Le Guin's Sailing the Sea of Story

I just finished reading another writing book, Steering the Craft, A 21^st-century guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin. Originally published in 1998, she rewrote the book “from stem to stern”, she said. This edition was published in 2015.

Le Guin writes that all storytellers work pretty much the same way, with the same box of tools. Her book is aimed at storywriters. Like Steven Pinker’s, (see my previous blog) it is not for beginners, but for serious writers wanting to improve.

“Toward the end of the last century, many of our schools all but stopped teaching grammar,” she writes. “Somehow we’re supposed to be able to write without knowing anything about the equipment we’re using.”

“How can a reader trust a writer ignorant of the medium she works in?” she asks.  Writing is “an art, a craft, a making.”

“One of the marvelous things about the novel is “its many-voicedness, its polyphony.” It’s not just impersonation or mimicry. “It’s a willingness to share control with one’s creation.”

Let your characters talk, listen and write. You are in control, she wrote. “You made them up. Let the poor fictive characters have their say - you can hit Delete any time you like.”

Story is change and narrative moves the story forward. Each chapter in this book includes a discussion of a specific topic, examples from good writers and exercises, (which she considers as practice in control).

She defines story as “a narrative of events (external or psychological) that moves through time or implies the passage of time and that involves change.” She defines plot as “a form of story that uses action as its mode, usually in the form of conflict…” But she stresses “the story is not in the plot but in the telling. It is the telling that moves.”

She also gives advice about how peer groups work, whether in person or online.

I found her advice interesting, especially usually the image of steering a ship through the sea; “knowing the craft, so that when the magic boat comes by, you can step into it and guide it where it wants to go, where it ought to go.”

I use many quotes in my blogs, but feel it is important for others to have an idea of how this person writes. Whether a subject is serious and detailed or light, how it’s written makes a difference in whether I want to read their book and to let you know about it.

You can find more about Le Guin at her website www.ursulakleguin.com.