Travel Writing Workshop Exercises

Samples of Vagabond Muse Workshop exercises
 

Sense Of Place - What makes it credible or not? 

To Share: Find examples of writing that give a strong sense of place (can be non-fiction or fiction)  to share with the class; say why you think it's good. To Write: Describe a familiar place as if it were exotic; write a description of one particular place in three different ways, i.e. morning, midday, night; aerial view, ground view, from a moving bus; winter, summer, autumn; or from three different moods 

Leads / Beginnings 

To Share: Bring in leads, beginnings that you really do or don’t like. What makes them work or not work?  To Write: Write three completely different leads for a the same story. Make them all good. 

Organizing and plotting travel stories 

ASSIGNMENT: Read different travel stories to study how they are structured. Choose one of around 3,000 words and “dissect” it, showing how the lead portends the story and/or leads into it, and how the writer conveys the who, what, where and why of the story. How does the ending relate to the beginning or bring more meaning to the piece? Bring in a completed story of your own, or at least show an outline, plan, of how you will structure it, and the first few pages. 

Query letters and book proposals 

ASSIGNMENT: Write a query letter to pitch your article or book to the editor/magazine/newspaper/book publisher of your choice. If you have different markets and publications in mind, show how you would change or rewrite your query to be appropriate for each one.