I can't claim I am a recognized or famous writer/reporter. However, I wrote my share of articles and travelogues. Travel stories have always been my passion. I can put on a paper what I experienced, seen, heard, tasted, or even smelled while travelling. The wonderful thing in this category is that you can add your personal feelings and you're not only quoting the facts. Through writing for different media and editors, through the reading of good posts and articles, I’ve learned some 'tricks' on how to write a travel piece. Let the editor be excited about your story! In that way you’ll get a page in a newspaper, magazine, website, perhaps also in Globetrotter!
1. Before you go
We travel to foreign places and experience all kinds of mad and special adventures. Then we get home, sit down in front of a computer and find out that despite many pages full of notes, we are missing data. So it's really important that you do a research before you go. Collect data about the destination that you’ll visit. This does not mean simply clicking on the first website offered by Google or selecting the first line in the tourist guide. Go to the library, maybe read a book of an author, who was writing about that part of the world you are headed and browse for information in a variety of magazines. Find out about festivals, celebrations, ceremonies, etc., which could be held at the time of your visit. Map your destinations out and try to deviate from the common tourist routes by making explorations on your own.
2. Make notes
Despite the countless photos you have made, they will not always help you recall the events, people, and places. So make notes. Write a diary of impressions during the journey, it will be much easier to summarize and describe events when you’re at home.
Also the brochures you get at information points and a conversation with a local guide can be a goldmine for you. First of all, they may contain points of interest that are not on your itinerary but are certainly worth a visit. Second, they may include offbeat information that is not easy to be found.
3. Talk to people
Believe me, sometimes the best phrases in your text come from the mouth of the locals or people you’ve met on the road. Many times you'll learn more from people as the books, brochures or the internet can tell you. Guides are also a good source of information. Do not be afraid to ask and then do not forget to write down the statements.
If you understand the language of locals or it is possible to get the local papers in English browse through at your breakfast and read a paragraph or two. Current events from a local point of view are always interesting.
4. A picture says more than 1000 words
Take photos! Take a lot of photos! There is no editor, which will publish your travelogue without good quality pictures. How do I know that? Because I do not shine at taking photos and I had many problems with the publication of the articles, if I travelled without an avid photographer. I've read a lot of advice and even bought a book, where it is described everything from A to Z about the photo-shoot. Now I usually stop at the postcard shop and have a look at how and what professionals are shooting. Just to get an impression, a feeling and inspiration. Always attractive are photos of people, but don't forget to ask for permission first. A word of advice: read the camera instructions before a perfect moment to photograph is long over.
5. Select a topic
Without an angle you have no story. About one destination you visited, you can write more articles. However, each and every one of them needs an idea, an angle, a prospective, which will be the backbone of your story. You can focus on culinary adventures, local traditions, entertainment, your own experiences, stories of people … The possibilities are endless, but choose one and wrap around it the whole story. Ask yourself what is new about this topic, what's special, what’s the oldest, the best, the worst... Let the editor or reader learn something new, interesting, and special. And what is the best about the whole thing? You have visited only one destination, but you can write about it a number of different articles.
6. Let it be written…
…interestingly and vividly. Describe the great temple, the magnificent tree, crazy celebration, a special adventure or interestingly dressed people in a way the reader can imagine the whole scene. Try to convey the atmosphere of the place. Include the fragments of interviews of people, with whom you have spoken to. Describe details; include personal experience and lessons you’ve learned. Provide historical and cultural background here and there. Let the text flow, let it absorb the reader. Yes, easier said than done, but practice makes perfect. Before I send the article to the editor, I sleep on it, then read it again and do my final corrections. Usually I give story to someone else to read it. We make mistakes and we do not see it. Or we write incomprehensibly, but we don't even know, because we are 'in the story', as we have experienced it, and to us is of course all clear.
Do not forget about the importance of the headline. It should be short, concise, striking, honest and clear. A headline is the first thing that the editor and reader will read and then decide whether the article is worthy of a posting/reading or not.
The Internet offers endless possibilities of reading great travel blogs, travel stories, and travelogues. There are as many styles as writers and from each you can learn something new. We have to listen to the criticism. And if the editors refuse our story, certainly not give up. Maybe at first there will be no article fees. In general earnings with the publication of travel stories are not fabulous; maybe just for a supplement on the next trip. However, it is a pleasure to see your own article published.
