Writing Guide

By Megan Cytron, Executive Editor


Once you have a place or activity in mind, get cinematic and zoom in: on a particular moment, action, experience, observation, insight, sensation (sound, sight, taste, smell, feeling…). A narrow focus tends to work better—and is easier to write about—than a broad one. We want your writing to distill the essence of a travel experience.

For example: Riding Camels in the Sahara Desert (OK, but very general), Camel-trekking to Watch the Sun Rise Over the Sahara in Morocco (much better).

Looking at a very well-known place from a different angle can also add interest: Visiting the Alhambra in Granada, Spain (OK), Watching the Sun Set Over the Alhambra at Mirador San Nicolas in Granada, Spain (better).

The Trazzler Manifesto

1. Write about what you know. There’s no pressure here to cover places you’ve never been or just breezed through (this isn’t a guidebook after all…). No shilling, please—our trips are not advertising.
2. Appeal to the senses—not just sight—but sound, smell, taste, and touch. Also sensations, warm, cold, bright, shady, dry, fast, slow, remote, buzzing with activity…
3. Capture a moment in time; a mental snapshot—the sort of definitive Trazzler travel moment that sticks with you long after you have returned home.
4. Give travelers something to do: eat, photograph, hike, shop, rockclimb, bike, walk, ponder, canoe, dance, drink, party, relax, get tan, stay in a hotel, swim…
5. Write smart. We’re looking for subjectivity, a unique perspective, and personality. We want this to be fun, smart, and like nothing else out there. Check out some of our Trazzler Editor Favorites to see just how much freedom you have to do your own thing.

Good

  • Be original.
  • Incorporate specific details about the place, the buildings, the light, the sound…
  • Capture what is unique about a place, especially from an outsider’s/traveler’s perspective.
  • Capture what is universal about an exceptionally exotic place. People going about their day-to-day lives in the midst of tourism.
  • Be poetic, philosophical, metaphorical, and creative.
  • Put the reader in a place and time that will allow him/her to imagine what it would be like to travel here.
  • Try to provide a reasonable amount of context for places of historical interest.
  • Be honest and straightforward. Every trip isn't suitable for everyone.
  • Inform, but do it in a way that isn't preachy or elitist.
  • Create your own beat. Write about places, moments, and topics—big or small—that you care about, are obsessed with, or would usually only tell friends about.
  • Encourage responsible and sustainable travel, particularly in places with fragile ecosystems and economies.
  • Find a special angle when writing about well-known tourist destinations: a story, a view from the outside looking in, a place to reflect on everything you have seen and experienced, a common philosophical thread.
  • Try to find experiences that are (relatively) eternal and won’t become obsolete immediately.
  • Find your focus. Some trips should be written for broad audience, while other should have a specific focus (e.g., singles, couples, families, gay, straight, backpackers, women traveling together, guys on buddy-trips, honeymooners, babymooners, the elderly, foodies, golfers, beach bums, adrenaline junkies, skiers, etc.). Know your audience.
  • Use photographs as inspiration. Look through other people’s travel photos in flickr.com to see the place though someone else’s eyes.

    • Bad

  • Don’t ever, ever plagiarize. Ever.
  • Don’t be overly general, abstract, or propagandistic.
  • Don’t stereotype (or even worse insult) a cultural or ethnic group.
  • Don’t describe the local people like strange creatures in a zoo put there for our amusement (unless they are mimes, clowns, or otherwise asking for it).
  • Don’t overuse adjectives like amazing, incredible, stunning, breathtaking, or awesome. In fact, don't use those words at all. Instead, carefully select concrete details that convey the incredibly amazing breathtaking wonderfulness.
  • Don’t lead readers by the hand with elaborate instructions, directions, or too much nitty-gritty logistical information.
  • Don’t feel like you have to explain it all. Just chose a few details or images that evoke the essence of the place and why it is important.
  • Don’t be judgmental or negative. Not all of us want to shop for tchotchkes or swim with sharks but (apparently) some of us really do.
  • Don’t talk down to trazzlers. Assume they are just as smart and astute as you are.
  • Don’t write about what you don’t know or places you haven't visited.
  • Don’t be too militant or judgmental of those who don’t want to stay in a treehouse.
  • Don’t just reword a tourist site. Trazzler articles aren’t just descriptive or logistical. Your article should put the readers feet squarely on the ground in this place and help them to see it through your eyes.
  • Don’t write about one-time events.
  • Don’t look down on certain types of travelers. Not every trip has to appeal to every trazzler, in fact it shouldn’t.
  • Don’t submit any photographs that you did not take yourself. Don't hesitate to submit a trip if you don't have a photo.