Steering the Craft

What Hacker News says

1. iainctduncanDec 2022
   Her book on writing, "Steering the Craft" is absolute gold.
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2. iainctduncanDec 2022
   A lot of people are saying "read a lot" and "write a lot". These are necessary, but if you want to improve as much as possible you should be doing more than this. Imagine if you asked a musician how they learned their craft and they said all they did was listen to music and play? That they never took a lesson or course, and never read about music (just listened)?

   If you want to improve as much as possible, you also need to study. This means reading good works on writing, getting in situations where you get advice and critiques, and analyzing writing (which is more than just reading).

   I wound up in a job where I reviewed and edited other people's writing regularly and this was also immensely helpful. It made me really get analytical about what worked or didn't, and shone a light on some things that could be better in my own work - both from reading writing that was good and helping correct and provide feedback on writing that was bad.

   OTOH I really like the Pinker "A Sense of Style", "Dreyer's English", "On Writing Well", "Steering the Craft", and "The Making of a Story". (There are lots of others I like too, but these are top of mind.)

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3. iainctduncanOct 2020
   Personally, I find this overly simplistic and I believe it's misleading. I write, review, and edit professionally as about 1/2 of my current job, and I see tons of awful writing by people who write every week. Believing you just need to write regularly to improve is like believing that if you play tons of gigs on your instrument you'll get better. How many really bad musicians have you seen who have been stuck at basically the same level for many years, but play all the time? So, so many. It's just not true.

   To really improve, in addition to writing you need to:

   - Read really good writing. A lot. Every good writer I've met is a voracious reader and has been for a long time.

   - Read about writing, as in, actually study writing

   - Edit and review your writing, and get your writing reviewed and critiqued by people actually qualified to comment on quality writing

   If you aren't doing this, a daily habit might get a lot written, but it could stay crappy for your whole life. I would argue that real study and less production writing is actually a better use of your time.

   Some of my favourite books to start on serious study:

   "A Sense of Style" - Steven Pinker

   "The Making of A Story" Alice LaPlante

   "Steering the Craft" - Ursula Le Guin

   "On Writing Well" - William Zinsser

   "Dreyer's English" - Benjamin Dreyer

   The problem is that everyone thinks their writing is great. You need to be willing to think it could be better. :-)

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4. unclesaammOct 2015
   Rather than taking writing advice from a programmer/venture capitalist, I recommend Steering the Craft, by Ursula Le Guin, which will help ground any writing you might do in solid understanding of the "tools" you have available as a writer-- pace, grammar, the sound of words, and so forth
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5. krannerDec 2010
   "Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew" by Ursula K Le Guin

   The advice therein extends beyond stories.

   http://www.amazon.com/Steering-Craft-Exercises-Discussions-N...

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6. krannerOct 2010
   To me it seems you've underlined my point. As someone who is now extolling the virtues of directness, he could have done a lot better than a few folksy metaphors with a book titled 'On Writing'. Contrast it with a real book on writing like Ursula K LeGuin's Steering the Craft (http://www.amazon.com/Steering-Craft-Exercises-Discussions-N...)

   Honestly I think the guy writes whatever he pleases because he knows he's got a permanent fan base. But thanks for your note; I will finish reading the second half.

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