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There are those who consider travel writing a fun, idle, leisurely activity full of mai tai cocktails and laptop screens resting on a twilit beach. Then there are those who know that travel writing, in its most narrative forms, is challenging, personal, and gut-wrenching, requiring a nakedness of self. I’m currently reading Ox Travels, an anthology of famous travel writers, and I find that all these pieces have something in common — a narrative voice, without analysis or reflection or qualification.
In my slow unwrapping of the travel writer herself, I am delving into biographies, memoirs, timelines of authors–interested in the writer’s process itself, which is often eclipsed by her shining travelogues. Here is a collection of quotes from some very well-known authors, not on travel but on the writing of this our ”most private of pleasures.”
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“Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in the least want to hear what he has seen in Hong-Kong.” ~~ Vita Sackville-West
“Great travel writing consists of equal parts curiosity, vulnerability and vocabulary. It is not a terrain for know-it-alls or the indecisive. The best of the genre can simply be an elegant natural history essay, a nicely writ sports piece, or a well-turned profile of a bar band and its music. A well-grounded sense of place is the challenge for the writer. We observe, we calculate, we inquire, we look for a link between what we already know and what we’re about to learn. The finest travel writing describes what’s going on when nobody’s looking.” ~~ Tom Miller
“Anyone telling about his travels must be a liar, . . . for if a traveler doesn’t visit his narrative with the spirit and techniques of fiction, no one will want to hear it.” ~~ Paul Fussell
“I always tell people there’s only one trick to writing: You have to write something that people are willing to pay money to read. It doesn’t have to be very good, necessarily, but somebody, somewhere, has got to be willing to pay money for it.” ~~ Bill Bryson
“Good travel writing is done by good writers who travel. It is not enough to have swum through piranha-infested waters to the source of the Amazon. You must be able to write well to convey that experience. When you have learned the craft of writing, you can make a stroll through your own suburban neighborhood seem interesting, even exciting. Good travel writing needs much the same ingredients as any good story – narrative, drive, characters, dialogue, atmosphere, revelation. Make it personal. Let the reader know how the place and the experience are affecting you.” ~~ Stanley Stewart
“Next time you’re out with a friend, ask him or her if you can tell them your new story idea. Halfway through, make an excuse to leave the table. When you come back, start talking about something else, as though you’ve forgotten all about the story. If your friend interrupts to ask you to finish, you know you have a winner. If your friend instead seems relieved, definitely think twice about your story idea.” ~~ Robert Mckee
