Comment: Ryanair wronged!?

Interesting thread on Grumpy Traveller today about Melinda Stevens rage against Ryanair. I think he says it all, augmented by some generally good posts (though I wince at the headline, apologising to Ryanair is an abuse of nature, surely?). Take a look here http://www.grumpytraveller.com/2013/04/04/conde-nast-traveller-ryanair/

I’ve annoyed the Ryanair press office in the past – here’s a couple from the archives that I hope show that you should pick your fight.

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/kate-simon-why-priority-boarding-is-a-must-for-nofrills-flyers-with-small-children-1898720.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/kate-simon-if-youre-flying-with-ryanair-this-summer-just-pack-a-hair-shirt-2017661.html

Travel writing tip: signpost your story

I’m currently busy writing critiques of some of the entries to the recent Indy on Sunday/Bradt travel-writing competition. It’s interesting to look at a piece closely because it points up the attention to detail required with use of language and overall structure.

One problem that is coming up time and again is signposting. What do I mean? Placing yourself and therefore the reader in time and space from time to time, to move the tale on.

For example, say a person is telling the tale of a canoe trip down a river. They begin by getting in the canoe. Then they relate some of the detail of the experience of canoeing. Next, it’s back to the action – they tell us they’re part way down the river now, heading for a weir. Perhaps, for tonal colour, they do this by introducing some dialogue from the instructor who is accompanying them on the journey. More detail follows on the difficulty of negotiating the weir. Then they relate the experience of achieving getting through the weir – again, perhaps some dialogue can be the device to deliver this. Following on, we get some colour on what the local landscape looks like and perhaps a little history of the area too. Finally, they establish that they’ve reached the end of their trip and then tell us about what that sense of achievement feels like and how the trip helped them enjoy the landscape or whatever to wrap up the story.

Getting in the canoe, arriving at the weir, moving on through the landscape, reaching the end of the journey. All these points have been “signposted” by the author enabling the reader to move with ease through the story’s structure.

Every story needs a structure and every story needs signposts to take the reader forward. A lack of signposts will leave the reader struggling to understand where you and they are and the story will lose its logic and its credibility. Take a look at the articles in this weekend’s papers and set yourself a task of spotting the signposts.

Travel writing tip: keeping up with trends

So you’re new to travel journalism – how do you tap into the travel scene, to discover what trends are influencing editors’ commissioning choices and work out fresh angles? One way is to sign up at www.travmedia.com. This is where journalists and PRs meet in the ether – you’ll find press releases, suss out who the main travel PRs are, make your way through to email newsletters for those clients of theirs that you might be interested in, and sometimes requests from editors for pitches for articles. It’s a good resource, use it!