"How To Write the Perfect Travel Article"

By Martin Li

        Travel writing is part reporting, part diary and part providing traveller information. Travel writers create their art using a multitude of different styles and techniques but the best stories generally share certain characteristics, notably:

• Clear writing style, without affectation, used by a writer who knows the point of the story, gets to it quickly and gets it across to the reader strongly and with brevity and clarity.

• Strong sense of the writer’s personality, ideally demonstrating intelligence, wit and style.

• Use of the writer’s personal experiences, other anecdotes and quotations to add life to the piece.

• Vivid reporting - the ability of the writer to convey to readers, using as many of the senses as possible, the travel experience through the use of words alone.

• High literary quality and the accurate use of grammar and syntax.

• Meaty, practical and accurate information that is useful to the reader.

Be Fresh

        Give your story a fresh point of view and, if at all possible, cover some out-of-the-ordinary subject matter. You must reach beyond the pure listings of information often provided by PR firms and tourist boards to travel writers as a matter of routine.

        Be creative in your writing. Strive for the best and strongest use of English and the most original and powerful metaphors and similes.

Be Personal

        Take the personal approach. This doesn’t necessarily mean writing in the first person, although this may be appropriate. Rather, take your own approach to a location you’ve visited, an activity you’ve tried or an adventure that thrilled you. What was it that really excited or inspired you? Identify it and get it across to your readers.

        To stand out from the crowd, your story must have a personal voice and point of view. Remember that most places you write about will already have been written about before. Your challenge is to find something new and original to say.

Be Funny

        Travel writing should mostly have a light, bright, lively, and fun tone. Travel, the process of leaving the familiar to go to the foreign and unfamiliar, is often rich in comedy and comical events. Incorporate comedy into your writing where appropriate and don’t be afraid to make your readers laugh.

        Also don’t be afraid to incorporate mishaps into your pieces. These can be just as worth reading about, maybe more so, particularly if they also incorporate an element of comedy or humour.

Be Surprising

        Surprise your reader. Give the reader something out of the ordinary; something that only someone who has been to the location would know. Do this by trying unusual activities, meeting new people, and getting involved in strange scenes as you travel. You must be more than a passive observer reciting information as if from a guidebook.

Be Balanced

        Travel writing must blend your personal observations, descriptions and commentary with practical information that is useful to your readers. The precise balance obviously depends on the outlet you’re aiming your story at but rarely should a good travel piece comprise more facts than description.

        Two-thirds or even three-quarters colourful description to one-third or one-quarter facts would be a reasonable guideline to start from.

Be a Quoter

        Work in quotes from visitors to locations, or participants in activities. Let them express their thoughts about how they feel about a place or activity. Quotes lift stories.

Before You Sit Down to Write: Identify Who You Are Writing For

        We have already stressed how important it is before you travel to consider which outlets your destination and story are likely to appeal to. If you return home from a press trip and have to start thinking about where you might place an article on that destination, it’s probably already too late. We shall assume, therefore, that you have collected information from your press trip that is consistent with a publication or publications you have already identified.

        Having identified which publications should be interested in your story, read plenty of travel articles in those publications to get a feel for their preferred writing and editorial style. Also obtain and study the writers’ guidelines issued by these publications.

Think Like Your Reader

        What you’re trying to achieve by studying past articles and writers’ guidelines is to get inside the minds of the readers of those publications. You want to develop as clear an impression as possible of what readers of those publications want to read, their travel aspirations, how they like articles written and what information they want to know. You want to be able to think like your reader. Only then will you be able to identify how you can help your reader. Only then should you start writing your article.

The Big Picture: What is the Main Point You Want to Get Across to Your Reader?

        Good travel stories have a definite, central theme and it will greatly improve your writing if you can identify the central themes of your articles before you try to write them. This will also help minimise the risk of your articles becoming bland collections of facts.

        Decide at the outset what main point about a location or activity you want to convey to your reader. This is the "big picture" and you then work your impressions and facts around it. Identifying the big picture early on will also help you structure your piece sensibly and help you decide what information you need to include and, equally importantly, what you can and should leave out.

Extracted from Part Five of our course The Insider Secrets of Freelance Travel Writing.

Find out more about the course

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