Safety first, deploy decoy wallet
Posted: October 28, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: christopher elliot, national geographic, safety travel tips, travel advice, travel journalism, travel safety, travel writer, travel writing 1 Comment »Chapter 4 gives the travel writer two pieces of pre-travel advice on safety while traveling. Christopher Elliott of The National Geographic adds to this advice by offering the writer tips to solve every crisis during travel. Elliot offers this bit:
Regardless of your locale, always watch your things when in a new place. Carry a throwaway wallet or decoy purse containing daily cash and old photos but nothing that would make you hesitate to hand it over in a holdup. Keep a credit card and cash in an inside pocket. 1. Hand over the fake wallet. 2. Notify the police.
Do not hesitate to hand over anything in a hold up, no material object is worth risking your life.
More about ethics
Posted: October 28, 2012 Contents: Chapter 7 | Tags: accepting subsidies for travel, ethics, jina moore, jinamoore.com, journalist ethics, travel ethics, travel journalism, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 7 encourages the travel writer to remain ethical when accepting subsidies for travel. Jina Moore of jinamoore.com discusses another ethical standard the travel writer must uphold when creating stories. Moore an author and multimedia producer gives 5 rules in obtaining consent from the subject of the story. Here are a few of the rules to remember:
- Meaningful consent comes from the survivor.
- Meaningful consent is given for specific use.
- Meaningful content is given at an appropriate time.
Your subject has put a level of trust in you as a travel writer, don’t abuse that trust.
Lead, Pitch
Posted: October 28, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: craft perfect pitch, david miller, lead, matador network, matadornetwork.com, perfect pitch, pitch, travel journalism, travel journalist pitch, travel writer pitch, travel writing 1 Comment »Chapter 4 teaches the travel writer about different story elements. David Miller of the Matador Network offers advice to the travel writer on how to craft a perfect pitch. Miller discusses the importance of the Lead and how ultimately a good pitch can only get the writer so far. Miller offers six ways to improve the lead of the story a few are:
- Lead with the narrator in a problematic or overtly stressful situation.
- Lead with a disarmingly simple and short declarative sentence.
- Begin in-medias-res, with descriptions placing the reader in the middle of a scene.
Remember the lead must be able to capture the readers attention to force them to read the rest of the story.
Dealing with editors
Posted: October 23, 2012 Contents: Chapter 5 | Tags: editors, Julie Schwietert, matador network, matadornetwork.com, relationship with editors, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel journalist editor, travel magazine editor, travel writer, travel writing, travel writing editor Leave a comment »Chapter 5 delves into the pitching and getting published process. Julie Schwietert of the Matador Network shows the writer how to properly develop a relationship with an editor before getting work published. Schwietert also gives the writer advice on how to deal with negative feedback from editors. Here’s a bit of her advice,
They change words in your story- or even reshape it entirely.
How to respond
Try to react to this situation with as little ego investment as possible. These types of decisions aren’t intended to cramp your style–otherwise the editor wouldn’t have worked with you in the first place. Understand that editorial decisions reflect a complex algebra of factors, including the editor’s understanding of the publication’s goals, audience, and even finances; many of these variables won’t be clear to you at all. If something really rubs you…
Participate! The best way to get the story
Posted: October 20, 2012 Contents: Chapter 1 | Tags: jennifer neves, participate, travel advice, travel journalism, travel writers exchange, travel writing Leave a comment »Jennifer Neves of Travel Writers Exchange.com offers advice to travelers on how to get the biggest bang for his or her traveling buck. The author, a professional travel writer, offers this tidbit as her most important way to get the biggest bang for your buck:
“Participate! If you are always observing, you may be able to write about an event in great detail. The colors, the smells, the action, but you will never be able to write about how it feels. Reflecting on what you have experienced is more powerful than a hundred pages of descriptions about the things you have not experienced – and more interesting to read. Your readers want to relate to you. They want to relate to the people in the places you describe.”
Akin to the advice offered in Chapter 1 Neves…
The travel writer as an ecotourist
Posted: October 20, 2012 Contents: Chapter 3 | Tags: bonnie tsui, ecotourism, ecotourists, new york times, new york times travel, travel journalism, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 3 teaches the reader how to identify and research the audience for eco-tourism. Bonnie Tsui, a writer at the New York TImes Travel section, offers insight to what ecotourists are looking for. According to Tsui’s research ecotourists are,
“looking for two things: access to unique areas that most tourists can never visit, and a way to improve the life of the people and places they do visit.”
Coincidentally travel writers seem to be seeking similar experiences. Ecotourism maybe a way for the travel writer to gain that unique perspective and story.
Volunteer travel with integrity
Posted: October 20, 2012 Contents: Chapter 3 | Tags: ecotourism, ecotourism.org, sallie grayson, travel journalism, travel writing, volunteer, volunteer travel, volunteer traveling Leave a comment »Chapter 3 reveals that 35 percent of travel editors who responded to a survey said “volunteer” is somewhat important topic to readers. Sallie Grayson, program director at ecotourism.org, offers this advice to travelers to ensure the majority of their funds and time are actually benefitting the host country:
“We suggest that you then ask exactly the same questions of each organization that you contact. As you asses their responses, if the following questions come to mind – ‘Why can’t they tell me how much of what I’m spending reaches my hosts?’ or ‘How do I know that my hosts are being fairly recompensed for their hospitality?’ – maybe you want to think again about choosing to travel with them.”
Grayson, however, neglects to discuss the question: is the time and money a volunteer spends worth more than simply sending…
Beef up stories with interviews
Posted: October 20, 2012 Contents: Chapter 1 | Tags: interview, travel interview, travel journalism, travel writers exchange, travel writing, travelwritersexchange.com, trisha miller Leave a comment »Chapter 1 encourages the travel writer to talk to at least one local to add dimension and a unique perspective to his story. One way to do this is by conducting interviews. Trisha Miller of Travel-writers-exchange.com provides tips for conducting a great interview. Among her advice Miller lists:
- Always prepare in advance.
- Interview people in their own environment – So if it’s a chef, ask if he can be interviewed in the kitchen.
- Make an audio recording & take notes – have a back up recording
- The better the subject appears is the better the writer will appear.
Miller ensures the writer that following her advice will offer the writer interesting and entertaining content that readers yearn for.
Become a better observer
Posted: October 20, 2012 Contents: Chapter 1 | Tags: active observation, become a better observer, david miller, matador network, matadornetwork.com, observation, observer, travel journalism, travel writing Leave a comment »While Chapter 1 urges the travel writer to employ more tools than just observation while investigating her story, observation is still an effective primary source of information. David Miller, at the Matador network has offered these exercises to becoming a better observer. First he discusses active observation which he states,
Active observation is trying to see the connections between what’s visible in someone (their expressions, clothes, what they’re doing) and invisible (their histories, upbringing, dreams, desires). This is key, because within the gap between what’s visible and invisible is often where the deepest, most credible, and most interesting stories are found.
To practice observations, Miller states, try these three exercises:
- Stories out of photos
- analyzing how relationships are…
