Scan barcode
A review by lkmreads
Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew by Ursula K. Le Guin
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
It's hard to rate this book properly, but I'll round it up to a 4 because I did like it and found it useful (plus I love the author).
There are 10 exercises in craft contained here. Craft, not ideas, or how to get the soul of the story. It was less exercises than I expected, which was a bit of a bummer, and less varied in subject since they all surrounded the craft (prose and style), and not anything else related to writing. Which is fine; as craft exercises, they were great. Some people deem them a bit simplistic since they do address things you (should have probably) learned in school, but I think even so it's things we often forget to put into practice, specially when we're trying to write entire worlds.
Particularly the chapter on POV is the one people will find more useful, and probably one of the things we all struggle with the most. I know I did.
The examples are not my favorite but they serve to illustrate the points, usually, and I do appreciate them being there.
I do wish there had been more exercises, a bit more guidance, and certainly more variety not to make them all simply prose/craft related.
There are 10 exercises in craft contained here. Craft, not ideas, or how to get the soul of the story. It was less exercises than I expected, which was a bit of a bummer, and less varied in subject since they all surrounded the craft (prose and style), and not anything else related to writing. Which is fine; as craft exercises, they were great. Some people deem them a bit simplistic since they do address things you (should have probably) learned in school, but I think even so it's things we often forget to put into practice, specially when we're trying to write entire worlds.
Particularly the chapter on POV is the one people will find more useful, and probably one of the things we all struggle with the most. I know I did.
The examples are not my favorite but they serve to illustrate the points, usually, and I do appreciate them being there.
I do wish there had been more exercises, a bit more guidance, and certainly more variety not to make them all simply prose/craft related.