Creative Writing For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 20

Travel Writing: Tales for Armchair Explorers

IN THIS CHAPTER

Finding the story

Making the journey

Assembling a book

The world has never been smaller and travel easier, which perhaps explains why so many people want to read about travel. Travel writing ranges from newspaper and magazine articles to narrative nonfiction accounts of exotic places and challenging journeys.

Because the world’s shrunk and everyone travels, and because so much information is available on the internet, being a successful travel writer is harder than ever before. Finding new places to write about is also increasingly difficult. An important distinction needs to be made between travel guides – books that tell you how to get somewhere, offer some facts and history, and list hotels, restaurants, and sites of interest – and travel literature, which involves narrative and provides deeper insights into the place and its people. Travel writing should always reveal something new – perhaps some neglected aspect of a place or an unexpected insight into it.

As the world becomes a more global community, many more of us have links to or come from many countries and cultures which can help give a valuable ...