Travel writing for beginners

At the Writers Workshop, we are building a programme of guest tutors who can offer insights into specific writing and publishing fields. Later in July, we welcome travel writer Clare Jenkins, co-writer of a new travelogue: Teatime at Peggy's: A Glimpse of Anglo-India. Clare’s class (July 28th, 1-4:30PM) will be a great introduction to documenting your travels, be they far afield or close to home. Click here for more info on the session. In the meantime, we asked Clare to tell us what travel writing means to her.

What is travel writing? 

Travel writing is a very broad church. There’s the ‘What I did on my holiday’ type, when the writer gushes about their wonderful hotel, fabulous beaches, the sunset cocktails, and the delicious, Instagrammable food. Or there’s the ‘round-up’ type, e.g., ‘20 most romantic destinations for Valentine’s Day’. There are many travel bloggers, such as Nomadic Matt and Deskbound Traveller. And in traditional publishing, there are travel guides, such as Bradt Guides and Lonely Planet. Then there are the classic travel writers like Colin Thubron, Paul Theroux, Dervla Murphy, Alexander Frater, Sara Wheeler – all of whom take you deep into other cultures, other lives. 

What kind of travel writing do you do and why?

Apart from the book Teatime at Peggy's: A Glimpse of Anglo-India (which documents more than a dozen trips to the town of Jhansi in central India), my travel writing is now all UK-based. Since my husband, Stephen McClarence, a former travel writer for The Times and Telegraph, decided during the pandemic that he never wanted to go near an airport again, I concentrate on the UK, which I write about mostly for On Yorkshire online magazine: https://www.on-magazine.co.uk/tag/clare-jenkins/ Most of those articles include a hotel review as well – that way, we have a usually very good base from which to explore the surrounding area. 

When is travel writing at its most/least engaging, in your opinion?

For me, travel writing is best when it engages with people and with the place itself: first-person articles that introduce you to a place and its culture, with quotes and anecdotes. I enjoy articles that include conversations with, for example, Indian rickshaw-drivers (Steve won a Travel Writer of the Year award for just such a piece), Orcadian farmers, or Parisian waiters. 

The least engaging are accounts of beach holidays and scuba-diving! You know, the “let me tell you about my amazing free holiday” type pieces, which are often littered with cliches, such as “snow-capped mountains”, “palm-fringed beaches”, “crystal-clear waters” or somewhere’s “best-kept secret”.

What travel writing do you admire? 

Recently, I’ve enjoyed Mary Novakovich’s My Family and Other Enemies; Life and Travels in Croatia’s Hinterland, and Tom Chesshyre’s Slow Trains to Istanbul … and Back. I also admire the writers Eric Newby and Bill Bryson, whose accounts have opened my eyes to places and cultures both near and far.  

Steve’s writing is always descriptive, observational and humorous. This article is a particularly fun read. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/india/741091/No-silkworm-curry-today-sir.html

How did you get into travel writing professionally?

I was already a journalist, though mainly a radio broadcaster, and I used to teach travel writing as part of the journalism degree at Sheffield Hallam University. When Steve decided to give up travel writing, I started. 

What are your top 3 tips for starting to write about travel?

Be curious. Observe. Describe.

What will attendees get from your session in July?

Hopefully, some insight into the various types of travel writing, and the various markets available to travel writers (and how to “sell” an idea to them). Tips about how to research a place and what to look for when travelling/writing about places. How to see a familiar place through unfamiliar eyes, distill its essence, find an angle, and structure a travel article. 

And for anyone who might think, “But I never go anywhere exotic!” I’d offer two quotes: 

“People travel to faraway places to watch in fascination the kind of people they ignore at home.” Philosopher Dagobert D. Runes

And: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust