Travel Writing: Describe the image in 4 sentences.

Task: Read the following two descriptions of travel

writing and pick out the key things to remember
when writing descriptively. List these ideas.

What sets good travel writing apart is detail,

detail, detail. Which cafe, on what street,
overlooking what view? You must sweep the
reader up and carry them off on the journey with
you. Paint an evocation of where you are so we
can experience it along with you. Be specific and
drop "stunning", "breathtaking" and "fantastic"
from your lexicon.

Sally Shalam, Guardian hotel critic

My golden rule when writing a piece is to include as
much visual description as possible. It's easy to
presume a lot, but your readers don't know what
you've seen. So explain it as vividly as possible. Don't
ever describe something as "characterful" or
"beautiful" – this doesn't mean anything to anybody
but you. Describe things as if you were explaining them
to a blind person. To say a building is "old" isn't good
enough; explain the colours, the peeling stucco, the
elaborate, angular finishes on windowsills, the cleaning
lady in a faded blue smock who was leaning out of a
second-storey window with a cigarette dangling from
her mouth.

Benji Lanyado, Guardian writer and blogger

TASK: Read the two extracts by Alex Garland and Paul
Theroux. For each text list individual pieces of detail that
the writer gives about their room.

THINK and WRITE: What effect are the writers

trying to achieve? How do they do this?
TASK: Choose one of the rooms in the images on the
following slides.
Imagine that you are a journalist writing for the Travel
section of a national broadsheet newspaper. You have
been sent to review a hotel and this is the room you
have been given to stay in.
Write a detailed description of this room. What is the
overall impression that you’re trying to give your reader?
Criteria:
• 4 paragraphs (250 words) and the structure should
reflect the meaning of the piece. Think about the
effect.
• Sophisticated vocabulary
• A wide range of punctuation
• The appropriate tone and register for your audience.