How To
We are moving from the previous module that was focused on informative, objective writing, into a similar type of travel writing: the How To.
Travel adventures often require How To articles for the basic fact that going anywhere that isn’t the comfort of your own town requires an adjustment. One doesn’t simply jump on a plane and fly to China to visit Shanghai Disneyland on a whim or wake up one morning in October and decide to summit Long’s Peak.
How To writing relies first and foremost on your expertise. Whereas writing marketing copy or a travel guide requires that you are familiar with an area enough to sell it, How To requires that you have some deeper personal experience, sometimes even sharing your own stories. The tricky part is that an audience expects your expertise to be presented in an objective way.
How To writing transfers well to other types of writing because it asks you to acknowledge a lot of assumptions people have and to fill in details that you might take for granted.
Techniques
Samples
- How to Apply for a Visa to China by Jenny Green for USA Today
- The Best Way to Pack a Suitcase: Five Methods Compared by Melanie Pinola for Lifehacker
- An Introduction to Hiking Colorado’s 14ers by Brian Davis @ DenverDavis.com
Assignment
Due dates
- How to draft due Wednesday, November 4
- Editorial Comments due Friday, November 6
- How to revision due Monday, November 9