A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders is a must-read for any short story writer. It’s based upon a class Saunders teaches on short story writing that studies short stories of the Russian masters in order to learn what makes them work.

Saunders reveals the moves and the choices the writer makes scene by scene, paragraph by paragraph, sometimes sentence by sentence, to show what makes the story move and the conflicts and patterns that engage our interest, whether we’re conscious of it or not.

Saunders also gives us background on the authors that adds depth to the analysis of what the writer of a particular story was trying to accomplish. For example, the book’s title – A Swim in the Pond in the Rain – comes from a scene in “Gooseberries,” by Chekov, one of the stories Saunders analyzes. Saunders reveals that three years prior to writing that story, Chekov went to meet “the great man” Tolstoy at his estate, how they had a swim together, and how the conflicts and characteristics of the main character in “Gooseberries” may be commentary by Chekov about Tolstoy.

Saunders is, of course, a world-class short story writer. What this book does that’s invaluable for a writer is allow us to see stories through Saunders’ eyes. The hope is some of his seeing will become part of our skill-set and help us write stories with more sensitivity and awareness of the process in which we are engaged.  I highly, highly recommend this book for anyone who writes fiction. Here’s what The New York Times says: