Creative writing: an introduction to travel writing

Aims of the course:

1. To distinguish short-form travel writing/journalism from reportage, literary travel writing, memoir and similar genres, and examine the various subgenres of travel writing.
2. To introduce participants to the skills required to produce short travel pieces as published in the travel pages of many newspapers and magazines.
3. To foster participant confidence and encourage them to begin writing travel pieces based on their own past or future experiences.

Course content overview:

• This course will begin with an introduction to travel writing with a discussion of its definition, history and development. It will examine the differences between short-form travel writing and other genres such as literary travel writing and memoir, and the crossover between these genres, and the subgenres of travel writing and journalism.
• Drawing on examples of contemporary examples, each week will then focus on a different aspect of travel writing, covering such topics as finding and developing a story idea, creating a sense of place, crafting the story’s structure and style, bringing a piece alive and editing one’s own work. The focus will be on practical writing exercises and discussion of the participant’s own work.
• The participant will be encouraged to practice and develop their own travel writing, helped by weekly exercises on the themes under discussion.
• At the end of the course the participants should be equipped with the skills required to write a typical short-form travel piece.

Schedule:

Induction Week: 7-13 January 2013

Teaching Weeks: 14 January-17 February 2013

Feedback Week: 18-24 February 2013

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A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.