There is so much to consider when trying to improve your travel writing skills. If you’ve ever played a sport like golf you’ll know that if you get one part of your technique wrong it impacts everything else, but when all of the things you need to consider are aligned, you can hit your shot out of the park (and then you spend the next hour trying to recreate that magic moment!) Travel writing is no different.

There is no magic bullet for making you a great travel writer, it’s a collection of smaller details in your writing that help you connect with your reader.

Your role as a travel writer is to set the stage for your reader. They may never have been to the destination you’re writing about or seen pictures, so describing a destination as “vibrant” or “amazing” or “memorable” doesn’t do it justice.

So here’s a few tips to add to your travel writing tool kit to help you become a better writer and destination story teller.

Writing Tip #1

• To make your story more personal write in the first person past tense, and then interweave descriptions, observations and facts into your narrative to balance the content between personal and factual. This way you’re presenting a balanced view of your internal (what you’re thinking and feeling) and external (what you’re experiencing) plus what you know to be true.

Writing Tip #2

• You don’t have to start your piece at the beginning, just because that’s where your story begins doesn’t mean this is what’s going to grab your reader’s attention. Instead, start your piece with a strong and imaginative anecdote or observation that introduces the general tone, point of view, or a strong feeling that weaves through your story. Don’t wax lyrical for pages about this just use it as a hook to grab your reader’s attention. You don’t have to reveal all the details about this hook. Think of it like a door you’re opening to invite your reader in, without knowing what’s on the other side, and you’re taking them on a journey of discovery to get the full pictures.

Writing Tip #3

• If there’s a point to your story or an angle (like a new travel trend, or an angle like slow traveling through a destination that you wouldn’t initially consider) you’re story is meant to convey, get to it early in the piece.
• Make it clear to your reader what it is. If the topic is new to them they may not have a full understanding of it, but give them enough to pique their interest and use the rest of the story to let the information unfold by providing them with the details and provide the additional flavor and color to support this angle.

If you nail down your point of view, your angle and a strong beginning, you have all the bait you need to hook your readers. By focusing on a few travel writing techniques at a time, you’ll become the engaging travel writer you were meant to become.

If you’re looking for more travel writing tips and techniques, look out for my A-Z Travel Writing tips series.