A celebrated novelist's short, practical course in the fundamentals of storytelling, from the sound of sentences to point of view
A writing workshop in a book
Ursula K. Le Guin, author of the Earthsea books and The Left Hand of Darkness, spent decades teaching writing workshops. Steering the Craft distils those workshops into a short book of discussions and exercises on the basic tools of narrative. She revised and largely rewrote it in 2015, adding advice for writers working in groups, in person or online.
Who will enjoy it
Aspiring and practising fiction writers who want to sharpen their command of sentences, voice and point of view through practice.
What you will get
A wise, concise and witty guide to the craft of fiction from a master storyteller, with practical exercises on sentences, voice and point of view.
Steering the Craft Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Nonfiction · Writing craft · Fiction writing · Exercises
Length
160 pages · ≈ 5 h
More about this book
This is a book about writing as a craft, like sailing or carpentry, rather than about inspiration or getting published. Each short chapter takes one fundamental element of narrative: the sound of your prose, punctuation and grammar, sentence length, repetition, adjectives and adverbs, verb tense and person, point of view and voice, and the art of deciding what to put in and what to leave out. Le Guin explains each with clarity and humour.
The heart of the book is the exercises, which ask writers to try specific techniques: a paragraph with no adjectives or adverbs, a scene told from several points of view, a passage of very long sentences. Le Guin includes short examples from writers she admires to illustrate each idea. She is opinionated, particularly about grammar and the music of language, and generous at the same time. The guidance on writing groups is practical and kind.
It is short enough to read in an afternoon and deep enough to use for years. Best worked through with a pen in hand. About 160 pages in the Mariner paperback revised edition.
Bird by Bird
On Writing
On Writing Well
The Elements of Style
On Food and Cooking
The Perfect Loaf
Andrew Carnegie
Interaction of Color
Canine Body Language
Light on Yoga
Man and His Symbols
The Elements of Color