a 'how-to' on becoming a travel writer

Travel & lifestyle writing

workshop@

Christ University-Arun Bhat

www.paintedstork.com22 August 2014

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This workshop was conducted during the Media Meet at Christ University, Bangalore, in August 2014.

A few minor changes were made to the presentation for the ease of online viewing

Do you want to be here?

Or Here?

Or Here?

Or Here?

Or Here?

…atsomeone else’s

EXPENSE?!

These are the kind of places

whereTRAVEL WRITERS

hangout(at someone else’s expense! And also get paid for it!!)

BUT…

Road to Paradiseis full of

POT HOLES

• It is no easy task to be a travel writer.• These perks come with responsibilities.

Let’s Begin With an Exercise!

• Think about the last time you went on a tour…

•Write your story about the visit in SIX OR SEVEN SENTENCES• The seven sentences must be split into THREE PARAGRAPHS• The first paragraph must have only TWO SENTANCES or less.

YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES!

A Quick Introduction

•About Your Coach•About this session

In This Workshop…

• Understand what travel writing is all about.• Telling about places and their stories.• Understand how to establish ourselves in the field.• Knocking the doors or publishers.• Creating a niche for ourselves.• Chasing incredible stories.

What is travel writing

• Story of a place or a part of it (Travel Magazines, Weekend Newspapers,…)• Travel Guides (Lonely Planet, Outlook Traveller Guide,…)• Books - on a journey or a destination (Snow Leopard by Peter

Mathiessen, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson,…)• Researched Stories and Books (Video Nights in Kathmandu by Pico

Iyer, City of Djinns by William Dalrymple)• Online Writing for Web Portals (makemytrip.com, cleartrip.com)• Memoirs, Collections,

Journalism & Travel Writing, a thin line• Chasing illegal immigrants in Indonesia (The Dream Boat by Luke

Mogelson in New York Times)• Travelling with North Koreans making an escape to South Korea

through China (Tim O’Neill in National Geographic)• A story on Reinhold Messner, one of the greatest climbers ever

(Caroline Alexander in National Geographic)

Let’s get to the nitty gritties….

What’s the first thing we need to do

to become

good writers?

Read the best writing out there!

•Pico Iyer•Eric Newby•Peter Mathiessen• Jan Morris•Bruce Chatwin

•William Dalrymple• Jon Krakauer•Paul Theroux•Bill Bryson•Ruskin Bond

And many more

Read the best writing out there…(magazines)!…and everything else you can get your hands on

•National Geographic•Geo•Outside•Guardian Travel•T Magazine

•Outlook Traveller•Conde Nast Traveller•Travel + Leisure•Lonely Planet India Magazine

Read the best writing out there…(web)!

•Solas Best Travel Writing Award•National Geographic (website)•Matador Network•And many more…

Grammar & Usage

Telling Stories…

First, Let’s Define A Story.

•Has a definite beginning•Has a definite end•A series of events that connect the beginning with the end

Ladakh

Ladakh

Ladakh

Ladakh

Ladakh

Ladakh is a land of high mountains. Reaching here takes a journey over high passes, often climbing well above 15,000 feet.

People of Ladakh practice Mahayana Buddhism. Monasteries, often located high up a hill overlooking the villages, serve as flag bearers of the spiritual and religious doctrine.

Subsistence farming was once the primary means of livelihood of the people of Ladakh. Today, tourism is one of the important revenue earners for the local economy. The beautiful landscapes, the interesting religious practices and the village life makes Ladakh a charming place for visitors.

Let’s apply the definition (Exercise).

Things to Remember

•Continuity in the story•No digressions•Do not miss any important aspects•Emphasize on all things small and big

Show, don’t tell (Exercise).

Ladakh looks very different in winters. There is snow everywhere. It’s cold and more beautiful than ever. The whole place looks very magical although it’s really freezing during the winter months.

Show, don’t tell

A transition from summer to winter is apparent in the landscape of Leh. The fields and gardens, which the people of the town and surrounding villages lovingly tend to, now stand brown and unattended. Poplar and willow trees have lost all their leaves. But the usually barren mountains come alive with a charming sprinkle of snow on their slopes.

Show, don’t tell (A longer version)Ladakh wears a white blanket in winter months. Post October, when the temperatures start dipping below the freezing point, the brown and barren mountain slopes get decorated with powdery snow. Mercury dips quickly in November and December months, often going below -30C. The weather is unforgiving but the landscape is dressed in bridal wear. The fields and gardens, which the people of the town and surrounding villages lovingly tend to, now stand brown and unattended. Poplar and willow trees loose all their leaves. But the usually barren mountains now come alive with a charming sprinkle of snow on their slopes.

Show, don’t tellWatch your adjectives. Do not use them without justification.

• Beautiful• Charming• Interesting• Incredible•Magnificent• Amazing

Show, don’t tellDescribe your subjects. Help the readers understand

•Huge Lake – A lake as large as five football fields• Tall Mountains – The snow-peaks kissed the clouds…• Fast – As quick as a bullet train• Bad roads – back breaking journey on a road that may

have seen tarmac a millennium ago• Sultry – I was sweating so profusely that the only thing I

could think of soon after a shower was another shower

Words Are Money (Exercise)Ladakh wears a white blanket in winter months. Post October, when the temperatures start dipping below the freezing point, the brown and barren mountain slopes get decorated with powdery snow. Mercury dips quickly in November and December months, often going below -30C. The weather is unforgiving but the landscapes is dressed in bridal wear. The fields and gardens, which the people of the town and surrounding villages lovingly tend to, now stand brown and unattended. Poplar and willow trees loose all their leaves. But the usually barren mountains now come alive with a charming sprinkle of snow on their slopes.

Words Are MoneyLadakh wears a white blanket in winter months. Post October, when the temperatures start falling below the freezing point, the brown and barren mountain slopes get decorated with powdery snow. Mercury dips quickly in November and December months, often going below -30C. The weather is unforgiving but the earth is covered with snow. The fields and gardens, which the people of Leh and surrounding villages lovingly tend to, now stand brown and unattended. Poplar and willow trees loose all their leaves. But the usually barren mountains now come alive dressed in bridal wear. Lakes have frozen and the rivers have a lining of shining-white ice on either banks.

Words Are Money

•The lake was very large, almost as big as ten football fields put together.• The lake was as large as ten football fields.

• The pagoda was covered with a film of gold from top to bottom. The crown of the pagoda is covered with diamonds.• The gilded pagdoa has a dazzling crown studded with

diamonds.

Take the reader on a journey with youThe pilot aligned the aircraft along the east-west direction of Indus Valley before he reduced altitude. The aircraft gently zig-zagged in the sky, tracing the path of the azure river at the valley floor. With 6000 meter-high mountains rising steeply on either sides, the only way to descend into Leh was through the long-running trough of Indus River. From up in the sky, we followed the path of the river for a few minutes. When we had descended well below the altitude of the peaks that dominated the landscape, a steep U-turn at the widest part of the valley allowed us to make the final descent. We had arrived in Leh.

Take little things into considerationWe taxied out of the runaway as the cabin crew made the usual announcements. For some reason, they decided not to mention the outside temperature, perhaps with a goodwill to let us stay comfortably in the warmth of the aircraft without worrying about the harsh weather that awaited us. It must have been anywhere between five to ten degrees below zero that morning, a comfortable day by local standards in winter.

And provide sufficient emphasis to big pictureA transition from summer to winter was apparent in the landscape of Leh. The fields and gardens, which the people of the town and surrounding villages lovingly tend to, now stood brown and unattended. Poplar and willow trees had lost all their leaves. But the usually barren mountains had now come alive with a charming sprinkle of snow on their slopes.It is these snow in these mountains, and much larger deposits of it in the remote regions that attracted me to Leh this winter.

The opening…

•Must be exciting.•Must initiate the story in a way that provokes the reader to probe further.•Must provide considerable idea about what is in store.

I was on my way to the highlands of Himachal Pradesh. The weather report said it was raining heavily in parts of the state. We exercised some caution and checked with the bus company, only to find out that our bus from Delhi was cancelled. We decided to hire a taxi instead of waiting for the bus.

The opening… (Exercise)

Bridges had fallen and the roads were cut off. A long traffic waited for many hours hoping for things to get better. Buses were cancelled and they had no clear answers to when the services will resume. “It depends on the weather, sir,” was the fence-sitting answer from the person manning the phone at the bus company, who neither had any real-time information nor had powers to provide decisive answers.Himachal Pradesh was seeing heavy rains in the past few days. As it happens every year, landslides had crippled the road infrastructure and there was a cloud of uncertainty over what happens next. Unpredictable as the weather here is, things might magically settle back to normal the next morning. Or things could very well turn worse if another line of dark clouds made their way towards the mountains.

Make the reader wonder what is in store…

A quick insight to the unfolding story…In October 2013, I fell down from a pagoda in Bagan, Myanmar, and dislocated a wrist bone in the right hand. The problem could not be diagnosed in Nyang U (Bagan) and I had to fly back home for a surgery. It took me a three-hop journey on three different airlines to get home. Subsequently, recuperating from a surgery and permitted by my doctor to travel, I took eight more flights in a span of two months when my hand was still in a sling or wrapped in a splint. (continued)

A quick insight to the unfolding story…With a total of eleven hops using six different airlines, I had a chance to see how different airlines care for passengers with special needs. I was surprised at the sea difference in their treatment, sometimes even among the staff of same airline in different airports.

A Chronological BeginningMy bus from Mapusa rattled and crawled northwards slowly, stopping at every turn on the way to pick up or drop passengers. The window view kept changing from plush Goan Villas and betelnut orchards on flat terrains to green vistas across rolling hills. Once in a while, the road skirted close to empty sandy stretches at the edge of blue expanse of water, indicating what is in store ahead. I reached Arambol Beach an hour later, or Harmal as the locals prefer to call it.

A Provocative Beginning

Magod Falls, Unchalli Falls and Satoddi Falls. Have you heard of these waterfalls? The answer is likely to depend on how far you live from these places, how active a traveller are you and how intrepid are your journeys.

Hoysala Temples in Karnataka

C:\Users\ArunB\Downloads

A Descriptive Beginning

One would not expect to find a 900-year old temple in a non-descript village with a tongue twister name like Doddagaddavalli. Driving past gently undulating vistas sparingly dotted with stout trees and small irrigation ponds—they added a dash of beauty to the widespread vegetable fields—I suddenly encountered a colourful sign by the road that announced the presence of an ancient temple. (continued)

A Descriptive Beginning

Turning off the main road and going past a small village with its usual share of chickens and cows that blocked my way, I found the road gliding from the top of a mound, down an easy slope. At the base of the valley was a small black structure of stone, a temple with shrines rising up from all its corners, a saffron flag fluttering over one of those projections. Its location could not have been better, situated at the edge of the village overlooking a lake and visible from every crest of the wavy landscape that surrounded it.

The ending…

•Ensure that the ending justifies the story.•Avoid clichés and disconnected ending.

I bought some sun-dried apricots later in the day at Leh’s now quiet main-market. They tasted good, but were no match to the juicy apricots that you can simply pluck from a tree and relish during the summer days. There are many such pleasures that you can’t find in the winter months in Ladakh. Visitors have to endure the cold and live without the luxuries of summer. But the landscapes–snow-covered slopes, half-frozen rivers, fully frozen lakes, earth that looks like ice fields–are a splendid work of nature that can only be witnessed in this season.

Ending

Next Exercise

Rewrite Your First Story

• Think about the last time you went on a tour…

• Write your story about the visit in SEVEN SENTENCES

• The seven sentences must be split into THREE PARAGRAPHS

• The first paragraph must have only TWO SENTANCES or less.

YOU NOW HAVE TEN MINUTES!

REMEMBER…•Definition of a Story•Good opening•Continuity in your story• Show, don’t tell

Anecdotes - Fill your story with anecdotesI arrived in Leh at midnight, with just Rs.50 in the pocket. A taxi driver demanded Rs.150 to drop me to the guesthouse I had booked for the night. Take me through an ATM, I told him. The first ATM I visited was not working, and so was the second. In those days, they were the only two ATMs in town. I couldn’t pay the driver, but he dropped me anyway and agreed to collect his dues next afternoon. Yes, thankfully one of the ATMs started working next morning or I would not know what to do.

Anecdotes - Fill your story with anecdotesAfter six days of walking in Zanskar, I meet a big challenge: a swiftly flowing, icy stream that I don’t want to cross. The water is muddy, so I don’t even know how deep it is, and if I can risk it. My horseman cum guide—Brij Lal—urges me to go forward. But I wait for him to show the way. Let me cross behind him, I decide. He lets the horses go first; the beasts have absolutely no trouble. (continued)

Anecdotes - Fill your story with anecdotesAs the last of the horses is about to leave, something unexpected happens. Brij Lal jumps over the animal, not really sitting on it but hanging behind and holding to the ropes tied on its back. Before I know what is happening, he has crossed to the other side safe and dry. I am left wondering what to do!

Researching the Story

•Go beyond the cliché.•Work on unique stories.•Read up.•Meet locals; unearth new places and stories.•Interview the experts.

Hire Guides; Interview the Experts; Get quotesHow did the Hoysala architects manage to bring in elaborateness in stone that was achieved by none else, not even by their contemporary neighbours? It is Uma [my guide] who unfolded the mystery to me. “The temples here are built using soap stone,” she told me, “this type of stone is soft like butter when it is taken out from the earth. It hardens over continuous exposure to the atmosphere.” With its butter-like characteristic, the stones could be carved to greater details, a task impossible with any harder form of stone.

Shekhawati

Hire Guides; Interview the Experts; Get quotesPaintings of Krishna are ubiquitous on the walls of Shekhawati’s havelis, but some have gone contemporary and beyond Indian mythology. Pointing at an image of railway coaches in one of the Havelis, my guide tells me that the artists were taken all the way to Mumbai to see the steam engine that was a novelty in those days.

Lahaul & Spiti, Himachal Pradesh

Hire Guides, Interview the Experts, Get quotes“It is so beautiful that you will find it difficult to come back,” said our cab driver Mangal Singh as we drove towards Lahual and Spiti region in the highlands of Indian Himalayas. I looked up and saw his beaming face and wondered if it was just a marketing pitch or a genuine remark. His brightly lit eyes expressed confidence that we would have a good time, and his warm smile and friendly gesture melted my doubts away.

Hire Guides, Interview the Experts, Get quotes‘Life was much difficult before,’ he explained and spoke in length, ‘it was not easy to procure food and other daily needs, but now the government helps us. Procuring fuel and wood was a big problem, since there are no trees here. Things are much better these days; we are well connected and well provided. There is a problem of good teachers though, Tibetan preachers don’t get visa easily and we will have to manage with local ones.’ (continued)

Hire Guides, Interview the Experts, Get quotesI barraged him with many question. ‘Why is your monastery located in such remote place? Why are you so far away from civilization? Why do monasteries tend to be in some far away mountain or top of a hill?’ There were simply too many questions I wanted answers for.The rain of questions was probably hard on him, but he was patient. He took some time to think over it and said, ‘it is to escape from the everyday world.’ I waited for him to continue but he did not seem to have more to say on it.

Unique Stories

•Some examples (some award-winning works)•Searching the origin of tea in my cup (Not a story of sightseeing in Darjeeling)•Living in French countryside (Not a story of Eiffel Tower and French Cuisine)

Unique Stories

•Some examples (renowned books)•Searching on the cultural impacts of modernisation across Asia (Video Nights in Kathmadnu by Pico Iyer)•Researching the history of two millenniums of Delhi (City of Djinns by William Dalrymple)

Getting Published

The Good News•Everyone can get published (provided you write well engough).•You do not need a long track record.

The Bad News•It is not easy (you need to be very persistent).•Publishers across the world are loosing money.

The Approach - Newspapers

•Start With Newspapers.•Read at least TEN weekend editions available in you area.•Read at least TEN weekend editions from anywhere in the world.•Work on stories that fit the publication.•Send them off!

The Approach - Magazines

•Pick at least TEN travel/lifestyle magazines and read them.•Pick at least TEN other magazines and read them.•Work on a story idea (NOT THE ENTIRE STORY)•Send a pitch. Not the story.

It’s a long road to getting published•Your first fifty pitches may not even yield one response!•Your first ten response from the editors may still not result in a published story.•The first published work is no gateway to success.•Rejection is a way of life.

It’s a long way to getting published•Continue to pitch, send unique story ideas.•Connect with editors, network, meet them personally.•Deliver, once you promise. You have only one chance to prove yourself.

Getting your work found

•Maintain a blog. Showcase your published works.•Maintain an online & social media presence.

Photography

Photos Play a Key Role

•Photos have an important role in getting published.•Editors need images. It makes their life easy if you can source them.•Photos mean more ₹₹₹

Photos Play a Key Role

•Get yourself a good camera•Learn the basics of photography

To Summarize

•Read Up•Perfect your language•Weave Stories•Take Photographs.•Connect with people who matter. Market yourself. Be persistent.

The Future• Of Publishing Industry• Of Writers

Further Reading

•Travel Writing – See the world. Sell the story.• By L. PEAT O’NEIL

•Travel Writer’s Guide• By Gordon Burgett

•Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Writing• By Don George

Questions?

Thank you!

• Arun Bhat• www.paintedstork.com (personal website – writing and photography)• www.darter.in (learn photography with us)