6 Tips on Travel Writing

Yet travel writing is no different from any other kind of writing – it takes skill, practice and talent. 

Taking heed of advice offered in the excellent Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Writing, here are six writing tips to help you transport your reader.

1. The Right Subject: A good topic is usually a marriage of passion and practicality. As a writer you want to choose a subject that will allow you to infuse your story with a sense of connection and conviction; at the same time, you need to write about a topic that will capture an editor’s attention and will fit well with the publication you’ve targeted.
2. Staying up to date with travel trends: Finding fresh material, spotting travel trends and keeping up to date with industry and consumer changes are essential practices for all travel writers… Scanning newspaper travel sections, travel magazines and websites will give you a feel for what competitors are writing about, and will give you ideas for new stories. If you follow this practice you will also avoid the embarrassment of offering an editor a story similar to one that had just been run.
3. Use all of your senses: When we travel we experience the world with all of our senses – so why do we focus so exclusively on sight in our articles?  Cultivate the fine – and rewarding – art of paying attention to all the senses. Let your ears and nose and taste buds and fingers do as much work as your eyes.
4. Researching on the road: As you travel, stay alive to the world around you. Cultivate encounters. Ask questions. Gather brochures and other printed information. If something catches your fancy, follow it. When you can, let serendipity be your guide.   
5. Show, don’t tell: Your piece will be much more powerful and successful if you engage the reader in the creative process of figuring out how the people in your tale are being affected. By the same token, don’t spell out the fact that you were moved by an experience – make the reader feel moved by the way you describe the experience. Re-create the experience so that the reader is in your shoes – and is moved just the way you were.
6. Conclusions that lead to new directions: The end of your article needs to achieve three intricately related objectives: bring the focus of your piece to a satisfying conclusion; tie the story back to its beginning; and deliver the reader back to the world… It’s critical you pay special attention to the last word of your story. This is where you leave the reader, literally and figuratively. It is your – and your story’s – last point of connection with the reader, and the reader’s threshold to the world outside the story. Where do you want to leave the reader?

This extract is adapted from Travel Writing 3, © Lonely Planet.

Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel content provider, supplying inspiring and trustworthy information for those planning a trip, on the road or browsing as an armchair traveller. Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has gone on to print over 120 million books in nine languages to almost  every destination on the planet. It also boasts mobile apps, a complete eBook portfolio, an award-winning website, and a dedicated traveller community. Visit us at lonelyplanet.com, join us on Facebook (facebook.com/lonelyplanet) and Twitter (@lonelyplanet and #lp).