Spice Up Your Travel Writing

Spice Up Your Travel WritingIntermediate Level

Travel Bloggers Unite – Umbria 2012

Abigail King

Who am I?

Journalist

Lonely Planet, CNN, Huffington Post, France Today, National Geographic Traveler & more

Medical journals

@abigailkingwww.abigailking.co.uk

Who am I?

Blogger

Inside the Travel Lab

www.insidethetravellab.com

@insidetravellab

Who am I?

Medical Doctor

Swapped a career as a hospital doctor for a life with words and pixels.

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

The Power of Words

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

You have a point, right?

Why are you writing this post?

• Information guide• Provoke a discussion• Entertain

Cleaning

• Clear unnecessary clutter– Trim out adjectives– Eliminate adverbs– Banish the passive voice– Avoid word repetition– Be ruthless: remove at least 10%

Get Spicy

• Promise• Repetition• Facts• Speech• Rhythm & Blues• Themes• Voice

The Promise

• Begins with your headline• Reinforced by your introduction• Carried throughout the piece• Delivered at the end

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

Adding Spice

• Add the spice that fits your promise• Add the spice that fits your point

• Let’s go!

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

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.

Finding Facts

• Wikipedia – references• Broadsheet papers• Interviews• Books

Checking Facts

• Prices, phone numbers, websites • Names - in person• http://www.economist.com/styleguide/introd

uction• Mainstream press websites

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

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!

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.

Speech

• Energises text• Provides local flavour• If you do it right• Don’t include everything someone told you• Ask the right questions

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.”

Interviews

• Avoid best of/favourite/top questions• Ask “open” questions• Create colour and character• Get the name of the dog

Play God

• Put someone in the scene• Bring inanimate objects to life• Mention all the senses• Psst - Video can’t do this

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!

Use Power Words

• Death, love, passion, money, power, mother, baby, child, life, living, ghost, free, trust

• You

The Dummy

• Lull the reader into expecting one thing• And then surprise them with

another• Badoom- bash!

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

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

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

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

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!

Voice

Unleash your inner rock star

Voice

• Unique• You• Stand out from the crowd• Writing “rules” help unleash yours• Writing badly hides it

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

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

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)

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

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)

Dangerous Spice

• Very unique• “Only in Italy...”• The best• Complaining too much• National stereotypes• Too much slang

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

The Finish

• Echo something from the start• End with a teaser• End with a quote• End with a question

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.

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.

Call to Action

• Subscribe• Read more• Share• Buy• Join a tour

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

Going further

BooksWrite to Sell – Andy MaslenOn Writing – Stephen KingStory - Robert McKee

BlogsCopybloggerhttp://www.economist.com/styleguide/introduction

Thank you

www.insidethetravellab.com

@abigailking

@insidetravellab