Travel Writing Tips: How to Write In an Interesting Way About Your Home Town

The first few months were so romantic. Dinner at all the best restaurants, drinks in all the coolest bars and moonlit walks along cobbled streets. But, over time, the relationship began to fizzle out. Without realising it, you’ve ended up spending your evenings in, only venturing out to pick up the occasional pint of milk from the local corner shop.

Sound familiar? It probably does if you’re a travel writer trying to write a piece about your home town. The day-to-day routine of living in a busy metropolis can turn the bright spark that made you fall for a city into a damp squib.

How can we rekindle the magic that once made our stomping ground so alluring? How can we write as if seeing the highlights of our city for the first time? Here are some tips from the experienced travel writers at World Words.

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Why You Should Avoid Writing About a Travel Destination Only from Memory

Great travel experiences create vivid memories. Ask any traveller about a particular trip, and they will recall many strong sensory memories, from the incredible sight of a migrating herd of elephants to the gentle sound of waves lapping at shore; the overpowering smell of a bustling spice market to the sweet taste of a freshly-picked mango.

However, memory is not as reliable as it first appears. Press the same traveller on the exact number of elephants, or the route they took through the spice market, and you may find they struggle to give you an answer. The fact is, no matter how vivid your travel memories seem, there’s always key information missing from your recollection.

As travel writers, we do as much as we possibly can to record everything we see and do during our trips – in fact, making notes on your travels is a very valuable habit for travel writers – but it is not possible to record absolutely everything. So how do you ensure the travel article, guide or web copy you write when you arrive home is 100% correct, providing accurate and valuable information for your readers? Here are four ways to always get it right…

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Just What Makes Great Travel Writing Work? Analysing Writers’ Techniques

Before one can be a great travel writer, one must learn to be a great travel reader. To read voraciously and linger over the words; relish, absorb and reflect on what it is that makes great travel writing work. Found a travel article that you love? Analyse its effect – a strong feeling, a vivid image – and then pinpoint how the writer achieved it.

By examining the techniques employed in the best travel prose, aspiring travel writers can acquire new skills and help attune their own ear to the rhythms and melodies of good writing. To illustrate the many benefits of studying others’ work, we have deconstructed a selection of praiseworthy travel writing passages. Scroll down to read on.

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The Key to Travel Writing? Be Specific

In travel writing, details are everything. What good is it to describe a paradise beach if you neglect to mention the giant development looming up behind it? Why write about toe-curlingly expensive haute cuisine if your audience are budget travellers? How can you justify promoting cheap off-season travel if you don’t mention the monsoons?

We have discussed a number of travel writing tips and techniques in the past on our blog, from crafting a winning opening all the way to ending with a bang. But today, we’re offering a much broader piece of advice; one that can be put into practice at every stage of your writing journey, from pitching and research through writing and editing.

Be specific.

The fact is, specificity is key throughout the writing process, from identifying your target audience to conducting research to telling your story. Here are just some of the ways in which it pays to be specific in your travel writing.

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