--- product_id: 683644063 title: "Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story" brand: "ursula k. le guinkelly linkkaren joy fowlermolly gloss" price: "€ 30.51" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.pt/products/683644063-steering-the-craft-a-twenty-first-century-guide-to-sailing store_origin: PT region: Portugal --- # Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story **Brand:** ursula k. le guinkelly linkkaren joy fowlermolly gloss **Price:** € 30.51 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by ursula k. le guinkelly linkkaren joy fowlermolly gloss - **How much does it cost?** € 30.51 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.pt](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/683644063-steering-the-craft-a-twenty-first-century-guide-to-sailing) ## Best For - ursula k. le guinkelly linkkaren joy fowlermolly gloss enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted ursula k. le guinkelly linkkaren joy fowlermolly gloss brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story ## Images ![Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61pTBByK5LL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A masterclass in the art of writing, with useful short exercises and examples *by A***L on 3 January 2023* Steering the Craft is a fantastic short guide packed with lots of great insights and writing exercises across a range of different aspects of the craft. Mainly aimed at the kind of writer who’s been doing this thing a little while and wants to hone their craft, it’s an excellent resource for both lone and group work. As such, it doesn’t go over the basics like how to create characters, build fictional worlds etc… But focuses more on style.I have to admit, I haven’t tried the exercises myself at the time of writing this review - I wanted to read through and see what they were first - but I’ll absolutely be going back to do them, because they seem very useful indeed. The examples in the book are plentiful, and they’re all excerpts from classic literature (Twain, Austen, Woolf, Dickens etc…) which precisely illustrate the aspects of writing the section highlights, from how to use repetition to the different types of POV (and switching between them), and much more besides. There’s nothing specific about writing science fiction in here, apart from a passing mention about worldbuilding in the context of avoiding info-dumps, but I didn’t expect there to be. All the lessons within are applicable to writing as a whole, regardless of genre.One of the things that particularly spoke to me was the section about writing from a perspective that is not your own. I don’t struggle to empathise usually, but writing from a perspective I personally disagree with can be tricky to get right; to go deep and nuanced so as to not create a cartoon. And it’s a necessary part of writing complex characters, rather than simple authorial mouthpieces. The exercises in this section force you into writing from those kinds of perspectives a few times over with variations, which seems a good way to drive the point home. It’s especially good for those who learn by doing. Never fear, though, Le Guin doesn’t force us to do all the work. Thankfully, she provides a wealth of suitable prompts and ideas as jumping off points, as well as word count limits and detailed instructions. There’s even an exercise on writing a page worth of narrative with no adjectives or adverbs! It sounds like a marvellous challenge. Speaking of adverbs, as expected Le Guin takes a far more balanced stance on their use than a lot of writing advice you might find on the internet, which oftentimes tells budding authors to never use them. In fact, Le Guin deliberately avoids hard and fast “Rules of Good Writing”, and the book holds a good few opinion pieces in which she expresses her general disdain for them, as they often strip out all nuance.As with all of Le Guin’s books, her style of prose even in non-fiction flows so smoothly that it makes the whole thing remarkably easy-reading. And she even includes a glossary of grammatical terms at the back just in case we get stuck (I didn’t think I’d need it at all, but towards the end I certainly did, and I was grateful it was there). Best of all, I think, is that Steering the Craft is absolutely designed as a longer term study book, rather than a reference to dip in and out of. Another thing is that by no means is this a “how to write like Ursula K. Le Guin” book. Everything is carefully chosen to challenge a writer’s own creativity, rather than imposing a certain style. I’m looking forward to going back through it and trying out some of the exercises. Hopefully it’ll improve my writing and understanding of the craft a great deal.If you’re looking to go deeper with your own writing, I would absolutely recommend Steering the Craft. I’ve seen some people criticising the book for being a study guide, which I find a bit strange, because it’s very clearly marketed as such. It requires interactivity from the reader in order to be most useful as a resource. Although, there are plenty of passages of explanation and advice from Le Guin around the exercises and examples, such that you can indeed read it passively and still learn something. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and this is definitely one of the best. I've been working my way through it quite ... *by S***Y on 13 November 2015* I've read lots of books about the art and craft of writing, and this is definitely one of the best. I've been working my way through it quite slowly. IT's so full of good advices and wisdom, you have to digest it, so I have been taking it slow. It's text she's taken from writing classes she has run over the years, and reading it has made me wish I could have been in one of her groups. I bet they were good! Ursula K Le Guin is such a wonderful, intelligent, humane, writer, and this book reflects all those qualities, as well as her massive breadth of knowledge of literature and her depth of understanding and insight. Now I have finished, I will go back and work through it again, do the exercises again. I'm looking forward to seeing all the different things that come up! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent guide to storytelling *by C***E on 12 July 2021* This is a highly entertaining and practical book on writing.Many of the ideas and exercises would be of value to writers of all genres, even to writers of non-fiction.Written with salty and vigorous sense of humour.Excellent! --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.pt/products/683644063-steering-the-craft-a-twenty-first-century-guide-to-sailing](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/683644063-steering-the-craft-a-twenty-first-century-guide-to-sailing) --- *Product available on Desertcart Portugal* *Store origin: PT* *Last updated: 2026-11-12*