Travel Articles

– Day 2-3 (practice)

An article for reference

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/t-magazine/milos-greece-swimming.html
 2. Have a goal
➔ Some trips have a physical objective (reaching the top of
Kilimanjaro, crossing Costa Rica, seeing a tiger) that gives
your article direction and purpose. The reader (hopefully)
sticks with you because they want to know if you’ll achieve
your goal.
➔ But many trips don’t have an obvious goal; they are more
about discovering a place, unpicking its history or meeting its
people. In this case, create a personal goal to give your reader
a sense of where you’re taking them.
 1. Clear storyline
➔ A trip is not a story in itself, it’s just a series of
events. Some of these events will be interesting
(you made it up Kilimanjaro!) and some will not
(you arrived back at the airport on time*). As a
writer, your first job is to decide on the particular
story you want to tell, and the events which make
up that story.
4. Write an irresistable 1st paragraph
➔ You can start a travel article any way you like, as long
as it grabs the reader’s attention. You can use drama,
humour, dialogue, (or all three) – but those first
sentences must grip like glue. Most travel articles start
in media res – in the thick of the story – and then
backtrack to explain how you happened to be in this
situation.
 5. Include Dialogue
➔ “Look! There! The lions are on the prowl,” whispered Joseph.
Or: "we could see the lions heading off hunting." Which
sentence is more interesting to read?
➔ Dialogue brings a scene to life, gives personality to the people
in your story, and allows you to convey important information
in a punchy way. Whenever you travel, make notes of what
people say and how they say it.
It’s all in the details
(Descriptive Language!)
Details make your descriptive writing more
interesting.
 For example: take the sentence,

A man went for a walk.

We know the subject is a man, and he went for a

walk.
 Let’s add a few more details to make it more
interesting…

The old man put on his heavy coat,

leashed his black dog, grabbed a
flashlight and a plastic bag just in
case, and went out into the cold for
a walk.
 The idea is the same but we now know…

- the age of the man

- that he’s going out with his pet
- that his pet is a black dog
- that it’s cold and dark outside
- AND he thinks the dog will go to the bathroom!
It’s all in the DETAILS! We can now visualize the man and his
dog on a walk in the cold night.
 Add details: 1.
Mary dressed carefully on the first day of school.

* Possible change:
Mary dressed carefully in her newly washed and
pressed blue school uniform on the first day of school
because she wanted to look her best.
 Add details: 2.
The boy went to the ice cream shop.

* Possible change:
The elementary school boy grabbed some money from
the kitchen table, ran outside to catch up with his
friends, and went to the new ice cream shop down the
street.
 Add details: 3.
The twins live in the house.

* Possible change:
The youngest set of identical twins in the city live
together with their other brothers and sisters in the old
family house downtown, where they grew up.
I float in a cave beneath the beach. With
each wave, my head rises. I dive beneath
the surface, with sea grass below.
Then there are bubbles everywhere. I
surface and it’s two women; they’ve
jumped. Beyond Sarakiniko is the Kastro.
Details appeal to the 5 SENSES (sight, taste,
touch, hearing, smell)

I float inside a cave, deep beneath the

white volcanic beach of Sarakiniko.

Senses: touch (float, deep), sight

(white), smell ? (volcanic)
Details appeal to the 5 SENSES (sight, taste,
touch, hearing, smell)

With each surge of the waves, my

head rises unnervingly close to the
rock ceiling.

Senses: touch (rock, surge)

Details appeal to the 5 SENSES (sight, taste,
touch, hearing, smell)

I dive beneath the water’s surface,

kick deeper, allow myself to be
pulled out through the cave’s mouth.

Senses: touch (kick, pulled)

Details appeal to the 5 SENSES (sight, taste,
touch, hearing, smell)

The sharp green sea grass waves 30

feet below, the surface a roiling
mirror overhead.

Senses: touch (sharp), sight (green),

hearing (roiling)
Revisit your 2 paragraphs from last class

1. ADD an extra paragraph to the techniques you already used

If you already wrote
2. Describe what the place was like (write 1 extra paragraph) – add 3 paragraphs last
DETAILS, appeal to SENSES (see, smell, hear, touch, taste) time – just add
extra details to
what you wrote
3. Use dialogue if/as appropriate before. Appeal to
the senses
4. Update your file in our shared google docs location