This schedule is subject to change and is not the definitive course calendar.
Specific dates, guidelines, readings & assignments will be made available in class & on Moodle.
Week One: Topics Covered
Course Introduction: A brief overview of the history of travel writing
Travel Writing – fiction vs. nonfiction
--The tools of the trade, Generating Ideas, Travel Journals
--Style, Substance, and Sensitivity to Landscape
--Writing in Brief – Guidebooks, Micro-travel Stories & Blog Posts
Week Two: Topics Covered
--Travel Magazines: The Changing Shape of the Travel Essay
--Cross Cultural Excursions
--Research Before & After the Trip, Interviewing techniques
--Writing on the Road (photography, notes, memory cues, etc.)
--Workshop micro-essays
Week Three: Topics Covered
-- Finding subjects locally
--Internet-based travel writing & Incorporating Photography & Setting up a Blog
--Dinner is the Destination: Integrating the culinary into the journey
--Workshop
Week Four: Topics Covered
--Writing the personal; the travel memoir & longer travel narratives
--Editing: how to use the same piece for different length assignments
--The question of voice & using humor in travel writing
--Pitching stories
Workshop of longer travel memoir pieces
Week Five: Topics Covered
Workshop continued & Final Portfolios Due
Please note that no late portfolios will be accepted, no exceptions.
We will meet during the final exam period (TBA) and offer final critiques