By Marissa Dunham //
Steering the Craft: A 21st-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin
When this series began in 2020, I had talked about how books on the craft of writing were numerous and suggested that your favorite author probably has one on a bookshelf somewhere and you may not even know it. Let’s get back to where we began with a beloved author who has a thing or two to say about writer’s rights and who has captured our hearts with stories that both entertained and inspired us to write.
After all, who else should we learn craft from other than the great writers who have come before us?
Author of 23 novels, 12 short story collections, 13 children’s books, and other writings, according to her website biography, Ursula K. Le Guin is dear to many hearts. Her voice is a comfort in The Left Hand of Darkness and a thrill in the Earthsea Cycle fantasy series. We sighed with Le Guin at the attempt Sci-Fi Channel (now SYFY) made in 2004 to re-create the Earthsea series. And now we wonder, could we write with that same power which transported so many into new worlds?
Steering the Craft: A 21st-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story was written by Le Guin to teach advanced writers.
Le Guin had already been published and was teaching workshops in her adopted home of Portland, Oregon, when she decided to write this manual.
As she workshopped, it dawned on her that she was marking reoccurring pitfalls on the manuscripts of otherwise talented writers. Wanting to bridge the gap on language rules and sentence structure and when to break them, she wrote this book with the advanced writer in mind.
Steering the Craft is 141 pages long. It includes a glossary and an appendix on how to conduct a kind but effective peer-group workshop. The book is structured around a metaphor of sailing, a highly skilled endeavor, that in true Le Guin fashion, is designed to activate our imaginations as we work through the book. You will glide over the 10 chapters on the nuts and bolts of writing, sailing into topics like sentence structure, point of view, and indirect narration.
If you wonder if this book might be for you, you might consider a few questions first.
What are your short-term goals as a writer?
If you’re someone who likes exercises:
- For warm-ups in your morning routine
- For self-guided study
- To create a three-month virtual writing practice group with three to five trusted writers around the country
This book might be for you.
Why do I recommend using the book over a span of three months? Because it takes that long to change behavior.
What are your long-term goals as a writer?
If you’re someone who likes to write and practice writing:
- To tackle a reoccurring note you’ve gotten from your editor – too much plot, not enough description, or vice versa
- To write early drafts with more meat on the page
- To get better at discussing in a workshop setting (so that you can gain the confidence to apply to more workshops this year)
- To generally grow your skills as a writer
You also might consider picking up this book.
Most importantly, it is Le Guin’s panache for storytelling that makes Steering the Craft a compelling read for writers in advanced stages in their careers. Her belief in the writer, that writing rules are meant to be broken once they are learned, should make you nod your head with her in agreement. Writers know the worlds we are trying to write better than anyone else on this planet. And we should continue to trust our instincts and hone our craft by writing with courage every day.
If you enjoy Steering the Craft, or already have it in your bookcase, you may also like Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing by Le Guin and David Naimon, an interview-style book on language and imagination. And check out Le Guin’s “Ursula on Ursula” on her website to get a sense of her humor and brilliance as a teaching writer.
This column took a short winter break to combat the tiredness of the pandemic but is again back to recommend new books on the craft of writing on the third Monday of every month.
QUESTION: Who sparked you to become a writer?
MARISSA DUNHAM is a writer and freelance editor. She spent the early part of her career in educational publishing, but now spends most of her time editing literary fiction, magical realism, and middle grade fiction. She lives in Southern California, where she enjoys bringing new life into the world by planting tomatoes and flowers in the garden.
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