While Exercise 9, Part 1, was an exercise to strip the story down to dialogue, to see what can’t be done without description, Steering the Craft, Exercise 9, Part 2, is a brief narrative built around an action. Here’s what LeGuin writes: “Write a narrative of 200–600 words, a scene involving at least two peopleContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #13″
“Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #12
When I read LeGuin’s “Exercise 9: Indirect Narration” I had to laugh, especially when I realized that the first activity “Tell It Slant”, is one I have been using for years. The goal of this exercise is to tell a story and present two characters through dialogue alone. Write a page or two—word count wouldContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #12″
“Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #11
As I re-read last week’s post on shifting point of view, I realized that I wanted to try and push the scene further. This coincides will with Part 2 of exercise 8, what LeGuin calls “Thin Ice”. The task is to write the scene without noticeable transition: “You can of course do Part Two merelyContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #11″
“Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #10
Today’s post will be short. For Chapter #8, LeGuin wants writers to change their point of view within a paragraph. She’s calling our attention to why the thing doesn’t work, as much as she wants us to get used to what does. The moral of her story is below: “So: you can shift from oneContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #10″
“Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #9
After a week off for the Fourth of July, where I hid in the basement playing video games and spent a lovely evening by a campfire eating low country boil with friends, I am back, and ready to tackle Point of View. LeGuin describes it as “the narrative problem I have met most often inContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #9″
“Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #8
Chapter Six of Steering the Craft is titled “Verbs: Person and Tense”. LeGuin continues to call our attention to concepts and ideas that writers take for granted, often without really understanding what they are doing. For this activity, she wants two versions of the same reminiscence. The prompt involves an old woman moving back andContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #8″
“Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #7
I’m at the half way point of LeGuin’s Steering the Craft. This week: adjectives and adverbs. This is a beautiful little chapter, neatly summarizing a writer’s relationship to these parts of speech in what I think are very clear terms: “Adjectives and Adverbs are rich and good and nourishing. They add color, life, immediacy. TheyContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #7″
“Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #6
My summer project with LeGuin’s Steering the Craft continues. Part Four of her book is on repetition, and the first time I read it, I thought of the opening to her book The Telling, book eight of The Hainish Cycle. The opening of description of Sutty’s experience of earth, told in layers of orange, itsContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #6”
“Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #5
If you’re just checking out my blog, I’m in the early stages of a summer project: applying lessons from LeGuin’s Steering the Craft to a short story idea I had been messing with unsuccessfully. Remember, if you’re part of the #WriteLGBTQ and #WritingCommunity groups on Twitter, maybe you’ll join me on this excursion by sharingContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #5″
“Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #4
EXERCISE TWO: Am I Saramago (Part 2) Last week, I offered up a new paragraph for my short story “Old Ghosts” sans punctuation. Here it is: “The crack rent the morning sent a flock of geese skyward their honking cacophony carrying away all other sound silence slipped in behind them and I noticed the oldContinue reading ““Old Ghosts” / Practice with Steering the Craft #4″
Nicanor Abbott 