Launch Your Travel Writing Career

We know great travel writing when we read it, but what elements go into a successful piece?

Use these best practices, literary tools and travel writing tips to strengthen your copy and compose winning travel articles.

4 Keys to Great Storytelling

While certainly applicable for travel writing, here are five best practices that help with articles in any genre.

1) A Great Lead:

The beginning sentences are the most important of any article, long or short. Your lead is your first, maybe only, shot at hooking the reader, and pulling them into your story.

Aim to grab the reader’s attention with a unique, timely or thought-provoking angle, and set their expectations about the story ahead.

What’s different about your story, eye-catching, outrageous?

Try to envision readers cocking their heads a bit in curiosity, wanting to read more.

Avoid overly wordy or indirect leads. Today’s device-toting readers will quickly click away or flip the page if they’re not engaged by your article, so don’t beat around the bush.

2) Structure and Form:

If your lead establishes the direction of your story, the structure keeps it on track. Readers respond to a well-organized story that delivers them where expected.

For starters, use an outline to capture the main idea(s) of each paragraph and connect them in your story.

This will help ensure you keep your story “on schedule” for taking your readers on the journey they set out form when they started reading the piece.

For longer narratives, look at ways to break up large blocks of text with subheads.

Try to avoid linear narratives, which can sound redundant: “I went there, I did this.”

Instead, think about structuring stories in three sections:

• A first third that set up the action and story proposition, and often ends with a dramatic or funny twist;
• A middle section that steps away from the linear narrative, and focuses instead on background information for context;
• A third section that picks the story back up where the first section left off, for readers who now have more context than they did earlier in the piece.

For example, if you’re writing about Thai cooking classes, set the first third in the kitchen with the writer preparing dishes to present to the class. End the first section with the teacher taking a tentative bite. Will your cuisine pass the test?

The middle section can include background like the origins of Thai cooking, specific ingredients and regional variations in cuisine types.

After providing this context, resume the story in the final third of the piece, perhaps with the teacher breaking out in a smile and saying “delicious” after tasting your winning choo chee pla salmon.

This approach lets you break up linear narratives, add drama, and provide readers background info that enriches the overall story.

3) Unique angles and twists:

What’s different about your hook from others? Provide a specific perspective to the story that’s absent in other recent coverage.

Personal experience comes in handy here. You live in San Francisco’s Mission District and have hit all its best taquerias. You have hands-on experience building an earthship in New Mexico, or spending a summer fishing for Alaskan salmon.

Your name is Jay Cooke and you have the same name as the 19^th-Century rail baron whose namesake town, Cooke City, MT, is the northeastern gateway to Yellowstone National Park (note to self..)

These days surface-level travel information is readily available online, so include the deep details that show you’ve been to a place itself, not just the place’s website.

4) Absolute accuracy:

Check your facts – names, dates, titles, locations – and check again before submitting your article. Not all outlets will have proofreaders looking at this level of detail.

Any mistakes in final articles will reflect poorly upon the editor and writer, so go the extra mile to confirm that what you’re submitting is 100% accurate. It’s good business, and makes a great impression on editors.

Keep copies of your notes as a backup, and confirm all quotes and attribution. Don’t just rely on spellchecking as your final edit.

Travel Story Tips

Look to include the following elements in your travel pieces.

Sense of time and place:

Setting is a crucial part of any travel article. At its core, travel writing is about showing readers what’s different and unique about someplace else.

Whether you’re writing about Mediterranean villages or West Hollywood nightlife, Brazilian beaches or the Alaskan wilds, provide readers deep, unique details that convey a feeling of “being there.”

I did this in my first paying article, a 3,000-word feature on life as an English teacher in small-town South Korea. The story used anecdotes and observances of what stood out to my visitor’s eyes: Orange “soju tents” on street corners nightly that filled with revelers when bars closed at midnight; rows of market venders selling kimchi and live (but not for long) poultry.

By focusing on what was unique to the place, I provided readers a window onto day-to-day life there.

Involving locals in your stories with quotes and anecdotes helps establish sense of place. These intersections can serve as snapshots of a place that capture its color and personality.

Sense of time, too

A specific time frame helps capture the spirit of “now”. Places change and evolve. Savvy travel writers include details that show what a place is like at the moment of the story, since places change over time.

One way to convey sense of time is by writing about destinations in transition. You can add details about what a place is like during its transition period, and worth visiting now.

I’ve written pieces about American neighborhoods and cities in transition, such as downtown Los Angeles, the Mission District of San Francisco and the Meatpacking District in Manhattan. I focused on what was changing these places:

• The rebirth of L.A.’s once derelict urban core;
• Impacts of gentrification on a traditionally working class, urban neighborhood;
• How converting an abandoned elevated railway into a public park spurred a massive influx of development on New York’s Lower West Side.

By establishing sense of time, I not only grounded my readers in when the pieces were written, I gave myself a springboard for revisiting any of these places and write about how they’ve continued to evolve.

When you’re brainstorming story ideas or thinking about your beats, keep in mind the town with a music scene about to be discovered, the neighborhood emerging as an indie craft brew district, the former industrial city contemplating how best to reinvent itself for recovery.

Humor and anecdote:

Humor keeps readers engaged and can be used to illustrate the subtle, quirky differences you encounter while visiting someplace else. Funny situations arise while traveling, and translate well to the page.

Having a self-deprecating sense of humor helps keep things light while deflecting any overly-judgmental sentiments that may accidentally slip into your copy.

If you can poke fun at yourself in a situation that’s different – stomping grapes at a Napa winery, singing drinking songs with new friends well into the German night – you keep the focus on what’s funny in a good-natured way.

Anecdotes add a storytelling quality that often conveys sense of place, too. Look to include stories told by people in the destination to add a deeper level of detail and authenticity.

Show, don’t tell:

This is one of the more subtle, yet essential, rules to follow. Basically, there’s a difference between overly-descriptive marketing copy, which is lavish with praise and lacking critical remarks, and an objective article that shows the good along with the bad.

The former is writing to persuade, whereas the latter better reflects what a travel writer should do: write to inform.

Provide an objective point of view and avoid telling people how much they’ll love a destination. When you do this, you run the risk of coming across like someone with a vested interest in the subject of the article, not the readers themselves. You come across as a marketing copywriter, writing with the client’s perspective in mind, not the reader’s.

Instead, show them what you or others are doing, and let them gauge whether or not it’s for them. Put the reader’s interests first.

One good way to look at travel writing is to relate it to how a critic reviews films.There are many “good” pictures out there, but a critic’s job is to point out the strengths and weaknesses of a movie, and not just lavish praise.

They save their true raves for the films that are bound for Oscar glory.

A film critic notes the warts along with the beauty marks, as that’s what most benefits their end users: the moviegoers, not the movie studios.

Travel writers have similar responsibility: to write for the interests of travelers first, not the travel industry providers.

Urgency:

Why is your article relevant now? Editors will have plenty of competing story ideas for a limited number of content slots in each issue. To stand apart from the competition, look to include a time hook in your articles and pitches that can stand up to this key editor’s question:

“Of all the content options at my disposal for any given issue, why should I run your piece, now?”

Provide a solid set of reasons to answer this key question.

For example, editors get heaps of pitches for New Orleans travel during Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest. So build a case explaining why your New Orleans idea makes a great fit for fall issues, too. “This piece is good for your readers now because:

• Voodoo Festival has become the local’s autumnal alternative to spring’s Jazz Fest;
• Halloween provides context for Victorian architecture and French Quarter ghost tours;
• Thanksgiving offers a great angle for Cajun/Creole holiday cooking articles;
• 2015 marks ten years since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita roared ashore

You want to convince your editors that they’ve found a content sweet spot that’s not overly-obvious, but remains highly relevant for readers.

Editors want to feel they are serving their audience unexpected, engaging content. Look to provide urgency by covering a place during a time that’s underrepresented (eg Paris in winter, the Caribbean in July), or tapping into popular public sentiment by covering what’s hot, now.

People & quotes

Human elements add personality and authority to a travel piece. A well-placed quote from a local can add color and allow the writer to report details in someone else’ words, instead of their own. This strengthens the overall objectivity of your story.

All quotes are not created equally. Don’t force a lame quote onto your audience when paraphrasing works better.

Instead of

“’The Italian food is delicious’ said a guest”

try

“Guests raved about the Italian cuisine.”

Watch out for wordy, boring quotes. A good quote doesn’t have to be too long, and can be split in two, such as:

“Another option,” said the captain grinning, “we can use the cage and dive with sharks.”

Sensual details:

What can you observe with senses besides your eyes. What sounds, smells, textures and tastes help show sense of place?

That bazaar in Morocco can come alive with sensual details:

• the sizzle and spice of chicken tangine on the fire,
• the feeling of the silk between your fingers
• the voice of the muezzin issuing the mid-day call to prayer.

Drill down for specific details that also provide sense of place. Avoid the crutch of generic adjectives and use specific ones instead – savory crepes, tart berries, creamy foam atop a pitch-black pint of Guinness. Don’t call food “delicious” or describe a museum as “interesting.”

How-to info:

There are many voices in the travel media suggesting where to go, but fewer focusing on informational, how-to travel pieces. The irony is how-to info is often exactly what readers want.

How-to travel information helps readers solve a problem or achieve a goal, often providing step-by-step advice.

As a travel writer, you can provide expert steps and advice for many travel situations.

Think about topics such as ““Family RV Travel Across Europe”, “First-Time AirBnB Renter’s Guide” or “Rock Climbing 101.”

Readers seeking this information want details to help them not just make a decision, but act in whichever direction they take.

Use clear, concise language when writing how-to pieces, and don’t leave out any critical steps.

Grammar and Syntax

Strunk and White said it best:

Omit needless words:

Aim for brevity. If you can say it with six words, not eight, do. Tight writing requires a willingness to strike words. Trim the fat.

Avoid laundry lists of examples when two or three will suffice.

Active verbs:

Strong active verbs add muscle to your narrative,

• “We scrambled up the boulders and stretched our necks to catch the last glimpse of sunset, as the orb slipped out of sight.”

• “Chef George yanked his knife from the block, grabbed the okra and celery, chopped two cups of veggies and tossed them into the pot.”

Look to use active verbs instead of adverbs or adjectives for tighter, punchier copy. For example, compare the following:

• “Fido ran quickly down the beach and jumped high to catch the Frisbee in mid-flight”

Vs.

• “Fido dashed down the beach and leaped to snare the Frisbee in mid-flight”

The second sentence is more descriptive and uses two fewer words.

Transitions & Flow:

Language should move from paragraph to paragraph, sentence to sentence seamlessly, without jerky, abrupt changes. If in doubt how your article sounds, reads it aloud.

Transitions are invaluable for keeping the reader moving with the flow of the story. For example, see how I use a transition about public art to segue from one San Francisco travel subject to another:

“San Francisco’s long fandom of firefighters may or may not have inspired the design of Coit Tower, the Art Deco edifice atop Telegraph Hill. But whether it looks like the nozzle of a fire hose or not, the tower is a clear work of art.

Head into Coit Tower to check out the elaborate 1930s-era WPA murals that celebrate how the working class built California.

Public art has a long history in San Francisco, from Mission District murals to performance artists setting up shop in Haight-Ashbury or along the Embarcadero.

For more background on SF public art, check out the free walking tours provided by the San Francisco library, led by locals who love sharing tidbits about their town”

By using a transition, I provide a smooth switch from Coit Tower to free walking tours without leaving the reader feeling adrift.

Avoid cliches:

There are no treasure troves of hidden gems.

Cliches are the tool of a lazy writer, who uses go-to common language instead of creating their own turns of phrase.

Relative pronouns:

Use“who”, “that” “when” “where” or “which” to connect ideas in sentences:

• “I met my guide, who spent 20 years with the parks service before setting out on his own.”
• We ordered the ceviche, which upgraded our meal from great to sublime.”
• “Here’s some duct tape” said Alex, the camping buddy whose backpack always yields what’s needed
• When making kimchi, which is quite messy, wear an apron or at least, dark clothes. White t-shirts won’t survive

Don’t over-rely on using “and” as an idea connector when a relative pronoun does the trick.

Cadence:

Think about the pacing of your sentences and how they sound to the reader. Are all your sentences of roughly the same length?

Keep readers engaged by mixing up the extent of your sentences so your stories don’t get caught in a rut. Start with one long sentence, then a shorter one. Follow with two short sentences. Perhaps a medium-lengthed sentence would work well next, if that adds to the cadence of your article in a stimulating way.

However you order your sentences, avoid having too many of the same length in a row. Use cadence and pacing to keep readers on their toes

For examples of great travel writing, I highly recommend the Best American Travel Writing series, the annual anthology curated by different editors each year.

The types of travel content selected each year varies by guest editor, so grab several editions to compare what appeals to people like Pico Iyer (2004) and Anthony Bourdain (2009). You’ll also uncover some new potential travel markets.

Grab past editions on Amazon or eBay.