Travel Writing 101

An ability to observe

Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description

 This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

•  Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?
• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.
• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.
• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.
• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.
•  Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.
•  The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

 A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration

This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

 A particular point of view and/or an opinion

Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness 

Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

An ability to sum up

Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publisher

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins

Travel Writing 101

What skills should the travel writer bring to the table? What would an editor look for in the sample clippings sent in with a book proposal or a bid for an article?

An ability to observe. Close observation will allow you to pinpoint the salient features of the destination or attraction you are covering.

An ability to write physical description. This may sound strange, especially when there are hundreds of writing teachers who tell you to show, not tell. Certainly editors do not want overly florid descriptions, but some writers think they should eschew description altogether and just use factual presentation. Your descriptions should include:

• Color: is the sea blue, azure, gray, turquoise, green with algae or almost as brown as the sand?

• Light: whether it’s the neon lights of a casino or the morning light on desert sand, light plays a part in the physical description of things.

• Texture: rough concrete, burnished wood, silk fabric in a clothing shop, the brass rail of a ship are all textures that bring the experience home to the reader.

• Smell: Fresh bread in bakeries, the salt sea air, and diesel fumes on highways are part and parcel of the travel experience.

• Sound: Did a whistle blow? Do monkeys shriek? Even in a short piece you can mention the clink of coins in a casino or seagulls squabbling over a piece of bread on the beach.

• Taste: Of course food and wine pieces abound in descriptions that cater to the sense of taste. But any travel pieces should indicate the specifics, whether it’s the taste of real whipped cream in a Vienna coffee house or the pungent tingle of a special sauce in Thailand.

• The view: I know one writer who mentions the view quite often, but doesn’t mention what it is he is viewing. Even if you are deep in a forest and come to a clearing, please remember to mention what it is you see.

•
In Addition, travel writers should have:

A willingness to check facts
The publisher won’t do it for you! If you place a museum or a park in the wrong city, or the wrong section of the right city, you’ll hear from an annoyed customer pretty quickly! Readers really get angry when the hotel you said was on Grand Street is really on Grand Avenue over on the seedy side of town. And fact-checking means going back to original source – no fair picking up the material from a third party website or blog! If you have no time – hire a fact checker. Some travel guide publishers do employ fact checker, but if an author is found to have oodles of factual mistakes he won’t be employed for long.

An ability to write narration.
This is particularly important when writing for guidebooks. Whether this means pages of history, little anecdotes about famous people or places, or even a day in the life of a soul-searching traveler, narration comes quite often. Guidebook writers should be able to suffuse the facts with a sense of drama so that the reader becomes involved in the history and culture of the place.

. A particular point of view and/or an opinion:
Even if you don’t voice a strong opinion, your point of view will show some bias. If you like quiet bars over noisy ones, if you prefer art museums over science museums, if you like French pastry over Italian pastry it will show in your descriptions.

A sense of fairness. Maybe you hate festivals and open-air markets where people mill about and there’s no place to sit down. Still in all, scads of people like them and it’s your job to describe the action. This is the time to interview a flea-market addict or observe the family at the hot-air balloon festival. Use their reactions instead of your own to give a fair assessment of the place.

7. An ability to sum up: Especially in guidebooks where writers cannot take the leisurely route around Cairo souvenir shops, they must be able to sum up the exotic shopping experience in a paragraph or two. Getting the sense of the place to the reader in a few short sentences is an absolute necessity. You will often have to create a succinct write-up of 100, 150 or 200 words to convey the essence of the destination.

Correct spelling and grammar
That means giving your piece the spell check once-over and then correcting everything one more time by yourself.

Correct formatting for a particular websites or publishers

Most guidebook series have specific formats and the editors expect the author to hand in a manuscript done within those writing guidelines. The same goes for online writing sites. The use of bulleted lists, title and subtitle caps, placements of pictures and lots of other usage formulas differ from one website to another, so be sure to follow the writing guidelines.

Article adapted from Crafting the Travel Guidebook by Barbara Hudgins