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 Bounce, Beginning, Books, and Blog.

is for Bounce

In writing, your darlings, are words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and even chapters that you become really attached to. You lose all objectivity about whether they’re good or bad for your audience. You don’t care if these darlings mislead or confuse your readers, you love them to death so you’re going to keep them in.

“In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” ― William Faulkner

Unfortunately, these darlings can get in the way of your reader’s understanding or connection to your writing. They can even cloud their point of view. In order to keep your travel writing bouncing along, you need to make sure there are no diversions or irrelevant sections. And in some cases you’ll need to sacrifice your darlings to keep your readers on track.

When you read your travel writing, does it bounce along with a enthusiastic tempo, or does it get dragged down by inappropriate or empty adjectives and adverbs, does it lack pace, is one of your darlings districting them?

You have to be tough, and get your editors head on.

If your darlings don’t add value to your readers, you have to kill them (from this version of your content at least – you can always include them in another piece of writing where they’re apt and applicable).

is for Beginning

You have 30-40 words maximum to hook your readers. If they can’t connect with those first few sentences, or your first paragraph bores them, they may skip further down your content, or they may just click or turn away from it altogether. You’ve got one shot to grab your reader’s attention, so you beginning (aka: opening or lead), needs to have the strength to pull them in.

One of the biggest mistakes is to begin like an advertorial, instead, you have many different content styles and approach you can use to begin your content:

1. Start with an Anecdote: a short and concise story that acts as an example to the theme or angle in your article or chapter.
2. Start with a Quote: a piece of dialogue from a conversation or interview you had during your trip can push your reader directly into the heart of the action.
3. Start with the Action: Identify what’s vital to your story, and convey that action right at the beginning, and use the rest of your piece to add the context around the action.
4. Start with a Question: Phrase a question (or dilemma, problem, etc.) that you spend the rest of the article dancing around, and then provide the answer at the end, so that there’s a cohesiveness about your content. Your writing will take your reader on a journey, and by the end of the article they will have their question (etc.) answered. (Check out the A is for: Action, Anecdote, and Angle article)
5. Start with a Sense description: Memory is a strong connector. When you recreate a shared memory for your reader, they’re more likely to stick around to read the rest of your content. Use one of your senses to recount an event or experience from your travels, but make it have enough generic elements that your reader internalizes your description and applies it to a memory of an experience they had.

Check out my Five Senses Travel Journal, which is ideal for capturing these memorable moments to open your articles and chapters

Five Senses Travel Journal Available Now!

Read all five articles in my fives senses series:

• Improve your travel writing with your sense of sight
• Improve your travel writing with your sense of smell
• Improve your travel writing with your sense of hearing
• Improve your travel writing with your sense of taste
• Improve your travel writing with your sense of touch

is for Books

You can’t become a good writer without being an avid reader. So buy books, rent books, borrow from friends or the local library. Writing is a skill and with practice and patience you can become a prolific and proficient writer.

Yes I know it’s a lot easier to become a passable average travel writer, but there’s enough of those around already. So strive for excellence. Read Books. Learn from the best and continuously hone your skills.

Nobody sells more travel guides and travel books than Lonely Planet—so if you’re only going to buy one book about travel writing, you can’t go wrong with this Lonely Planet Travel writing book. (I actually bought the 2003 version of this book, and they’ve republished it twice since then, in 2009, and 2017).

is for Blog

A travel writer without a blog, is like a kid who has never played in a sandpit. Your blog is a useful platform for improving and perfecting your writing style. It’s also acts as your calling card if you’re pitching travel companies and magazines travel article ideas, or publishers your book concept if you don’t want to go the self-publishing route.

If you don’t have an online presence with examples of your writing, then what weight does your credibility have? I’ve lost count of the number of guest article requests I’ve received from writers who don’t have their own blog. If I can’t see your writing style of quality, then there’s no way I’m going to feature you as a guest on my blog.

Obviously it’s best to get your own custom URL, and host your blog, but if don’t have the budget to launch a paid blog, then use one of the many free, blog hosting companies out there. I recommend using WordPress. It’s excellent for a novice and flexible enough for an writer who wants to create a unique looking website.

Listen to the Podcast Episode

Due to the popularity of this A-Z series, it’s also available as a podcast episode.

Discover an alphabet’s worth of Travel Writing Tips

Read the Article Listen to the Podcast	Read the Article Listen to the Podcast	Read the Article Listen to the Podcast	Read the Article Listen to the Podcast	Read the Article Listen to the Podcast
Read the Article Listen to the Podcast	Read the Article Listen to the Podcast	Read the Article Listen to the Podcast	Read the Article Listen to the Podcast	Read the Article Listen to the Podcast
K	L	M	N	O
P	Q	R	S	T
U	W	X	X	Y
Z	><	><	><	><