentioned The Lady with the Little Dog! It reminded me of the first time I read it, many years ago, when I just didn’t get it at all. It made me happy to realize what a much better reader I am now - partly just due to reading volume, but mainly due to good company, like this group, my writers group, and of course, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain.
I have some of my favorite GSisms taped up around my desk. They give me such sustenance throughout the day. Of course, there is as much rigor here as you're up for, but there is also a never-ending stream of wisdom that can be applied to all parts of life and sometimes just make it all feel a little clearer. A couple of gems for the newbies:
"To be an artist means, really means, coming to the desk like a goofball everyday, knowing little or nothing but game to try, equipped only with that day's sense of what is beautiful."
"Writing is a lovely, life-affirming thing to do, even if the world never rewards us enough to allow us to make it the main thing in our lives. It's a vocation, after all, not a job--and even if we're lucky enough to have it as our job, it's still not a job, not really. I guess what I'm saying is that we could be as rich as Midas, sitting at a big old golden desk, with no interruptions for the next ten years, and someone bringing us healthy meals and sharpening our pencils and so on, but what makes us a writer in the moment is the state of our mind. Are we interested, curious, noticing, changing our view, always changing our view, loving the world, compelled by the beauty of language? Nothing can take those things away from us and, the truth is, nothing external can give them to us either."
Hi Mr. Saunders,
I am part of the new swath of subscribers swept in by the NY Times interview. And am so glad!
Loved your comments. Wanted to say when I write it is all from some kind of subconscious clearing where characters & settings spontaneously show up. Also when something can not be improved upon I seem to know - almost like adding the absolute perfect shade of color to a painting.
Always afraid though that the clearing may close up - become overgrown with 'ground game' conscious mind, slinking intrusions that more often than not are negative & somehow seem jealous of the freewheeling creativity that goes on in the clearing!
Being in the clearing for me is the closest I come to being in the zone where me & my debilitating fears dissappear & I am delivered for a few precious hours to perfect, romping, delirious freedom - heavenly.
Thank you for creating the Story Club - a most wonderous place to share & convene.
Among the many story discussions we've had in Story Club, these have been the standouts for me so far:
"In the Basement"--Isaac Babel
"The Rockpile"--James Baldwin
"CommComm"--George Saunders
"Dwarf Pine"--Varlam Shalamov
"Master and Man"--Leo Tolstoy
"Boule de Suif"--Guy de Maupassant
"Flowering Judas"--Katherine Anne Porter
"A Conversation with My Father"--Grace Paley
"Young Goodman Brown"--Nathaniel Hawthorne
"A Fabulous Animal"--Samanta Schweblin
OK, Annemarie, nothing missing in your list but (for me) Chekhov's Lady With a Dog
Hi John. HNY. I'd happily add that, too.
A's question: "So, if a writer can’t banish the conscious mind in favor of the unconscious, are they doomed to writing “quotidian and predictable” stories?" As George says in great detail, of course not. It is, however, very much worth asking oneself this: From what is one's conscious mind protecting us; what barrier is it throwing up? In my own writing process, that something is my shadow -- the chaos of unprocessed raw materials from which I protect myself in order to function as an ego, and which I must let flow if I'm going to create something new. I suspect that A has had the experience of looking at something he or she has written and leaning something new about him/herself. That's probably the best reason I know for being a writer. It's certainly the true payoff for me.
The questioner states:
"The brute fact is that a story is not a living organism, has no will, and is absolutely in a writer’s hands — she can do whatever she likes with it and there is literally nothing that could stop her. Perhaps there are certain choices she is unlikely to make, because they would result in the kind of end product that her culture has taught her to view as hack, cliched, boring, absurd, random, contradictory, nonsensical, etc., but still, she could make them."
Perhaps a way to tap into the subconscious, to let a story become a living organism, is to have that character do something that is culturally wrong or absurd or random, something out of character. What I find interesting in writing characters is, I don't know them until they appear on the page and once they do, I recognize some parts of them, while other parts are alien to me. I'm beginning to enjoy more and more letting those unrecognizable parts come to the fore. They can sometimes make the pieces of the character I recognize rounder, or fuller, or more interesting to me and (hopefully) a reader.
First, best wishes for Guin's recovery, from another lab owner!
I think one of the most memorable Story Club arcs was the discussion on George's story "CommComm" (linked to in the list of topics under the Story Club header) which spanned nearly two months of 2023, and generated almost (as of this writing) 3,000 comments. Much back-and-forth between subscribers, with George weighing in and even sharing some of his rough drafts. But that was hardly the only noteworthy discussion. New subscribers, enjoy diving into the archives!
I joined the Story Club recently because I felt extremely excited about the possibility of being in dialog with George Saunders. However, I think I might be in the wrong place because I am not a writer and do not face the issues that others who are commenting face. I do write occasionally for pleasure or to try to answer a personal question but not likely to gain any amazing insights by going through the exercises. Is there any real reason to stay engaged with the Story Club given my situation?
Hi Linda, I know George mentioned SC is in the middle of an exercise this week, but that's not a common thing. Exercises are rare, and in any case you can ignore content at will. That said, if you stick around your mind will get plenty of exercise, because creative thinkers abound here, and you've already noticed George is rather a thoughtful guy, and is profoundly generous about sharing. Sometimes the comments veer off on pleasant and surprising tangents that are fun, and even informative. I've been around for a couple of years. I always check in to see what's cookin'. Sometimes I stay, and other times pass by, but I always come back.
Please stay! Not everyone here is a writer, many are avid readers, and some only write sometimes. It's not an exclusive place at all.
Well, Linda, if you're asking the question maybe Story Club isn't the place for you. Only you know the answer, of course, but why not stick around, see what develops. I've been here from the very first day (amazingly, I think we're on year four now) and I've found Story Club to be a wonderful source of thoughtful consideration of art & of life by way of short stories, by taking them apart sentence by sentence and engaging with the author and discussing our reactions all with George's guidance. In our comments and our responses to George, we Clubbers as a whole are equally as thoughtful, kind, enthusiastic and just all around decent. Some of us have formed friendships beyond SC which has been lovely. With every one of George's posts, there's always someone with something to say that's worth considering. Unlike you, I actually am a working writer and have found George's writerly advice and guidance to be insightful and often helpful. Often, but not always. Sometimes what he suggests is a no-go with me, sometimes a head-scratcher, sometimes completely contrary to my way of thinking. But always what George offers is genuine, valid, intelligent and worth the investment of time and effort. I hope that helps.
Hi Linda,
I'm a funny book artist so I thought I would learn something about doing comics from George in the end he doesn't really talk much about drawing at all here. :) On the other hand what he does do is introduce you to things you might not read normally and ideas you might not think about. Most importantly you learn something about reading with attention to the work and to your own feelings as you read. That in of itself has been a really profound experience for me.
And despite my opening line I'm doing the current exercise with some old work every night just fiddling away in my sketchbook and it is turning my brain inside out.
Hi Linda. Have you had a chance yet to look at any of the stories we've analyzed and discussed here in Story Club? Although I dabble a bit in writing and do enjoy the writing discussions, at the moment it's primarily the stories and George's and the SC members' takes on them that are the main reason why I and a lot of others are here. We look at stories on Sundays; Thursdays are when George answers questions from the membership. The questions asked are usually about writing, it's true, but I find the more I think and learn about writing, the better I become at reading. I've been a member for over three years now and the benefits have been tremendous. In any case, I highly recommend taking a look at some of the previous story discussions. The story titles are listed on the horizontal menu at the top of the "Home" page and in the archive. If you need a recommendation, a favorite from last year was new story from 2025, "A Fabulous Animal" by Samanta Schweblin, but there are lots of older "classics" here too.
Annemarie, thanks for pointing out the exercise in an earlier post, which I thought I missed.
Yes. If you enjoy reading what George Saunders publishes, you will be interested in his discussion of the processes. And the interaction between the commenters and George’s interaction with them. Then there are the stories he chooses.
P.S. I am not a writer.
I’ve read a lot of short stories in Story Club, it’s been great.
Linda, hope you choose to stay awhile and check SC out! I will keep it short in agreeing with all the previous comments and also add that - look at this community of folks who support one another! I write (but am not published--yet) and this is one of my favorite places to be - around interesting and curious people who care to uphold the kindness of this community. And if you (like me, and many others I'm sure) write "to try to answer a personal question", you will be flooded with ideas and insights that can inspire all work.
Dear Linda, Story Club doesn't set out to teach you to write using exercises. It's a whole lot more fascinating than that.
Though I studied literature (long ago) I had very little short story culture. Here, we read brilliant short stories from different periods and countries, and we discuss them, then we think some more, and go on discussing them. And really, it's a very friendly place. Do stay!
I really loved reading 'In the Basement,' and the particular way it blended madcap farce with aching sadness. It inspired me to read the rest of Isaac Babel's stories.
Me too!
I so admire your way of dancing with questioners, and here your explicit cautions about “teachers” and “students.” (Looking down on a person stuck in a box). It is the impulse to help, as you note, as you know. This is thoroughly applicable to leading and learning in all the arts, and I suspect even down to math and engineering.
For the questioner, I know one thing that sometimes helps me is making more explicit the "as if" that is implicit in this way of talking about stories. It's "as if" the story is resisting me, "as if" it wants to go that way, etc. For me, this helps me separate the kind of extraordinarily complex psychological construction happening from any kind of annoying woo.
Something I've also tried, which I think GS has written about before, is just actively making the non-obvious choice. So if I'm at a part in my story where maybe it's time for two characters to meet, and I'm going line by line assessing what I like, don't like, but can't crack it, I'll say ok what if there were a car crash. Because to your point, why not. I may later decide that's stupid, but it'll get me out of the mode of the "am I being cliche?" "am I honoring my impulses enough" kind of thinking.
And then Death of Ivan Ilyich is classic story club.
Guy de Maupassant discussion, the Amarillo Sod Poodles, and maybe this one: https://open.substack.com/pub/georgesaunders/p/the-brief-and-frightening-reign-of?r=em4al&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay but also a too cautionary letter from a grandfather to his grandson? which I still need to find.
That's "Love Letter."
Thanks!!
I was discussing Guy De Maupassant only the other day, both the story and the guy will always be there now
To the many growing and cherished storyclubers, I have an add-on question to this week's questioner. George's "method" of putting one's own preference at the center of the writing process, using the P/N-meter has been so valuable for my own writing. It helped grow my confidence in listening to myself instead of seeking an "objective" truth, which, as I already knew, doesn't exist. Editing based on preference works very well for me. Most days.
But as I find myself at the beginning of a new novel-project I'm wondering if in addition I might also need at least a bit of a plan / concept. Or would that be just a crutch? I vaguely remember Toni Morrison saying that she couldn't start writing a book if she didn't know where it was going. The plotter vs pantser debate has been going on forever, and there are many prescriptive craft-books on the market (guiding you to follow the typically arcs and beats). I know of writers who find those very helpful, but I personally don't believe in art following a formula -- though it also doesn't hurt to know the rules :-)
So my question to you is, what are writing concepts that are more in the middle of the spectrum? Something where you have lots of room to let the story evolve and take shape but also have some guardrails that lead you through the fog. I'm curious to hear what's out there and maybe you guys know of videos, articles or books that are grappling with finding an individual balance. I'm looking forward to reading your ideas. Thank you!
Christiane, I can just quickly weigh in to say that on both of my novels so far, there was definitely a middle-way type of approach, which consisted of a very light "outline" of a few sentences ("Lincoln comes to the graveyard, interacts with his son's body leaves, while the spirit if his son decides whether to stay in this place of go on") and then the improv too place around the hows and whys of it all.
Thank you, George. Your outline almost sounds like a tagline, including not only setting and character but also the main conflict. It's interesting how well this one sentence outline matches the final novel after it was written.
Favorite stories: a toss-up between "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" and the "The Death of Ivan Ilyich." I caught a bad flu last spring and kept thinking of Ivan Ilyich while I recovered -- and very glad I was not like him! Thanks so much for this space at this time.