Steering The Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story

by Ursula K. Le Guin

If you and this book are alone together, I suggest that you work through it methodically, doing the exercises in order. When you’ve worked on an exercise till you’re more or less satisfied with it, put it away and forbid yourself to look at it again for a while. One of the few things most writers agree on is that we can’t trust our judgment on our own freshly written work. To see its faults and virtues we need to look at it after a real interval: a day or two at least. Then reread your piece with a friendly, hopeful, critical eye, with revision in mind. If I offer specific suggestions for criticism regarding the exercise, use them now. Read the piece aloud to yourself, since speaking and hearing it will show up awkward bits and faults in the rhythm and can help you make dialogue natural and lively. In general, look for what’s wordy, ugly, unclear, unnecessary, preachy, careless—what breaks the pace, what doesn’t work. Look for what does work, and admire it, and see if you can bring it out even better.