Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew

About Writing

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin generously shares the accumulated wisdom of a lifetime's work.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Crafts, Reference, Essays, Books About Books, How To

173 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.

Reviews

[??????? · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm pretty skeptical of books on writing, if only because everyone seems to have written one. And so many of them come at you with flashy promises: "Sell Your Novel In Thirty Days!"

Prior to having read LeGuin's "Steering the Craft," I relied on three books, more or less:

1. Strunk and White - Elements of Style
2. Stephen King - On Writing
3. John Gardner - The Art of Fiction

In that order. Strunk and White covered the bare bones fundamentals; King's book covers the creative process and Gardner gets into some of the more academic, abstract concepts like rhythm, sentence variation and syntax.

LeGuin's book falls somewhere between King and Gardner. She has insight for the budding writer, but makes it clear that her book neither intends to promote writing as a form of therapy or help you get into a habit of productivity. Her advice is concise, terse and poignant, and she focuses entirely on craft.

There's some fantastic advice here, including nuanced and thought-provoking arguments about passive vs. active voice, present vs. past tense. Her insights on crowding vs. leaping (how much do you leave out, and what do you leave in?) were especially useful.

LeGuin covers everything King and Gardner either didn't cover or just touched upon. Her book feels like a valuable corollary, a good addition to a well-rounded reference. A short book, but precise in its advice, with a rare emphasis on those elements of creative writing that no one seems to talk about (voice, perspective, sentence structure, avoiding expository lumps, good use of punctuation).

Don't read this book for advice on plot, dialogue, characterization or pacing. "On Writing" is probably more useful there. This is a book of techniques.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the first books I bought for myself when I decided to pursue fiction writing. It's also the only book from those early days that survived the recent culling of my writing book collection, because the exercises are well-suited to aspiring and seasoned writers alike. (The rest of those first books I picked up were very self-helpy. I liked some of them back then, but freewriting about your past only gets you so far, you know?)

Le Guin's focus with these exercises is wordsmithing. I've read so many books lately on plot, character, and Big Picture elements that it was refreshing to consider working with my writing at this level again. If those others are about planning a work of art, making decisions about layout and color, this book is about mixing the paints and choosing the brushes.

Since there's only a very brief description from Goodreads, here's a peek at what she covers:

Chapter 1. The Sound of Your Writing
Exercise one: Being Gorgeous

Chapter 2. Punctuation
Exercise two: I am Garcia Marquez

Chapter 3. Sentence Length and Complex Syntax
Exercise three: Short and Long

Chapter 4. Repetition
Exercise four: Again and Again and Again

Chapter 5. Adjective and Adverb
Exercise five: Chastity

Chapter 6. Subject Pronoun and Verb
Exercise six: The Old Woman

Chapter 7. Point of View and Voice
Exercise seven: POV

Chapter 8. Changing Point of View
Exercise eight: Changing Voices

Chapter 9. Indirect Narration, or What Tells
Exercise nine: Telling it Slant

Chapter 10. Crowding and Leaping
Exercise ten: A Terrible Thing to Do

From the start, I knew I was getting something special from these exercises. Not only did I love the writing it helped me produce, but the exercises sharpened my sense of how language can affect a reader. I found that very inspiring as an aspiring writer.

These days, I also appreciate the emphasis on quality of language, word economy, and crafting a sentence you're damn proud of. As much as I like NaNoWriMo and understand that dwelling on each sentence is a realllllllly slow-going way to get a book written, I love that this book encourages you to slow down. Listen to the words you're choosing. Are they they best words? Do you need all of them? Is there a better way? Try another way to be sure. All of this experimentation with language can get you even closer to conveying your vision to the reader. That's the goal, right?

Anyway, I'm getting ready to work through all these again with a friend. I'm hoping the actual process of working through these exercises is as enjoyable as I remember. I'll amend the review either way.

[Spencer Orey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a deceptively simple writing book.

On first read, I thought it was too simple for where I was at as a writer. I wanted direct instructions about how to get the opening of a novel right and how to attract agents and publishers.

I still have a lot to learn as a writer, but I'm glad I've grown into seeing how helpful this book is.

On my re-read three years later, I found this book grounded, useful, and sometimes magical. There are answers here to very specific questions about writing and language, and the book is full of professional opinions but free from the overbearing, punishing ego voice of most other writing books. Instead, it's full of writing advice and solid information about the fundamentals of language and how to make words sing.

[Murat Dural · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ursula K. Le Guin okumak edebi anlamda dini bir metinle başbaşa kalmak gibi. Benim için öyle en azından. Hep Kitap'ın son dönemde bastığı yayınlar hem edebi hem de inceleme serileri açısından gayet başarılı. "Yazmak" üzerine bir seri adım adım çıkıyor. "Dümeni Yaratıcılığa Kırmak"ta bu serinin önemli bir ayağı. Fakat ilk sayfalarda bizi kendi ağzından şöyle bir cümle ile karşılıyor; "Öncelikle şunu söylemem gerek, bu kitap yeni başlayanlar için değil. Hedef kitlesi zaten yazdıkları üstünde yoğun şekilde çalışan insanlar." Kitap son derece önemli bilgilerle dolu, ama Ursula Le Guin'in dediği gibi öncelikli hedef bu eserdeki bilgilere kafa yormak olmamlı. Eğer kurgularınızı örmeye, insanlara göstermeye başladıysanız geçebilirsiniz. Ben edinmenizden yanayım. Aslında öykünüze, romanınıza başlarken bakmak isteyebileceğiniz şeylere, yapmak isteyeceğiniz alıştırmalara sahip. Son sözler kitapta da yer alan bir alıntıyla gelsin; “Virginia Woolf, bir yazar arkadaşına gönderdiği mektupta bundan bahsetmiştir: Üslup aslında çok basit bir mesele, tamamen ritimle ilgili. Bir kere buna alıştığında, yanlış kelimeleri kullanmazsın. Öte yandan neredeyse bütün sabahı burada öylece oturarak geçirdim, tıka basa fikirlerle ve imgelemlerle doluyum: doğru ritmi bulamadığımdan, hiçbirini yerinden oynatamıyorum. Aslında ritmin kendisi oldukça yoğun ve kelimelerden daha derine ulaşabiliyor. Bir bakış ya da bir duygu, bunlara uyabilecek kelimeleri bulmadan çok önce zihninde bu dalgayı yaratıyor...” Ne kadar güzel anlatmış. Dalgayı duymamak, etkilenmemek mümkün mü?

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why don't I have a review here? Hmm. A review: I did every exercise in this book. I am a better writer for it. The end.

[Francisca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about writing. It collects some of the exercises LeGuin used as a creative writing instructor. It also presents examples of how each of the mentioned elements work in a narrative.

I write and like this book. It's practical but it is also aspirational.

And if you want to learn about writing why not to do it from someone who did it really well.

[Argos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tek kelimeyle mükemmel bir kılavuz. Yüzyüze yapılan atölye çalışmaları veya online gerçekleştirilen seminer/ders gibi “yaratıcı yazarlık” etkinliklerine kucakla para verip bir kaşık bal alacağınıza, işte 100 sayfalık, parası söz konusu edilemeyecek kadar az, kocaman bir kavanoz bal veren boyutu küçük içeriği büyük bir kitap.

Cümleler açık ve net, ağız kalabalığı yok, örnekler dört dörtlük, alıştırmalar haricinde ana metinde altı çizilmeyecek tek cümle yok diyebilirim. Çokca okuyup azca yazan biri olarak fazlasıyla yararlandım. Sadece yazmak isteyenler için değil iyi okur olmak için kitabın “Bakış Açısı ve Anlatıda Ses” bölümünü okumak için bile alınır bu kitap.

Derim ki; az-çok düz metin olarak kurmaca olsun olmasın birşeyler yazanlar, özellikle hikaye ve roman yazma hevesini taşıyanlar lütfen bu kitabı alın, birkaç kez okuyun. Ursula K. Le Guin gibi bir ustanın kitabını okumanın ötesinde belki edebiyat dünyasına yazar olarak bir adım atacak kişisi sizsiniz.

[Nicholas Perez]

I am so worried about my writing these days! I'll take all the help I can get and after reading From Elfland to Poughkeepsie I think this can be helpful.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most creative writing exercise books I've read collect idea exercises; Steering the Craft, as the name suggests, collects craft exercises. This is preferable to me as my best writing ideas come from within, from careful thinking, rather than "Your first sentence is 'She preferred the salad bar', and the piece must contain these three objects: a toothbrush, a zebra, and a lighthouse." I hate those. I really hate those. (I really, really hate those.) You don't learn anything from those types of exercises, though if have trouble coming up with ideas, then I can see how they're useful.

Instead, Le Guin presents 10 craft exercises in 10 chapters. These craft exercises help break down the elements of writing so the writer is more conscious of these elements as they're writing. For instance, sentence length. Exercise 3 has the writer write a paragraph of narrative using sentences of 7 words or fewer. Then you write an entire page of narrative that's a single sentence. Seems simple, right? But by doing this, it helped me explore the possibilities of particularly long sentence length. It also made me more aware of sentence length and the possible sentence combinations in my writing outside of these exercises.

I did all 10 exercises, and feel more conscious of the physicality of my writing then I did before. Another plus to these exercises are that they can be done again and again. While you won't have a short story ready for submissions after reading this, you will have the skills (or improved skills) to write one.

[tripswithbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

“İnsanlar kelimelerle yaşar.”

Alice Walker, Charlotte Brontë ve Grace Paley ile tanışmamın zamanının geldiğini söyledi bana bu kitap.

Hikayelerimi yazmak istiyorsam daha çok Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Tolstoy okumamam gerektiğini hatırlattı.

Yazma alıştırmalarının çok değişmediğini gösterdi. Asıl işe koyulmamın vaktinin gelip geçtiğini…

Teorikte öğrenecek bir şey kalmadı artık oturup yazmanın vakti!

Yelkenler fora.

[Rebecca Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is low-level nuts and bolts stuff. I think it might be useful for teaching high schoolers, but I teach more high brow stuff in my class, so who knows.

[NAMIK SOMEL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadece yazmak için değil, okunan metinin daha iyi anlaşılması için..
Yazmaya yeni başlayanlar, genç yazarlar için oldukça faydalı bir eser. Ursula L. Guin 'in usta kalemiyle, yalın, net kolay anlaşılır bir kitap okudum ve kendi adıma çok yararlandım. Her teknik için ( 1.tekil şahıs, sınırlı 3 tekil şahıs-Tanrı dili , metin içerisinde yer alan kelimelerin dengelenmesi vb. gibi) kitaplardan alıntılar ve okuma tavsiyeleri var. Ayrıca kitapta yazar adayları için çok fardalı ev ödevleri yer alıyor.
Sadece yazmak için değil, okunan metinin daha iyi anlaşılması için de okuması gereken bir kitap.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ursula Le Guin said in her introduction to Steering the Craft: A Twenty-first-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story that it "is not a book for beginners. It’s meant for people who have already worked hard at their writing." I think Le Guin sold her book short. I am not a serious writer, even though I often spend hours many days writing. I certainly don't write fiction. Nonetheless, I learned a lot in the course of reading Steering the Craft, both about writing and teaching, as it is an opportunity to sit and listen to a masterful teacher – skilled in her craft and teaching both.

Even people who are not writers or interested in strengthening their writing can read, enjoy, and profit from Steering the Craft. It is not only about writing well but is beautifully written. It is like spending the afternoon in your favorite coffee shop, eating a luscious but not overdone dessert, with your coffee's aromas tickling your nose, and good people chattering and music playing in the background. Dessert is perhaps not the best metaphor, as it's not rich chocolate cake with dark chocolate icing, but ratatouille, deeply flavored, chock full of umami. I wanted to leave her words melting on my tongue so I could savor them longer.

Each of Le Guin's ten short chapters is focused on a single idea (e.g., the sound of your writing, punctuation and grammar, point of view and voice, changing point of view). Chapters begin with a discussion of the focal concern and followed by several prose examples (from Twain, Dickens, Neale Hurston, Woolf, and others), then by one or more exercises and variations on these, and things to consider while critiquing. In the point of view chapter, for example, she retold the same story (150 words or so) from different perspectives: first person, limited third person, detached author, omniscient author, etc. Her exercises make her points clearly and succinctly. For example:

First: Tell your little story from a single POV, that of a participant in the event— an old man, a child, a cat, whatever you like. Use limited third person.

Second: Retell the story from the POV of one of the other people involved in it. Again,
use limited third person. (p. 72)

She provided multiple iterations of each exercise, in effect, laying out breadcrumbs for the reader to follow to their goal.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is where Le Guin offered strategies for critiquing a writing exercise:

In critiquing these exercises, you might talk about how well the shifts work, what’s gained (or lost?) by them, how the piece might have differed if told from one POV only.

For a while afterward, when reading fiction, you might take a moment to consider what POV is being used, who the viewpoint character is, when the POV shifts, and so on. It’s interesting to see how different writers do it, and you can learn a great deal from watching great artists of narrative technique such as Woolf and Atwood. (p. 93)

She is a gifted teacher and her workshops must have been masterful and exciting.

I have read several books by Le Guin from different genres in the last year (and will probably read more). We lost a wise and witty guide this year. RIP, Ms. Le Guin. Thank you for leaving so much of yourself behind.

Second reading: I reread this because the POV choices the authors I've been reading has been niggling at me. Some books do not stand up to a reread. This one felt as fresh as the first time. Maybe the next time I will actually respond to the exercises. Maybe not.

[melydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The structure of this book is quite simple but surprisingly useful. Each chapter covers a certain aspect of writing (point of view, description, dialogue, etc.), beginning with a brief overview, giving sample passages from other works, and ending with an exercise. The exercise comes with critiquing suggestions for those writing in groups and things to consider for those working alone. The occasional opinion essay comes up now and again, always labeled as such, so you know when you're learning a rule and when you're just getting another angle on the topic. I admit I didn't actually do any of the exercises, but they were interesting and worthy. Much better than your standard "describe your morning routine" exercises that show up in most writing books. I also felt like I was being treated like an adult. Le Guin is not taking you by the hand here; she is showing you the path. There is no talk of publication or rejection letters, nothing about recapturing your creativity or affirming your right to write. This book was clearly not written for people looking to write a bestselling novel or take up a brand new hobby. It is, in short, a book for people who enjoy writing and would like to do so better. Would that more writing books were of this calibre.

[Ezgi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ursula le Guin yazara da okura da harika bir rehber tasarlamış. Hazırladığı bir yazarlık atölyesinin ürünü bu kitap. Yazarlara nelere dikkat etmeleri gerektiğini açıkça anlatıyor. Bu kadar net bir yol göstericilik beklemiyordum. Noktalama işaretlerinin kullanımı, bağlaç fazlalığı, anlatıcı perspektifi gibi çok temel konularda yardımcı olmaya çalışıyor. Le Guin metnin sesini de düşünen bir yazar. Daha önceki kitaplarında da okura metnin kulağa nasıl geldiğini düşünmesini söylüyordu. Bu sefer yazacaklara tavsiye ediyor. Yazarken metnin sesini de düşünmek akıcı olmasına yardımcı olur.

Kitabın her bölümünde birer alıştırma da veriyor. Bölümde öğrenilenleri okur uygulayabilir ama bununla kalmıyor, Le Guin yazacak olanları yönlendirip fikir vererek kolaylık sağlıyor. Ders çalışır gibi kitaba çalışmanın yazım konusunda geliştireceğini düşünüyorum.

Her ne kadar yazar olanlara/olmak isteyenlere yönelik gibi görünse de okurlar için de çok faydalı. Metinleri yorumlarken nasıl şekillendirildiğini bilmek de gerekiyor. Yazarların neler yapabileceğini fark edince metinlere de daha farklı bakıyorum. Kitap okurlara çok iyi fikirler veriyor. Le Guin’in muzip dili yine işbaşındaydı. Kurgu dışı kitapları keşke daha çok olsaydı.

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

The importance of speech melody and interlocking of individual aspects in a nutshell

Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.

A primary focus of the work is the interplay of perspectives, characters, and sentence structures to create dynamic and intoxicating sceneries. It becomes clear how important and challenging it is to balance the right order of all aspects. To avoid idling and recognize a novel as a complex nested construct. Derived from this insight, Le Guin dissects sections of popular literature and shows what precisely the author achieves with which stylistic devices.
Some other writing advisors tie in snippets of famous role models merely to illustrate the content of each chapter or as a motivation, without going into more detail on the scenery and characters. In the "Small Authors Workshop," on the other hand, the motives of the writers are named for the staging and the effect obtained is described in detail.
Especially with repeated reading, this information increases the personal benefit. You quickly get the effect of individual writing techniques illustrated and can memorize them well. The examples, which are primarily selected from works of world literature, are impressive but have the small drawback of poor applicability in today's literature industry. Suffering that most writing counselors suffer for cost reasons. Almost no one who would write today as he did a few decades ago could find a foothold in the lucrative sectors of the book markets. No needs for Shakespeares.
Therefore, it would be time for a guidebook, which analyzes the means of styling from living successful authors, which unfortunately is unlikely due to the additional costs of works that are still protected by copyright. The benefit of one or more, perhaps even genre-specific, works would be considerable. The tricks of current bestselling authors could be razor-sharp analyzed, dissected and explained. One could learn a lot from that. Back to the topic.
The primary focus is on understanding mechanisms that shape individual style and conveying the importance of fluid narrative, conciseness, techniques, speech melody, and always critical view of one's work. It becomes clear how central the right mix of short and long sentences, changing perspectives, merging, a constant review of the narrative perspective, repetition, and stylistic devices is. To create credibility and excitement.
One sees how the choice of times, perspectives, and types of sentences directly affects the impressions and desired effect of the reader as well as the sound and structure of the language. What one notes to the author is a healthy degree of skepticism both in the current literature industry and in the dogmas and fashions that nestle into the genre of fiction and become more and more powerful.
A rare and unique feature is the clear and always announced in writing delimitation of the learning content of their subjective opinion. Solely by the rigid separation of concepts and exercises from personal preferences and views remains a great deal of objectivity. Le Guin never pushes for an increase in their work patterns and leaves the reader unaffected by his own decisions, from the options provided.
Only with her twice clearly disliked aversions she contradicts herself. Defiling Hemingway is a daring venture, and why it is necessary to make focusing on a plot so unpopular is not clear. Of course, the one-sided focus on the structuring of an action or a premise can hinder and slow down the flow of writing at the very beginning. However, neither too much planning nor untargeted writing without meaning and reason is the last word of wisdom.
All in all, a practical helper in avoiding style breaks and unnecessary mistakes, focusing on one of the most central aspects of literature. The beauty of the language in all its nuances and infinite design possibilities.

Die Wichtigkeit von Sprachmelodie und Ineinandergreifen von Einzelaspekten auf den Punkt gebracht

Ein großer Fokus des Werks liegt auf dem Ineinandergreifen von Perspektiven, Charakteren und Satzkonstruktionen, um dynamische und mitreißende Szenerien erschaffen zu können. Es wird deutlich, wie wichtig und schwierig ein Abwägen der richtigen Reihenfolge aller Aspekte ist. Um Leerlauf zu vermeiden und einen Roman als ein komplex verschachteltes Konstrukt zu erkennen.
Aus dieser Erkenntnis abgeleitet seziert Le Guin Ausschnitte bekannter Literatur und zeigt, was genau der Autor mit welchen Stilmitteln erreicht.
Manch andere Schreibratgeber binden Schnipsel berühmter Vorbilder eher nur zur Veranschaulichung des Inhalts des jeweiligen Kapitels oder als Motivation ein, ohne genauer auf die Szenerie und Charaktere einzugehen. Im „Kleinen Autoren Workshop“ hingegen werden die Motive der Schriftsteller zur Inszenierung genannt und der erzielte Effekt detailliert beschrieben.
Speziell beim wiederholten Lesen steigert sich durch diese Informationen der persönliche Nutzen. Man bekommt schnell die Wirkungsweise einzelner Schreibtechniken veranschaulicht und kann diese so auch gut memorieren.
Die großteils aus Werken der Weltliteratur gewählten Beispiele sind zwar eindrucksvoll, haben jedoch das kleine Manko einer schlechten Anwendbarkeit im heutigen Literaturbetrieb. Ein Leiden, an dem die meisten Schreibratgeber aus Kostengründen kranken. Fast niemand, der heute so schreiben würde wie vor einigen Jahrzehnten üblich, könnte im einträglichen Bereich des Buchsektors Fuß fassen.
Von daher wäre es längst an der Zeit für einen Ratgeber, der anhand lebender erfolgreicher Autoren deren Stilmittel analysiert, was aufgrund der zusätzlichen Kosten bei noch urheberrechtlich geschützten Werken aber leider unwahrscheinlich ist. Der Nutzen aus einem oder mehreren, vielleicht auch noch genrespezifischen Werk(en), wäre beträchtlich. Die Tricks und Kniffe aktueller Bestsellerautoren messerscharf analysiert, seziert und erklärt. Daraus könnte man viel lernen.
Der Hauptfokus liegt auf dem Verstehen von Mechanismen, die den individuellen Stil prägen und der Vermittlung der Tatsache, wie wichtig flüssiges Erzählen, Prägnanz, Techniken, Sprachmelodie und ein stets kritischer Blick auf das eigene Werk sind. Dabei wird deutlich, wie zentral die richtige Mischung aus kurzen und langen Sätzen, Perspektivenwechseln, Zusammenschmelzen, einer steten Überprüfung der Erzählperspektive, Widerholungen und Stilmitteln ist. Um Glaubwürdigkeit und Spannung zu erzeugen.
Man sieht, wie die Wahl von Zeiten, Perspektiven und Satzformen sich unmittelbar auf die Eindrücke und den gewünschten Effekt beim Leser sowie Klang und Struktur der Sprache auswirken.
Was man der Autorin anmerkt, ist ein gesundes Maß an Skepsis sowohl am aktuellen Literaturbetrieb als auch an den Dogmen und Moden, die sich in das Genre der Belletristik einnisten und immer mächtiger werden.
Ein seltenes Alleinstellungsmerkmal ist die deutliche und auch immer schriftlich angekündigte Abgrenzung der Lerninhalte von ihrer subjektiven Meinung. Allein durch die rigide Trennung der Konzepte und Übungen von persönlichen Vorlieben und Ansichten bleibt an großes Maß an Objektivität gewahrt. Le Guin drängt damit nie auf die Erhöhung eigener Arbeitsmuster und lässt den Leser unbeeinflusst seine eigenen Entscheidungen, aus den zur Verfügung gestellten Optionen, treffen.
Einzig mit ihrer zweimal deutlich hervorgehobenen Abneigungen widerspricht sie sich. Hemingway zu schmähen ist ein gewagtes Unterfangen und wodurch sich die Fokussierung auf einen Plot oder eine Handlung so große Unbeliebtheit verdient hat, geht nicht klar hervor. Sicher kann die einseitige Fokussierung auf die Strukturierung eines Handlungsablaufs oder einer Prämisse den Schreibfluss gerade am Anfang hindern und stocken lassen. Aber weder ein zuviel an Planung noch ungezieltes Schreiben ohne Sinn und Verstand ist der Weisheit letzter Schluss.
Alles in allem ein praktischer Helfer bei der Vermeidung von Stilbrüchen und unnötigen Fehlern, der sich auf einen der zentralsten Aspekte von Literatur konzentriert. Der Schönheit der Sprache in all ihren Nuancen und unendlichen Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten.

[X]

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this because I tend to have mixed feelings on LeGuin’s fiction. I liked it! It’s very practical, and the exercises are well-defined and doable. I mostly skipped the “example” excerpts she includes for each topic.

[Ivka]

Nebudem hodnotiť, lebo pre kohokoľvek, kto nepíše po anglicky, má táto kniha nulovú výpovednú hodnotu. Všetky rady, ktoré Le Guinová dáva, sú až príliš naviazané na anglickú gramatiku, a príklady, ako správne vyzerá anglická syntax alebo použitie milióna minulých anglických časov, vám pri písaní v slovenčine nič nedajú.

[Anna]

I don’t feel qualified to judge this book - not with regard to its purpose anyway.
It is Ursula Le Guin’s material from her workshops in creative writing - not for amateurs - as she says, and I am certainly an amateur, but to justify my interest, I also am an avid reader of her fiction, and non-fiction and science-fiction and always loving it, and wandering, how did she do it?

So in this book, where writers find tools to improve their craft, I find Ursula LG, for a moment lifting her veil, to show me the secrets of her own craft. It is where I try to discover how it was possible that 20 years ago A Wizard of Earthsea that represented a genre that I didn’t even like, became one of my all time favourites.

I think I found my answers, but I also found a bit more than I bargained for. Ursula Le Guin was not only good at her craft, but also terrifyingly observant of all the common writing sins. Although (luckily) she never read what I wrote, I still felt like a butterfly pinned to the board for all the sins that I know I am committing.
Her remarks on the common use and misuse of punctuation, I freely admit, made me shrink inside, and declare to myself to - if not never write anything again - then at least, promptly get a handbook on grammar and style.
The evil eye towards the emoticons which God only knows how often I am guilty of might actually make me stop once and for all:
”Emoticons are dreary little excuses for a failure to communicate feelings and intentions in words.”
And the comment about using passive voice - might make one never use it again (no emoticon...)
“The cowardly writer says, “It is believed that being is constituted by ratiocination.” The brave writer says, “I think, therefore I am.”
And believe me those were not the only places where I felt that there was room for improvement...

And apart from my own shortcomings, did I learn anything about Ms le Guin and her writing? I learned that the never wavering control of the story, the rhythm, the flow, the mastery over language that is an obedient tool, and not a three-headed monster that she is only just trying to tame, are all secrets of her craft, and inside it all, there is a heart of thoughtfulness and imagination, that makes a combination that I for one can never resist…..

[Nicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book focuses more on style and playing with language than actually talking about plot. Each section contains some explanation about whatever point she's trying to make, some examples which she thinks exemplify that (and why), and then an exercise to try -- along with the suggestion to come back in a week and then think about a couple of points she raises afterwards. I both enjoyed and was challenged by the exercises, and though I don't think the results were the best things I've ever written -- the rules of the exercise intentionally limit you in certain ways, or free you completely from normal conventions, so it can hardly be the best and most rounded thing you've ever written, but it makes its point -- people apparently did enjoy the result.

I did read in an amazon review that there's "not enough material for the price" (£7 in the UK, $10 in the US) -- no personal experiences, no explanation of the difference between a short story and a novel, no attempt to explain the market. That's definitely not what this book is about: it's entirely about language, and about the reader getting stuck in and playing around. Much as I love Le Guin and would be interested in her observations of the genre, I think it's better this way.

[Ginger Bensman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short book for writers on the craft of writing. I found Le Guin's suggestions, methods, and exercises energizing and sometimes inspiring. Her selections of samples of prose to illustrate points she was making were on target and reminded me why I love the written word.

[Ksenia Anske · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book. Packed with examples and exercises that help you create your own writing workshop covering everything from repetition to punctuation to prose economy to POVs to exposition to critiquing. A book to buy and keep and study; and pull out and do exercises when hopelessly stuck.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of what was in this book was not new for me, but it was still an enjoyable and educational read. Great for beginning writers. It also has group exercises for each chapter/section, so it's ideal for classes or writing groups.

[Tanya Gold]

Reading this book is like watching Ursula Le Guin teaching a workshop on crafting prose. And that in itself is kind of awesome.

[Arabelle Sicardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

So helpful!

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ursula K. Le Guin is a seminal science fiction author, but admittedly I have not read any of her fiction. In fact, Dispossessed was one of six required novels for my comparative studies class, and it was the only text I couldn’t get through.

Still, Le Guin has a wealth of insight on the craft and presents interesting arguments about why certain techniques are more effective. For example, she suggests that writers practice “psychological displacement” by having a viewpoint character that holds drastically different opinions from your own—the reason being that this prevents you from becoming a mouthpiece for your characters.

Le Guin also covers a large span of topics in a short amount of time—from rhythm to tense to POV—and useful exercises are included at the end of each section. She also provides questions to guide critique for after you’ve completed the exercise. That aspect of the book makes this the perfect primer for creative writing instructors or critique groups.

My one complaint is that I found the majority of the examples of “exemplary writing” to be dry and ugly, but that’s more due to my own lack of refinement. For me, most classic literature drags on and on with unnecessary description and repetition that does little to advance the story or characterization. My distaste for this type of writing (like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To the Lighthouse) is part of my own personal biases as a modern reader.

Ultimately, Steering the Craft has heightened my awareness of how sentence-level choices can impact the reader’s experience.

[Beth Cato · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually started working through this book with a small writing group. We made it to lesson 7 before stalling out, and I decided to finish reading the book solo without continuing the exercises.

I'm an experienced author with two series with a Big 5 publisher, a Nebula nomination, and a whole lot of publications with my byline. This book taught me something new in every chapter. For me, a great deal of writing is intuitive. I don't know all of the rules of grammar, and I still shudder at the thought of the diagramming I did in 8th grade. Le Guin gently explains matters like pacing and points of view and shares fantastic examples, and she gives names to the techniques that I utilize in ignorance.

This is a book that really should be done in a small writing group; there is a lot to be gained through sharing different approaches to the exercises and discussing why some of them are incredibly challenging. Highly recommend this to all writers who want to push themselves to learn more about their craft.

[Elliot A · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a required reading for one of my courses.

Unfortunately, it has been out of print for a while and the only copy I could find was in the rare books section of my library.

So, for two days, I sat in the library, racing through the book, making copious notes.

Generally speaking, the author had some very good advice for budding writers or those, who may suffer a bit from writer's block. The exercises are great and the chapters are well organized and to the point.

However, the author's writing style was a bit all over the place, using the word "totally" a lot and there were many grammatical errors throughout the book.

I read it, used it for my final project and would probably return to it, if I could ever find a copy for purchase.

I would recommend it to anyone, who needs some extra pointers in getting started writing fiction.

ElliotScribbles

[Robert Case · Rating 5 out of 5]

A prolific storyteller and writer shares her wisdom.

[Danielle]

"No narrative of any complexity can be built on or reduced to a single element. Conflict is one kind of behavior. There are others, equally important in any human life, such as relating, finding, losing, bearing, discovering, parting, changing. Change is the universal aspect of all these sources of story. Story is something moving, something happening, something or somebody changing."