words of wisdom: U.K. Le Guin

"People like to believe that writers know exactly what they are doing and have their story under control, thought out, plotted from beginning to end. It makes sense of the whole strange enterprise of novel writing, makes it rational. Many academic critics believe this, so do many readers, so do some writers. But not all writers have this kind of control of their material, and I wouldn't even want to have it.

"There's a difference between control and responsibility. Aesthetically and morally, I take full responsibility for what I write. If I didn't, I wouldn't feel free to let the material control itself to the extent I do. I'd have to manage it consciously and continuously, making everything happen as I planned it to happen. But I never wanted this kind of control. By 'going where I have to go,' being willing to guess that there is such a place without knowing clearly how I am to get there, trusting to my story to take me there, I know I've gone farther than I could ever have gone if I'd fully known my goal and the way to it before I set out. I left room for luck and chance to come and aid me, room for my narrow plans and ideas to grow and include what I didn't know when I set out.

"What told me to do this - to leave room? I have no idea. Luck, chance. A kind of passive courage. A willingness to follow."

- Ursula K. Le Guin, in her "Afterward" to The Farthest Shore
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