Spice Up Your Travel Writing
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This document provides tips for intermediate travel writers to spice up their writing and make it stand out. It discusses establishing a clear point or promise upfront, cleaning up unnecessary words, adding facts and quotes to engage readers, using rhythmic language and themes, and finding your unique voice. Specific techniques are outlined like using headlines, packaging facts, incorporating speech, using "power words", and surprising readers with "dummies". The goal is to help writers go beyond just the basics and capture readers with compelling storytelling.
Spice Up Your Travel Writing
- 1. Spice Up Your Travel Writing Intermediate Level Travel Bloggers Unite – Umbria 2012 Abigail King
- 2. Who am I? Journalist Lonely Planet, CNN, Huffington Post, France Today, National Geographic Traveler & more Medical journals @abigailking www.abigailking.co.uk
- 3. Who am I? Blogger Inside the Travel Lab www.insidethetravellab.com @insidetravellab
- 4. Who am I? Medical Doctor Swapped a career as a hospital doctor for a life with words and pixels.
- 5. This Workshop • After you’ve mastered the basics, how do you learn how to make your writing stand out from the crowd? How can you make your reader really understand what is in your head – and relate to what you meant to say? • In this workshop, we’ll talk about how you can use themes and different structures to get your point across – and also how to find that slushy- sounding thing people call “voice.” • Themes – bringing different layers to your writing • Speech – introducing others to your story • Editing - the writer’s “secret” tool • Voice – where and how to find yours • Bringing it all together and where to go next
- 6. The Power of Words
- 7. Getting Started • Before you add spice, you must be clear • Otherwise it’s just confusing • First, a quick recap on clearing and cleaning up your writing
- 8. You have a point, right? Why are you writing this post? • Information guide • Provoke a discussion • Entertain
- 9. Cleaning • Clear unnecessary clutter – Trim out adjectives – Eliminate adverbs – Banish the passive voice – Avoid word repetition – Be ruthless: remove at least 10%
- 10. Get Spicy • Promise • Repetition • Facts • Speech • Rhythm & Blues • Themes • Voice
- 11. The Promise • Begins with your headline • Reinforced by your introduction • Carried throughout the piece • Delivered at the end
- 12. Headlines • The day I held the Iron Curtain in my hand • Two million page views later and why it doesn’t matter • Skydiving: my first 60 second freefall • A waterproof, shockproof camera: the Olympus TG-610 Review
- 13. Adding Spice • Add the spice that fits your promise • Add the spice that fits your point • Let’s go!
- 14. Package Facts • You are not Wikipedia • But people like to learn something new • Sweep away a long list of facts into a tidy fact box • Or at least a pair or brackets
- 15. The Fact Flourish • They’ve got that perfect blend of comfort food without the weight of stodge. Plus, they have the element of surprise as you never know which one you’re going to get. And finally? They come have a wonderful range of trivia. Did you know, for example, that pierogi have their own saint? (St Hyacinth, or Swiety Jacek, in case that piece of life knowledge passed you by. It’s used in an expression to mean “good grief!”) And how about this: the Proto-Slavic root “pir” means festivity in its various Slavic cognates across Eurasia? And this: the words in that last sentence actually mean something to some people?! Yes, a pieróg is no ordinary dumpling.
- 16. Finding Facts • Wikipedia – references • Broadsheet papers • Interviews • Books
- 17. Checking Facts • Prices, phone numbers, websites • Names - in person • http://www.economist.com/styleguide/introd uction • Mainstream press websites
- 18. Rhythm & Blues • Most people read aloud in their head • There is a rhythm that pleases us • Difficult to explain • But it is there • Rules of threes
- 19. Rhythm & Threes • Education, education, education • Yes we can • Just do it • You get me a coffee, you get me my briefcase and you...get a haircut!
- 20. The Road to Sopron Sometimes things go wrong in life. The printer at the car hire company breaks, the sat nav doesn’t work, the journey is longer than you’ve been told and you turn up very late. Sometimes other things go wrong in life. You’re shot at by soldiers while walking in a field, you’re banned from living with your family and the very act of trying to cross the border that contains you brands you a criminal in a regime reliant on torture and execution. And sometimes those two worlds collide.
- 21. Speech • Energises text • Provides local flavour • If you do it right • Don’t include everything someone told you • Ask the right questions
- 22. The Iron Curtain “I came here with my friend of Holland,” says Wind. “Just to look and to make some pictures.” He trembles. “And the soldiers, they took their guns and they shot.”
- 23. Interviews • Avoid best of/favourite/top questions • Ask “open” questions • Create colour and character • Get the name of the dog
- 24. Play God • Put someone in the scene • Bring inanimate objects to life • Mention all the senses • Psst - Video can’t do this
- 25. Pierogi PS – It’s also suspiciously similar to gyoza in Japan and nothing like the ravioli in Italy, whatever the food critics say. If I were tracing the ancestry of food, I’d be placing good money on discovering an illegitimate fling between Japan and modern day Poland somewhere in the 18th century. Like ravioli indeed...Pah!
- 26. Use Power Words • Death, love, passion, money, power, mother, baby, child, life, living, ghost, free, trust • You
- 27. The Dummy • Lull the reader into expecting one thing • And then surprise them with another • Badoom- bash!
- 28. Analysis Sometimes things go wrong in life. The printer at the car hire company breaks, the sat nav doesn’t work, the journey is longer than you’ve been told and you turn up very late. Sometimes other things go wrong in life. You’re shot at by soldiers while walking in a field, you’re banned from living with your family and the very act of trying to cross the border that contains you brands you a criminal in a regime reliant on torture and execution. And sometimes those two worlds collide. The day I held the Iron Curtain in my hand
- 29. SEO & Drama • Surviving the World’s Most Dangerous Road in Bolivia To be fair, it’s technically not considered the “World’s Most Dangerous Road” anymore. Due to the construction of a new highway close by, which directs most traffic away from its path, they’ve recently upgraded the trail’s nickname to a much more simple, passive and inviting moniker… “The Death Road.” • Tourist2Townie.com
- 30. Analysis • Surviving the World’s Most Dangerous Road in Bolivia To be fair, it’s technically not considered the “World’s Most Dangerous Road” anymore. Due to the construction of a new highway close by, which directs most traffic away from its path, they’ve recently upgraded the trail’s nickname to a much more simple, passive and inviting moniker… “The Death Road.” • Tourist2Townie.com
- 31. The Lure • Chloride, Arizona, is a living ghost town. It’s an odd village with crumbling buildings, a bizarre collection of yard art and an impressive number of tractors. More than 72 mines used to operate in Chloride, and remnants of many of them can still be seen today. There are a few small corner shops where people sell gifts and cold sodas, and occasionally a ghost is spotted wandering around, but other than that, there’s not a whole lot going on in this high desert town. Except one thing … Kaleidoscopic Wandering
- 32. Analysis • Chloride, Arizona, is a living ghost town It’s an odd village with crumbling buildings, a bizarre collection of yard art and an impressive number of tractors. More than 72 mines used to operate in Chloride, and remnants of many of them can still be seen today. There are a few small corner shops where people sell gifts and cold sodas, and occasionally a ghost is spotted wandering around, but other than that, there’s not a whole lot going on in this high desert town. Except one thing …Badoom-bash!
- 33. Voice Unleash your inner rock star
- 34. Voice • Unique • You • Stand out from the crowd • Writing “rules” help unleash yours • Writing badly hides it
- 35. Finding Your Voice • Sing in the shower • Write in as many different styles as you can manage • Write as though no-one will ever read it • Write without reading back • Write without stopping • Let loose – now you know you can return and bash it into something presentable through editing
- 36. Don’t Hide Your Voice • Search out the bland words and expressions that we all share • Lovely, awesome, gorgeous • Beware your “crutch” words • The best • Don’t drown it out beneath the howls and gnashing of teeth of poor spelling and grammar
- 37. Themes • Shrek • Children’s film that adults can enjoy • Jokes and plot points that work on several levels • A deeper theme: character is more important than beauty • (and our culture currently teaches the opposite)
- 38. The Godfather • Gun fight gangster entertainment • Crime doesn’t pay in the end • The quest for absolute power leads to absolute loneliness • The quest for respect • Universal themes: power, respect, inheritance, loyalty, betrayal, family conflict • Relates to us all
- 39. Too Heavy for A Blog Post? • People respond to emotion more than reason • People travel to feel something • People read about travel to feel something (or to learn something that will help them travel)
- 40. Dangerous Spice • Very unique • “Only in Italy...” • The best • Complaining too much • National stereotypes • Too much slang
- 41. Deliver Satisfaction • Don’t just stop • Deliver your reader safely back to the real world • Make them glad they bothered to read the whole thing
- 42. The Finish • Echo something from the start • End with a teaser • End with a quote • End with a question
- 43. The Start I’m running through Kraków’s bus station, spinning around to see coaches lined up behind me and smaller trams rattling through the concrete space below. My eyes jump around, searching for D8, for Oświȩcim. A stocky man strides towards me. “Proszę,” I say, please, before my supply of Polish dries up. I’m suddenly embarrassed, flushed and ashamed to say to the face of a stranger one of the most emotionally charged words in the world. “Auschwitz.” He says it first.
- 44. The Finish Ninety minutes later I’m back in Krakow, in the rush hour stream of 21st century life. Beyonce’s Beautiful Nightmare accompanies the commuters and shoppers, while fluorescent lights shine over the latest Zara collection and women sell salt-encrusted Obwarzanki from kiosks sheltered from the wind. I go to buy one and find two pieces of paper in my pocket. Jan’s card and the square cut-out from the first bus driver. It lists the departure times from Auschwitz back to the modern world. It’s only small, but perhaps this was the sliver of beauty and hope that I was searching for.
- 45. Call to Action • Subscribe • Read more • Share • Buy • Join a tour
- 46. Where to go next... • Matador or writers.com for online courses • My online course on social media for writers: http://www.writers.com/king.html
- 47. Going further Books Write to Sell – Andy Maslen On Writing – Stephen King Story - Robert McKee Blogs Copyblogger http://www.economist.com/styleguide/introduction
- 48. Thank you www.insidethetravellab.com @abigailking @insidetravellab