Travel Writing Tips
Being an prolific and effective travel writer can be overwhelming, so I’ve put together this series of A-Z Travel Writing Tips.
Each article provides a concise list of prompts from A to Z, which provides your travel writing the TLC it needs. We cycle through all letters in the alphabet in turn, and provide links to additional resources and examples of how to implements each tip.
See the grid at the bottom of this post to view other letters in the series.
In this edition of our A-Z travel writing tips we’re looking at Audience, Action, Anecdote, Angles, Adjectives and Adverbs.
is for Audience
No matter what you’re writing, you need to have your audience in mind so that your writing connects with them. To be perfectly frank, this is probably one of the most important elements to master when creating any kind of content. So I’m pleased to be including Audience in the prime spot for this new A-Z of Travel Writing tips.
The better you know your audience, the better you can craft content (written or visual) that appeals to them. Who are you trying to speak to? What are their problems and needs? Do they need professional solutions? Do they want entertainment? Do they want news? Advice? What are their short-term and long-term goals? via Audience Ops
When you know who your audience is you know what to write to inspire them, entertain them, inform them or educate them. Knowing your audience helps to keep your audience on track, and will streamline your writing process, making you more efficient and increase your content output.
Here’s some related articles I’ve written about finding and nurturing your audience:
Travel Bloggers: If you haven’t defined your audience, do it NOW!
- 5 Guest Blogging Articles to Grow your Audience
- Download a free PDF template to define your audience
is for Action
The tendency in day-to-day storytelling is to recount events in a chronological order, but if you give too much background detail at the beginning of your travel writing you could lose your audience’s attention. It’s much better to drop your reader into the middle of the action.
Think about the travel journey or adventure you’re writing about, and identify a funny, frightening, odd, exciting, or memorable experience that is pivotal to your story, and start your opening paragraph with it. Jumping straight into the action will intrigue your reader, and they’ll be enticed to read your content to find out the context of your story. You can even start with some interesting dialog that has a strong point of view or reveals something intriguing about your destination.
If your opening paragraph doesn’t reel readers in right away, you’ll lose them. Let’s look at some examples and you decide which one would hook you:
Example One:
The last time I went backpacking was 24 years ago, so I was nervous and excited for this trip to Cambodia. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I did worry that my husband wasn’t going to enjoy the type of adventure I had planned.
Example Two:
I was excited to be going to Cambodia with my husband. It was our first trip backpacking trip together. He’d never been to Asia before, so I wasn’t sure how he would take it, as he didn’t know what to expect.
Example Three:
We bounced along a rough dirt in the back of a remork. My arm ached from gripping the wrought iron roof struts, and my tongue pushed across the roof of my mouth to dislodge the red dust carpet that had snuck in when I yawned. Let’s hope this sunrise adventure was going to be worth it.
Example three immediately drops you into an uncomfortable journey. Where are we? Where are we going? The reader will need to find out whether the adventure was worth it, or it was just a waste of time. The story can unfold, and you can introduce the chronology of your trip throughout the story, as long as you explain how your introduction ties in to the rest of the content.
is for Anecdotes
Definition: An anecdote is a short story about an incident or person. it can be amusing or add an element of interest. When you add a anecdote to your travel writing it can provide your reader with a deeper sense of understanding, or awareness for the people you’re meeting or the destination you’re writing about.
If an anecdote is a distraction, it doesn’t matter how funny or interesting it is, you should leave it out. Your anecdote should support your theme or setting, or provide additional insight into the people you’ve encountered. It can also provide an example of the tone of your trip, or add weight to the point of your story. You can use an anecdote to set the scene of your travel writing as an introduction, and then use the subsequent paragraphs to your anecdote in context.
Here’s a couple of examples about writing an anecdote and how to turn a real life moment into an anecdote:
is for Angles
Travel writing that has an angle provides you with a unique way of presenting a well-worn topic. For example, lots of travelers have been to Cambodia, but my angle for my Cambodia travel guide is that it’s the first backpacking trip my husband and I had done together, or we’re baby boomers on a budget and worried about being the oldest backpackers in town. Or my husband’s a bit of a germaphobe, so how was he going to cope with the basic accommodation and adventure I was taking him on.
Cambodia is the destination and is the primary subject matter, but how I approach writing about it, is my angle, and that’s what gives my writing it’s direction.
Your angle will be how you appeal to a specific audience niche, and your angle is the reason your readers will care about your content. Having an angle will help you to determine what’s in and out of scope, so you know what’s key to include, and what needs to be left out.
Download a free worksheet to create your theme and angle
is for Adjectives and Adverbs
It’s important to describe your destination so that your reader can envision a place they’ve never been to before. But don’t fall into the trap of heaping too many descriptive words into your paragraphs.
Definition: An adjective is a word or phrase naming an attribute of a noun (a thing, e.g. cat, the boy, people, sky, etc.) or pronoun (a substitution for a noun, e.g. he, I, they, etc.). Adjectives are words that make sentences more interesting and can add interest to your writing. In simple terms, they’re describing words like: blue, bright, cold, atmospheric and expansive.
As well as heaping it too many flowery adjectives, travel writers should steer clear of Empty Adjectives, which don’t actually add any value to the description. Words like, beautiful, amazing, stunning, etc.) It’s ok to include empty adjectives like this in your first draft if you’re freewriting or speedwriting, but you need to replace them with more descriptive adjectives in your first edit. My go to adjective is “great”, and when I do my first draft edit I search for it and replace them with meaningful adjectives that will conjure up an image in my reader’s mind.
Definition: An adverb is a part of speech used to describe a verb, adjective, clause, or another adverb. It tells the readers how (e.g. the sun set gracefully), where (e.g. the market stall was nearby), when (e.g. relates to time, how long, or how often. The sun sets every night), or the degree (e.g. The sunset is very beautiful) at which something was done.
Here’s a good article on Parts of Speech, when explains the four different types of Adverbs.
If you’re not sure if your adjective or adverb adds value to your sentence, there’s a good rule of thumb to follow:
If in doubt, leave it out!
Listen to the Podcast Episode
Due to the popularity of this A-Z series, it’s also available as a podcast episode.
This a broad cross-section of “A” prompts that will improve your travel writing. Is there another Travel Writing tip beginning with A that you think needs to be added to the list? Let me know if the comments below.
A is for ... ? Find out what prompts will improve your #travelwriting. This list includes a broad spectrum of prompts beginning with A, that will help you become a better writer or #travelblogger who is #amwriting Click To TweetDiscover an alphabet’s worth of Travel Writing Tips
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