What Makes George Saunders’ “Sticks” Great?
A few simple techniques to improve your short fiction.
Photo by Raghavendra Saralaya on Unsplash
My dad passed away almost 20 years ago. The memories I have of him are fading as the days go by. The sound of his voice is just a whisper in my imagination.
The only object of my father’s in my possession is a large Saint Christopher medal he wore his entire life. His life and my memories of him live on as a silver medal I keep next to my old watches.
In fiction, we focus so much on what our characters are thinking, feeling, and saying that we tend to forget about the periphery: the objects our characters hold dear, the rituals and routines they engage in for years, and how, as in life, relationships are forged and nurtured through these objects and rituals.
George Saunders’ “Sticks” is a story about a Dad and his odd hobby of decorating a pole in his front yard. But, what the story is really about is a Dad’s struggle with his relationships with his kids and his struggle with his inevitable death.
The story is also an awesome example of how to craft a meaningful, well-told story by focusing on the periphery of a character — the importance and symbolism of a single object (a pole) and how it reflects the journey of a character (the Dad).
Every story is a blueprint for HOW to write.
If you pull apart what makes a story great and implement those techniques in your own stories, you will become a better writer.
Let’s take a look at three things that make Saunders’ “Sticks” great.
I. THE POWER OF OBJECTS
We are human and we covet. We obsess over inanimate objects. We imbue them with a level of humanity that we disregard in other people. The most relatable thing a writer could give their readers is a character who has an object they obsess about.
Saunders uses the power of objects as well as any writer since Chekhov and his gun. The entire “Sticks” story is built around a disgruntled, angry father and his obsession with a pole that he uses for a variety of decorations and yard installations.
The takeaway from a writer’s perspective is knowing how powerful a well-chosen object can be. It can be used to show growth and change in a character; reflect a character’s inner life and conflict; and, illustrate a character’s relationship with other characters.
TRY THIS: Review a current work in progress or maybe a short story you just finished with a firm eye towards your protagonist.
Is there an object that defines the protagonist?
Is there an object your protagonist obsesses about?
If your protagonist was an object, what would it be? Why?
What does a treasured object reveal about the protagonist’s inner life?
II. MAXIMUM IMPACT SENTENCES
Words are the flesh that hangs on the bones of sentences — a broken bone cripples the body as much as a broken sentence cripples the resonance of a story.
Like poetry, micro/flash fiction stories don’t offer a lot of real estate when it comes to word count and the number of sentences. Every word of every sentence counts.
Saunders’ story clocks in at just under 400 words and roughly 19 sentences. In such a small amount of words, Saunders gives us a man’s life and a variety of family events and holiday gatherings.
Let’s take a look at a sentence from the first paragraph:
Super Bowl week the pole was dressed in a jersey and Rod’s helmet and Rod had to clear it with Dad if he wanted to take the helmet off.
How much information about the Dad does this provide?
Super Bowl week means this action is a ritual; it happens every year.
The Dad is a football fan and likes to show it to the neighborhood.
There is a son named Rod who also played football.
We get a glimpse of the relationship between the Dad and Rod because of Rod needing to “clear it with Dad if he wanted to take the helmet off.” The Dad is particular about his decorations….
We get a great visual of a pole with a football jersey draped over it and a presumably lop-sided football helmet balancing at the top.
And this is only the second sentence! Yet, Saunders litters the story with these gems of a sentence that gives the reader a ton of information about the character, his relationships, and his pole, but we also get a great piece of imagery.
TRY THIS: Skim over the sentences in a current work in progress and note what each adds (or doesn’t) to the narrative.
Does each sentence build on the previous one? Is the logic coherent or fragmented?
Does each sentence provide the maximum amount of information needed? Are there redundancies?
Which sentences could be cut and yet the story continues to progress?
III. BUILDING A CHARACTER THROUGH ACTIONS
Our actions say more about us as people than what we say to each other. We live our lives below the surface, regulating what we say and to whom. Yet, our secrets cannot be contained and always reveal themselves in our actions, whether we know it or not.
I think the hardest part about creating a believable character is not relying on dialogue to express what a character is thinking or feeling.
Let’s take a look at a sentence from the second paragraph:
He ran lengths of string between the pole and the sticks, and taped to the string letters of apology, admissions of error, pleas for understanding, all written in frantic hand on index cards.
What does Sauders show us about the Dad in this sentence without having the Dad say a word?
The “lengths of string connecting the pole and sticks” could have been telephone conversations or meetings with his children.
The “letters of apology” could have been a series of conversations between the Dad and his children.
The “admissions of error” could have been a sequence of scenes of the Dad acknowledging his faults to various people.
The “pleas for understanding” could have been long diatribes on not being understood spoken by the Dad to whoever would listen.
The frantic handwriting on index cards could have been quivering lips spewing out ramblings and frustrations.
This little scene reveals so much about a character whom we never thought would become this vulnerable. Would we still feel the same way if the Dad just said these things to hid kids and other characters? Probably not.
We relate to a person who realizes time is running out, and it's his actions that will be remembered long after his children forget the sound of his voice.
TRY THIS: Review a current work in progress or maybe a short story you just finished, and look at your protagonist.
What actions/activities does your protagonist engage in over the course of the story?
What do those actions/activities say about your protagonist?
Does your protagonist talk too much? Can some of the talking be replaced with specific actions that communicate what he/she is thinking or feeling?
PRACTICING WHAT I TEACH
I used Saunders’ “Sticks” to craft a short story of my own that focused on one character and an object of importance to that character.
WRITER’S WORKSHOP
Now what? Here are a few ideas to get you started incorporating Saunders’ techniques into your writing.
READ: Read Saunders’ short story and look for other techniques he uses and think about how those techniques develop the character, tone, and theme of the story. What resonates with you? What could you include in your writing?
REVISE: Review a short story you’re working on and trying implementing some of the techniques I discuss in this article. Maybe try rewriting a short story into a piece of micro/flash fiction by cutting out the extraneous detail?
WRITE: Use Saunders’ short story as an inspiration for writing a new short story focused on a single character and an object that defines them and their relationships.
