Non-fiction
Starting with sharks, Williams has devoted much of her nonfiction writing to righting our perceptions of animals. Just before the Jaws craze, she was writing about humanity’s misunderstanding and mistreatment of sharks. In the pages of popular magazines she has taken on hunters and real estate developers, among many others, and generally has advocated for the right of nature to exist outside of our want and greed. She compiled much of this work into the book Ill Nature, which has seen numerous printings. Williams has said she enjoys the freedom, the directness that essays offer which fiction does not. She can be more "forthright, headlong."