Improve your Travel Writing

There are so many auditory distractions in our day to day life that we tend to filter unimportant sounds out, but when writing about what we’re hearing, we need to be aware of all the different sounds around us. Not just the chatter of voices, but background noise that contributes to a sense of place.

Sense of Hearing

When was the last time you listened to the voices and noises around you?

Close your Eyes

It helps to close your eyes so that you can focus on what you’re hearing and block out the visual stimulus, which tends to dominate.

Some sounds are reassuring, and others are unnerving or disconcerting, and when we use sound to describe a person, place, or thing, you’re making it easier for your reader get a sense of the surroundings.

Listen Inside and Out

When I was researching about using sound to show and not tell, I came across this excerpt from Kellie McCann. She explains that using your sense of hearing isn’t just about the noises you hear externally, it’s also about taking note of your internal voice, which I thought was pretty thought-provoking.

There’s more to listen to than the sounds of your environment, too. As I wrote my own memoir, I found myself constantly asking myself what I was hearing internally. Sounds are not always external buzzes and bangs—sometimes they come in the form of thoughts and voices. From Kellie McGann in her article How to Unlock All Five Senses in Your Writing 

Listening to Nothing

Ashley W. also wrote about considering silence as a “sound”, and this is another concept that I hadn’t initially thought about when using my sense of sound to create a backdrop to the scene I was creating.

In storytelling, sound (and even silence) is equally as important as sight. To build a realistic setting, your story must be enveloped by a soundscape as well as a landscape, and in individual scenes, sound can be used to denote emotion and physical action. From Ashley W. Writing with All Five Senses

Onomatopoeic Sounds

While researching using sense of hearing and sound to add texture and depth to a travel writing scene, I came across a new word: Onomatopoeic. This describes the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes.

Words related to hearing describe sounds. For instance: crashing, thumping, piercing, tingling, squeaky. Often these words mimic sounds—that’s when they’re called onomatopoeic. From Henneke How to Arouse the Magic of Sensory Words 

Make a Recording

A handy way to transport yourself back to a specific point in time is to record your surroundings on your phone or mp3 recorder. You can play these auditory souvenirs while you’re taking notes in your journal or play them back while you’re writing your article or travel guide.

Examples of Sound Elements

• Volume Strength/Weakness
• Location (background/foreground)
• Frequency (High/Low)
• Distortion
• Direction
• Pitch
• Intensity
• Manmade or Natural
• Accents/Intonation

Set a scene using sound

Take a look at this travel writing example from Victoria Fry:

Maybe it’s the ocean lapping at the shore.  Maybe dry grasses are whispering, poplars shivering in the breeze.  Maybe it’s a stone on the trail, being kicked along the path with a dull “thwok.” (this last example is Onomatopoeic)

Victoria guest posted over at Ink and Quills, and showcased ten ways to set a a scene with sound:

1. Conversations
2. Weather
3. Vehicles
4. Technology
5. Animals
6. The Great Outdoors
7. Seasonal
8. Hobbies
9. Sports
10. Laughter and Tears

10 Ways to Set a Scene With Sound: A Guest Post by Victoria Fry

It’s well worth a read if you’re looking for inspiration or guidance on interjecting the sense of sound into your travel writing.

Example of how using your sense of sound can improve your travel writing.

Telling: I was laying in my beach hut at night, and it was dark outside. I heard footsteps coming up my wooden steps outside, and saw the door knob turn. I started to feel afraid. Somebody wearing flip flops was outside my door, but then they turned around and walked away.

Showing: I lay in my beach hut squinting to see the stars through the gaps in my ceiling. When suddenly all other sounds drifted into the background, and I was focused on the familiar creek, creek, cree-eek, of my steps. My heart reverberated in my eardrums and I held my breath. Was it my imagination, or was that the door knob turning? Just as I was wondering what I would do if I’d left it unlocked, I heard the squeak of rubber on wood as the footsteps navigated my steps, before fading into the distance.

In the Telling version, there was no suspense or intrigue, and nothing to get the reader’s imagination running. But in the second version, I have alluded to specific elements in the scene to draw the reader into the scene. I don’t tell them I’m afraid, I say My heart reverberated in my eardrums. I don’t say that my mystery visitor was wearing flip flops, I say I heard the squeak of rubber on wood as the footsteps navigated my steps. So it’s left up to the reader’s imagination what type of footwear my visitor was wearing.

If you’ve written or come across a travel article that uses the sense of sight effectively, please add the links to the comments below.

The above content is an excerpt from my Five Senses Travel Journal

For more articles in this 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