Reviewed: June 15th, 2025
Released: October 31st, 2024
Genre: Writing craft
Revised and updated for the twenty-first century, Steering the Craft is Ursula K. Le Guin’s carrier bag of the essentials of a writer’s craft, a generous gift from one of the great thinkers about how – and why – to write.
This handbook is an accessible and profound guide to the craft of writing and editing. Le Guin lays out ten chapters that address the most fundamental components of narrative, from the sound of language to sentence construction to point of view. Drawing on the global canon, Le Guin offers her inimitably witty commentary and incisive dissection, developing into an exercise that the writer can do solo or in a group. No other writing guide offers such a comprehensive, experienced and kind approach to “steering the craft” as a writing crew.
Steering the Craft deserves a place on every writer’s shelf.
Helen’s Thoughts: 5/5
An excellent book designed to help a writer hone their craft. Easy to read but filled with lots of ideas and information to digest. It may be a relatively short book with only ten chapters, but boy does she pack in the content. There are a range of exercises to help put theory into practice, and they really do help the writer understand the nuts and bolts of the craft.
Finding your voice and style are key, understanding why it will make such a difference to your writing is even more important. There are subtleties that you may not realise, and once your eyes are opened and you consciously apply that understanding, it will make a huge difference to your writing.
I think this book, as Urslula K.Le Guin, says herself, is not for the beginner, it is more to help you refine your process. I liked that there were exercises you could do alone as well as in groups. As a solitary writer, I look forward to working my way through all the exercises. It will take time, but I believe that will be time well spent.
Interspersed through the book are some great examples to demonstrate Ursula’s point. I found the idea of rhythm in a sentence or a paragraph, enlightening, and not something I had considered outside of poetry.
Well worth the investment and a useful book all writers should have on their shelf.
Purchase Steering the Craft
Link to book on Amazon UK: Paperback
Link to book on Amazon US: Paperback
As an Amazon Associate I may benefit from purchases made using these links.
If you enjoy fantasy books then you will love my epic fantasy Sentinal series or the Romantic Fantasy SoulMist series and now Harmony, a dystopian science fantasy.
Start the adventure and stay for the journey. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.
By clicking the sign up button above, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and the newsletter platform provider to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.
By signing up to my newsletter, you agree to receive commercial information from Helen Garraway, located at 61 Bridge St, Kingston, Hertfordshire, UK (Data Administrator). You can withdraw your consent at any time. The data will be processed until the consent is withdrawn.
Helen Garraway 