7 Tips About Travel Writing I Learnt From Nat Geo's Workshop

I went to this amazing workshop by National Geographic Traveller India about TRAVEL WRITING. And learnt the tricks of the trade from the experts – National Geographic Traveller India's Editor, Ms Lakshmi Sankaran. How cool is that!!!

So, I thought why not share the knowledge with my awesome community here. Read on...

1. Beauty lies in the details...

People would keep reading your article if you can make them imagine what's it like to be actually sitting at that spot - that means vivid imagery... something like, painting a portrait of that place with lively description. So, don't just show. Make them feel what you did! Transport readers to a place they've never went before with your words. Remember, good travel writers are great storytellers.

2. Engage all your senses. Write that in your story.

We are humans, right? We got senses, and as writers, we feel things too strongly, don't we? Show that in your writing. Travel is not just a list of places to see. It involves a lot more. You smell a place's air, you taste it, you hear peculiar sounds... Don't be shy to describe them in your writing. It all adds on to the beauty of the narrative.

3. Traveller or tourist? - YOU decide!

As writers, if you are visiting somewhere, you decide your own pace - about how you'd like to explore the city. Some feel their adrenaline rushing by checking off all the sightseeing spots on the list. Some like to move it slow and take in the beauty of one sight to the fullest. BOTH ARE RIGHT (there's no wrong!). Align what feels right to you, and travel accordingly.

Make sure you reflect the same in your writing. If you are a tourist-kind of writer, make sure your writing is fast paced. If you like it slow, your writing should be like that - immersive!

4. Make note - right here, right now!

Writers! You gotta write as your experience a place, so as to not lose out on the essence, the feeling. See, thoughts are transient. DON'T think you'd remember 'it' at the end of the day to note it all down. Nope, you won't. There's so much happening and so much to take in when you travel... You CANNOT remember it all even if you have a gazillion gigabytes memory. So, note it down - right there, right now! Type, voice record, do anything - but get it out.

5. Be honest to your experience.

See, I know, some places might feel heaven to you. You connect with it on a different level. But, some places... there's everything to see and do, but you don't really feel connected with the city. Come on, we all have felt that! So, let that be. No need to tone down that feeling down. Let it reflect in your writing. Be honest to what you felt and express it in a way that doesn't hurt the sentiments of the people living there. Try including humour.

6. Don't be general. Be specific.

This is best explained through an example. So, we all know there's the Taj Mahal in Agra. What more? Lal Quila!? Yeah, but what would make your article stand out? YOUR experience, your perception, your thoughts, your way of expressing - and that cannot be as general as writing "I visited Agra and I saw Taj Mahal"!

So, what do we do? PRO TIP: Record the first thought that you got when you saw Taj Mahal. Elaborate on that. Be specific. I'd write it as:

"Taj Mahal was standing in all its glory. All the stories of love and immortality flooded my mind. And the white marble embodied it all. White... purity, love! But, it wasn't pure white. It had hues. A little yellow. Grey. Some black. Beautiful textures. Seamless gradients. All merging together - making Taj Mahal what it was. With all its purity and imperfections, there it stood. "

See what I did there? My attention didn't just stay on the 'symbol of love', but what my mind was thinking at that moment - and I described it! < you can review my piece of writing and comment how was it? >

7. There isn't any one way to write.

The workshop started and ended on this note. Everyone's perception is different. Everyone's writing style is different. The same story would sound different from 2 different writers. So it is with travel writing (or any writing, if I may say so!). So, leave your inhibitions behind about 'writing like a particular writer' and just write like you!

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And that was it. Let's meet with a new article next month - 9th April ??

Till then... Happy Travelling. Happy Experiencing. Happy Writing!