The Vagabond Muse Workshops
with Nancy Lyon
Awaken your Vagabond Muse! Whether you aspire to publish in newspapers, magazines, on blogs and websites or write an e-book or travel best-seller, today’s global multi-media world gives more range for travel writing expression than ever before. You don't have to go to the ends of the earth for an interesting tale—if you put yourself into the adventure, express an authentic voice, and become a window onto a special world or experience.
Learn how travel writing intersects with memoir, fiction, creative non-fiction, essay and journalism, and expresses a strong sense of place. Have fun turning your travel experiences into great reads, in a workshop setting where input from fellow vagabonds and lovers of travel literature will help your writing evolve.
Comments on the Vagabond Muse workshops
Comments on the Vagabond Muse workshops
“PARTICIPANTS COMMENTS ABOUT THE VAGABOND MUSE
“I am fully convinced that this workshop would not have been what it was without Nancy. Nancy Lyon is an insightful, caring person with a gift for making us see the potential of our writing. She created a supportive, intensive environment for thoughtful analysis and observations about the possibilities of travel writing. All in a well-structured, well thought-out program that gave us both the tools to sharpen our writing and the inspiration to get to it.” —Melissa Aronczyk, Advertising Copy Writer, Montreal
“The workshop far exceeded my expectations. I picked up valuable writing tips, and expanded my world of writing possibility. “
“I very much enjoyed all aspects of the workshop. Nancy’s generosity in sharing her knowledge was terrific. Her exercise on writing three leads into a story really helped me to see how one subject can become several stories, and then from that, how the writer would structure each. I also finally feel I have more a guide to “show, don’t tell,” and that comes from Nancy’s sharing her knowledge. She made time for everyone, made everyone – and their work – feel valuable. I came away with lots of story ideas, and feeling good about the week. Thanks for everything – you can certainly call the workshop a success!” —Shelley Cameron McCarron, Antigonish, Nova Scotia full-time writer in the Communications Office at St. Francis Xavier University.
“No need to speak again of the warmth and belonging that captured us during the week at Sir John A.’s summer home. Through Nancy’s quiet but professional leadership, the experience surpassed my original hopes of a reflective and meaningful “week off”.
“Nancy drew on our strengths so positively as we worked together, yet we knew that lurking beneath was a fun and crazy girl—which was to be confirmed by her stories the final night. Who else would risk their life and luck camping out among the fairies on Midsummer’s Eve?”
“The balance between work and leisure was excellent, leaving time for individuals to enjoy what the area of Riviere-du-Loup had to offer and/or write to his/her heart’s content. The house itself became a positive and unifying force for our group and for our writing (who can resist Sir John A., his blue bed and the ghosts) As well it offered many corners for solitude, even as it drew us together.” —Judy Lyon, Westmount, Quebec ”
Nancy Lyon, a travel journalist and photographer with 35 years experience writing for magazines from Canada and the U.S. , England and Australia, websites and guidebook publishers, has lead many travel writing workshops in Montreal, Quebec and New York and has captured some of her adventures in her book Scatter the Mud: A Traveller's Medley. She is a current member of the Society of American Travel Writers and a former member of the British Guild of Travel Writers.
In this blasé travel world of “been there, done that,” it's an enlivening challenge to find imaginative approaches to any destination, no matter how familiar or “over-written” it may be. Vagabond Muse workshops attract people who love to travel and share their curiosity for life, their lively sense of humor and irony, and desire to evolve and expand their world visions.
The workshop covers researching, writing and marketing of travel content, and each participant complete two travel articles, or a book outline and a sample chapter. Nancy covers the A to Z of travel writing, from identifying various types of travel articles and books—from service-oriented pieces to literary armchair traveller’s tales—to research and interview techniques, to getting savvy about publishing contracts.
Through writing exercises, you’ll enjoy discovering your traveller's “voice,” create a convincing “sense of place,” structure and plot travel stories and books, and create a balance between outer vs. inner experiences, narrative & dialogue, description & reflection and showing vs. telling. And you'll gain valuable insight into revising and rewriting.
“The ancient geographer Strabo was convinced that anyone telling about his travels must be a liar. In a sense he was right, for if a traveler doesn’t visit his narrative with the spirit and techniques of fiction, no one will want to hear it...Successful travel writing mediates between two poles: the individual things it describes and the larger theme that it is about.”
Travel writing is a hybrid genre which intersects with memoir, fiction, creative non-fiction, essay and journalism. It embraces many forms, but it is most distinct for expressing a strong sense of place. Today’s global multi-media world gives those interested in travel writing more opportunity and range for exploration, research and expression than ever before.
Many people are publishing their travel adventures in online magazine and travel journals, or on personal websites - for the whole world to read. Whether your ambitions are to publish in a local newspaper, consumer magazine, or self-publish on the web, an e-book or hard copy, or write a travel best seller, turning your travel experiences into great reads is a supremely satisfying adventure.
You don't have to go to the ends of the earth to look for material for an interesting tale: getting caught in a storm fifty miles from home, or seeing your town in a unique way could be as fascinating to read about as a camel trek through the Sahara—if you put yourself and your sensibilities into the adventure, express an authentic voice, and become a window onto a special world or experience.
The process of turning your raw material into lively traveller's tales is especially enriching and fun when it's shared in a workshop with travellers of a like mind. In a workshop setting, every member's input carries equal weight and you sharpen your critical faculties and lose your inhibitions about expressing them.
You process the valuable feedback from fellow travelers and readers of travel literature, and apply those suggestions which you believe will help your writing evolve. A workshop is like a wheel: I am the cog, you are the spokes. We all need each other to get somewhere (Hopefully, not round and round in circles!)
In every travel writing workshop I lead, I'm struck from the first meeting at how much people who love to travel have in common: a zest and curiosity for life, openness, sense of exploration, lively sense of humor and irony, and a desire to evolve and expand their world visions. In the first meeting I'm also asked: what types of writing does travel writing include?
“What does a travel writer have to do to survive? Find stories!!!!!!!
In Nancy Lyon’s 33-year-long freelance career, national magazines and newspapers have paid her to:
_Look for fairies in County Kerry, Ireland
_Live in a cottage on a remote Irish island before it got electricity
_Dogsled and sleep in an igloo in the Quebec Arctic
_Eat deadly fugu fish in Tokyo, and fried locusts at the Montreal Insectarium’s annual gourmet insect-tasting
_Camp in Egypt’s White Desert in February
_Confront the MacKenzie Poltergeist in Edinburg’s eerie Greyfriar’s Graveyard
_Climb Masada and land-rover through Israel’s Negev Desert
—Solo cycle around the Shetland Isles
_Deal with a Voodoo doctor in Guadeloupe...
and many other not-so-odd things, like reviewing five-star hotels and Malaysian resorts and sampling sumptuous cruise ship menus. In Nancy’s Vagabond Muse workshops she presents an inside look into a travel writer’s life, and shop gossip about what gets left on the cutting room floor.
Nancy has lived and worked as a journalist in Ireland, Scotland, England and Quebec, where she explored Canada’s largest province from Anticosti in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, to Povungnituk in Quebec’s Arctic. Her commissioned travel stories and photos have appeared in GEO, New York Magazine, Travel & Leisure, The New York Times, The Saturday Review, Chicago Herald Tribune, Miami Herald, Montreal Gazette and magazines in Canada, England, Ireland and Australia.
Paul William Roberts (Empire of the Soul, Journey of the Magi) etc.) had called Scatter the Mud: A Traveler’s Medley, “an impressive literary debut with prose by turns as frenetic as a Galway barroom jig, or as balefully evocative as the most mournful Celtic ballad.””
Travel writing encompasses journalism, short and long fiction, essays, and nuts-and-bolts information pieces and books, and even poetry, songs and drama. Most people who come to my travel writing workshops want to learn how to write and market newspaper and magazine stories, and travel memoirs. But all of types of works are welcome. In this travel world of been there, done that, I particularly enjoy the challenge of helping writers discover imaginative and personal approaches to any destination, no matter how familiar or over-written it may be.
For this workshop I’ll draw upon over 35 years of freelancing experience, and the works of the best writers in the travel genre, historic and contemporary. I’ll share what I’ve observed and experienced in my years of freelance travel writing, my processes of research, writing, and rewriting. There will be written assignments, group discussion, and sharing works in progress (sketches, articles, book chapters.etc.) in class. I will make both comments and suggestions on work.
I will be happy to answer any questions about the nuts-and-bolts of marketing travel articles, but the focus of the workshop will be on using fiction and storytelling techniques, description, pacing, and dialogue to turn your ideas and travel adventures into great armchair reads.
The Workshop Covers:
—Identifying various types of travel articles and books from service-oriented, commercially driven pieces, to literary armchair traveller’s tales —Fiction and journalistic techniques —Creating a powerful and convincing sense of place —Devising compelling beginnings, leads and narrative hooks —Structuring and plotting your travel stories and books —Creating BALANCE: between close-ups & long shots; outer vs. inner experiences; narrative & dialogue; description & reflection and showing vs. telling —Humor in travel writing —Travel Writing Do's and Don'ts
Research:
—Interviews and informal information-gathering chats —Literary references —Museum tours and visits —Beyond the brochures —Virtual travel via the Internet
Writing:
—Structuring and plotting your travel stories and books; setting clear boundaries for the scope of your story
—Point of view: What are your choices? Which works best? —Finding your voice —Tone and approach —Embedding information in intriguing, subtle ways —Creating smooth and effective transitions, flashbacks and flash-forwards —Pacing —Using dialogue and local jargon to enliven your stories —Creating composite characters —Portraying local characters; using them to speak for the writer and to the reader —Showing vs. telling; scene vs. narrative - what works best? —Revising and rewriting - fun and essential!
Re-Writing
Revision is the tension between what you’ve written and what you really want to express. Like any good trip, getting there can be full of unexpected twists and turns, frustrating halts. Savor every moment of your journey!
Marketing Travel Stories
—Researching appropriate markets for your stories - a constant effort —Using titles as magical writing keys and sales tools —Writing effective query letters and proposals —Getting savvy about "copyright-grabbing" contracts
Thoughts on Travel Writing
Form vs. content
Don't be obsessed with the form of your story before you've even determined the content. Some writers are extremely clever with form, get million dollar book advances, but haven’t much to say. Don't get hung up on the word literary either. There are many valid forms of travel writing. A piece of writing can sound literary with clever descriptions, poetic renderings, but not reveal much or even tell a story.
Style and Voice
Each of you has your own voice and style which wants to come out. Your style evolves from your perceptions, personality, values, and experience, and emerges as you gain confidence in letting yourself go. Your own style may vary with the subjects and places you are writing about. (i.e. You probably wouldn’t write about Latvia and Disneyland the same way!)
Jonathan Swift defined style as the right words in the right places. It is also the right words, at the right time, in the right circumstances. Good writers manipulate style to match their narrative and descriptive purposes, and employ the level of diction which is the most effective and appropriate for the story.
Formal diction consists of standard and often elegant words (frequently polysyllabic), the use of correct word order, and the absence of contractions. (It is I, rather than It's me) Neutral diction is ordinary, everyday, standard vocabulary, avoiding longer words but using contractions when necessary. (It's me - neutral). Informal diction ranges from colloquial to slang and jargon.
Variety
Variety is the spice of travel writing. If you are a supple writer, able to describe and portray your places from many different viewpoints or perceptions, then you can make the choice to do or not do it. It's like a musician practicing the scales: the more flexible the musician is with the scales, the easier it is to play in different keys. You decide what tone, approach is right for your story, and you orchestrate the piece. You can bend the notes to get the effects you want. Every place has its major and minor, its dark and light. Working with variety can add contour and depth to your story.
Writing is an Endless Journey!
Learning to write is a lifetime process. Once you've mastered, or feel comfortable with one aspect of it—great descriptions, creating scenes, writing good dialogue, structuring/plotting, great storytelling, making seamless transitions—you're driven to experiment and master another, and another, and another. It never ends! Whenever I'm stuck or blocked I read good writing and I also read really bad writing. It jostles me, gets my juices going. I can see what doesn't work, and in figuring out why it doesn't, I understand what not to do.
Sometimes writing comes easy; sometimes it comes hard. That's why the writer’s life is often a humbling life. Like an athlete, musician, photographer, there are times when you're on a roll. You're so into it you lose track of time, eating, sleeping, time and space, and your body. You're in an altered state. But how long that state can last....?
I think these states of inspiration and drive can be sustained easier and for longer periods when one is stimulated, challenged, encouraged and informed by the work of other writers—not only the lauded “superstars” of the writing world, but by writers-in-progress, working on works-in-progress and learning to solve both tactical and literary writing problems to attain their own personal heights. Together let’s go for it!
For more information on my online travel writing workshops, please write to me at TheTravelCabaret@gmail.com
