Travel writing is not like a routine job say of a plumber, electrician or mechanic whose daily routine follows a guided path and rarely veers from it. They solve the same problems every day by applying the same solutions. The travel writer’s job changes from assignment to assignment writing about a city, country, hotel or resort is not easy and the more writing one does about a city, a country, hotels or resorts it becomes more difficult.
A writer can not simply turn off the water supply to fix a leaking toilet and then move on to the next toilet applying the same solutions to the same problem. Each story has to have a different approach, a different start and ending, whole has to be presented from a different angle every time. After all no one wants to listen to the same composer composing the same song time after time – it gets brain numbingly monotonous.
The Adventure of Writing
Approach writing a travel article just as an adventurer approaches an expedition; it is important to have a mission, a quest, a goal. Whether or not the goal is reached, the quest achieved is not important but having on is. A strong quest will draw readers into the story. Leading them where the writer goes and placing them at the heart of the action.
As in other forms of writing the hardest part is to start, filling the white virtual-page with lines of considered narrative that hooks the reader in. There are different approaches of course but one of the better is simply to get it down on the page in a stream of consciousness, until this is done then it can’t be shaped and molded in a perfect piece of work.
Introduction and Draft
It seems contrary to good writing but it is not necessary to start with the introduction that can come later and even perhaps when the piece has been finished.
The first draft is only the beginning and it often is less than perfect. Then comes the re-writing and editing perhaps more than one attempt is required to fully polish a travel piece. Don’t become despondent this is an essential part of the process and will pay rewards in the end. Few writers get it right first time even experienced writers re-write and edit.
Good Writing Days
Remember some days are better for writing than others. Some times a connection to an ethereal writing god is present urging the muse to emerge. The words simply flow through the fingers onto the keyboard and up to the screen. Other days demand more effort but the effort is worth it and will lead to the next travel piece.
A good travel writer takes the armchair traveller by the hand and leads him through the streets, pubs, houses and culture of a place; putting word landmarks here and there so that the reader can visualise what the writer sees and experience what the writer experiences. Seeing with his eye the writer’s world.
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