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How Travel Writers Can
Make Their Work
Unique
Updated:
Writing is easy, anyone can do it, but
the greatest success for travel writers, as for writers of all
different genres, is to make their work different, preferably
unique. This article shows how it’s done.
DISPEL A
POPULAR BELIEF
Look for myths and beliefs which can be challenged and thereby
create a truly unusual article for magazines large and small. For
example, the Swiss pride themselves on being one of the world’s
cleanest nations. Very hefty fines are handed out to litter louts.
At least that’s what the outside world thinks - and to be fair it’s
almost certainly true - but if you find a particularly litter-ridden
Swiss location, take photographs, perhaps ‘shoot’ a litter lout in
action - it’s another great chance to make the whole world
reconsider its views.
LOOK FOR NEW AND INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT
Being one of the first to report on some new and interesting
development will find you selling your articles and features many
times over. Changes you might look out for include new leisure and
tourist attractions; the removal of long-standing monuments or
eyesores; new transport systems, and so on.
NARROW DOWN YOUR TARGET WRITING LOCATION
Instead of writing about a place in its entirety, look for a small
but interesting part. Most towns and cities, for instance, in our
own country and abroad, have areas that most tourists never see.
Shanty towns, slums, ethnic communities with their own special brand
of homes and shops, etc.
LOOK FOR AN UNUSUAL ANGLE
Check what other writers have submitted already about the location
you are travelling to and focus on a different subject or a
different aspect to a common subject. If you are a woman who hardly
ever goes into pubs alone, how about a daring piece, personally
researched, on the chances of a lone woman enjoying a drink
unhindered in a male dominated location? What about researching and
writing about life for the liberated European female living and
working among orthodox Moslems?
LOOK FOR INTERESTING AND UNUSUAL CHARACTERS – FOCUS ON THEM
RATHER THAN THE LOCALITY ITSELF
Instead of writing about nationals in the country you visit, try
seeking out expatriates who have made their homes abroad. The more
unusual their lifestyles, the better. Experienced travel writers
take great pains to seek out an unusual character to use as their
central theme for a travel-related article. It all adds spice to the
finished product.
LOOK FOR AN INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL PLACE OR BUILDING TO FOCUS ON
How about looking for slums and ghettos in the middle of one of the
world’s most glamorous locations? A number of places have squalid
shanty towns situated virtually yards from the most densely
populated tourist areas. Tourists don’t see them of course; they’re
often hidden from view by large office blocks, walls, trees, and
whatever else might shield the nationals’ degradation and poverty
from wealthy tourists’ eyes. Find them, take notes, shoot a few
photographs, and offer your work to numerous worldwide magazines. It
doesn’t need to be a region or area you might focus attention on;
look for interesting buildings: houses thought to be haunted, for
instance; places with an interesting history; a normally quiet town
brought rapidly to life at carnival time, and so on. If you can tie
in an anniversary, then don’t lose the opportunity to do so.
Trying all these various techniques ensure your work is different
and gives you your very best chance of being published.
Avril Harper is a successful freelance writer and
author of
HOW TO BE A FIVE MINUTE WRITER.
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