Steering the Craft

by Le Guin, Ursula K.

• ISBN13: 9780933377462
• ISBN10: 0933377460
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-04-01
• Publisher: Eighth Mountain Pr

Summary

With her sharp mind and wit, one of the great writers of the 20th century offers an exhilarating workout for prose writers at all stages of development. "Steering the Craft" is only concerned with the "basic elements of narrative: how a story is told, what moves and what clogs it, right down to the level of the elements of language". Examples are drawn from such great and diverse writers as Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens.

Table of Contents

Table of Examples	vii	(2)
Introduction	ix
ONE THE SOUND OF YOUR WRITING	19	(12)
Exercise One: Being Gorgeous	26	(5)
TWO PUNCTUATION	31	(8)
Exercise Two: I Am Garcia Marquez	34	(5)
THREE SENTENCE LENGTH AND COMPLEX SYNTAX	39	(14)
Exercise Three: Short and Long	47	(6)
FOUR REPETITION	53	(8)
Exercise Four: Again and Again and Again	56	(5)
FIVE ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB	61	(6)
Exercise Five: Chastity	62	(5)
SIX SUBJECT PRONOUN AND VERB	67	(16)
Exercise Six: The Old Woman	76	(7)
SEVEN POINT OF VIEW AND VOICE	83	(24)
Exercise Seven: POV	91	(16)
EIGHT CHANGING POINT OF VIEW	107	(10)
Exercise Eight: Changing Voices	109	(8)
NINE INDIRECT NARRATION, OR WHAT TELLS	117	(24)
Exercise Nine: Telling It Slant	119	(22)
TEN CROWDING AND LEAPING	141	(10)
Exercise Ten: A Terrible Thing to Do	147	(4)
Appendix I: The Peer Group Workshop	151	(6)
Appendix II: Forms of the Verb	157	(10)
Glossary	167	(6)
About the Author	173