Tips for the travel writers out there

[Christophe Noel]

Over the years our Overland International editorial team has compiled our own notes on what makes a good travel yarn. I put those notes to work last year to pen this piece on travel writing. http://expeditionportal.com/travel-writer-how-to-share-your-story-with-the-world/

We hope it is helpful and inspires more of you to share in your adventures.

 

[Hilldweller]

Thanks, Flounder; good tips.
Loved your bit on the Earthroamer in OJ, btw. Best article in that issue.

 

[wngrog]

This is spot on. I shared it on my site. Thanks for the link

 

[Christophe Noel]

Thanks, Flounder; good tips.
Loved your bit on the Earthroamer in OJ, btw. Best article in that issue.

Thanks a bunch, Bill. It was hard to come up with a good yarn as that trip was just about driving aimlessly in lavish rolling digs. Thank you, again. I enjoyed that one as well.

 

[Hilldweller]

Thanks a bunch, Bill. It was hard to come up with a good yarn as that trip was just about driving aimlessly in lavish rolling digs. Thank you, again. I enjoyed that one as well.

Most of our trips have a few vague destinations planned and leave ample opportunity for chance/serendipity to intervene. An open-ended schedule and full gas tank are a wonderful combination --- after that, follow your instincts, talk to locals, and pray to the weather gods.

 

[Wilbah]

Thanks for putting this up. I have often written journals of trips which are great for me to review/remember but would make lousy trip stories for someone else. I like the process you outlined thanks!

 

[chris snell]

Great stuff. One of the best things that you can do to improve your writing is to read often. Find some high-quality travel writing and devour it. I've particularly enjoyed the Best American Travel Writing series, which has introduced me to many new authors.

 

[Kevin108]

If I could not spell it, how would I look it up in the first place.

It sounds like a joke, but learn phonics. That might not be how English was taught when or where you learned. You don't have to know a word to know how it is likely spelled.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Great stuff. One of the best things that you can do to improve your writing is to read often.

That is critical. I often read works from writers in a wide range of genres. Anthony Bourdain is my favorite, and possibly the best writer of our generation, regardless of whether or not you like his barbed wit and heavy snark. The guy is a literary savant.

I have been lucky to travel with several of the best journalists currently in the business. One writer from the Wall Street Journal always has a huge ragged paper journal at her side, one crammed so full of extra pieces of paper, post cards and other things that the binding is hopelessly blown out. She'll hear a word or turn of phrase in passing and quickly jot it down. Or, she constantly records interesting details, the kind that are easily lost in our lousy memory banks.

If you write enough, eventually your personal lexicon gets boring, over used, and uninteresting. It has to be continually evolved and having a place to jot down fleeting words and ideas is key to that process.

 

[Hilldweller]

I like to read but I can't write anything too soon after reading anything. Especially if it's good.
If I read Vonnegut, I write like Vonnegut... I can't help it.
So I have to go on a literary starvation diet before I try to find my voice.

...TV helps in this regard. It's a vast wasteland.