Pico Iyer: Breaking The Rules Of Travel Writing

1 comment | September 3rd, 2007 | Trackback

One of the most respected and unconventional writers in the travel-industry — Pico Iyer — has just published his 9 Commandments of Travel Writing on Condé Nast Traveler.

As you will see, they are not a typical set of rules you expect to read from an article like this.

In summary he says:
-A travel book is a question never answered
-The travel writer is much less traveler than writer
-The travel book must teach you something
-The travel book, like the traveler, often travels incognito
-The travel writer’s place is on the threshold, one eye turned toward the reader, one toward the subject
-The travel writer need not go far at all
-The great travel writer takes in every aspect of what is happening and changing right now, the better to see what is changeless
-The true travel writer does not just listen to a place but talks back to it; he’s drawn to it by compulsion
-In the end, every great travel book is about a journey inside

Wow, right? Well don’t stop here - read his whole piece and get a better insight into what his advice.