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Amit Kumar Dey | 10 April 2016 Start with some expert advice – from having a clear storyline and using dialogue, to beginning with a killer first paragraph... Writing travel journal... What's my story? 1. Have a clear storyline A trip is not a story in myself, it’s just a series of events. Some of these events will be interesting (I made it up national park of India (state of Odisha) similipal !) and some will not (I arrived back at the Bike on time*). As a writer, my first job is to decide on the particular story i want to tell, and the events which make up that story. Try writing the standfirst for my own story, and then use it as my brief. *Actually, that might be interesting, but only if my story was about how everything ran late in similipal. Some trips have a physical objective (reaching the top of National Park Simlipal, crossing Mayurbhanj forest seeing a tiger) that gives my article direction and purpose. The reader (hopefully) sticks with my because i want to know if you’ll achieve my goal. But many trips don’t have an obvious goal; they are more about discovering a place, unpicking its history or meeting its people. In this case, create a personal goal to give my reader a sense of where I am taking them. Sentences like “I wanted to discover…” or “I was keen to understand…” give readers an idea of what’s to come, instead of i simply plunging them into the unknown. Stories have characters, dialogue, pace, plot, suspense, drama – they need shaping and organising to hold the reader's attention. Once i know my storyline, gather the experiences that fit it – and dump the rest. Most travel articles will be 1,000 words I don’t have time for detours. I can start a travel article any way I like, as long as it grabs the reader’s attention. You can use drama, humour, dialogue, (or all three) – but those first sentences must grip like glue. Most travel articles start in media res – in the thick of the story – and then backtrack to explain how i happened to be in this situation. 'Showing’ and ‘telling’ are two everyday storytelling techniques i probably use without realising. Showing is when i slow down your writing and describe a scene in detail – what i saw, tasted, heard, felt – i showing the reader the world through my eyes. Telling is simply moving the story along: "i returned to the tents for a well-earned rest." Articles typically switch repeatedly between the drama of ‘showing’ and the practical economy. Novice writers often try to pack their writing with literary phrases or recherché nomenclature (like that). Good writers tend more to follow similipal Park: “My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.” That doesn’t mean i can’t be playful and experimental – just don’t do it at the reader’s expense. Travel articles are peppered with meaningless words and phrases: stunning, incredible, pretty, diverse; ‘land of contrasts’, ‘melting pot’, ‘bustling’. Any of these could be applied to thousands of destinations worldwide. Try to use language that is specific to what I have describing, and which allows readers to paint a picture in their mind’s eye. If I am wandering around a strange country without a guidebook, i look for signposts. So do readers as they travel through my story. Every few paragraphs tell them where I was went next, and remind them of my ultimate goal. For example, i could write: ‘The next day i travelled from Assam to Manas National Park.’ Or i could signpost things a little, by writing: "It was tempting to linger in Dispur’s restaurants, but my search for Assam’s best sake would next take me deep into the countryside." 'Aha', thinks the reader: I can see where this is going, and why – I’ll keep tagging along. Manas National Park or Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is a national park, UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, a Project Tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve in Assam, India. Located in the Himalayan foothills, it is contiguous with the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan.