A Sense of Place 4 - 'Nets' by Philippa Hawley

Travel writing can be a short diversion or part of a long journey. The resulting pieces can be short or extended, resembling either flash fiction or a longer short story. Travelling may give rise to an article or even result in a book.

    For example, Bill Bryson, well known for his ‘Notes from a Small Island’, started off as a newspaper column writer, before writing ‘A Walk in the Woods’. This was about walking the Appalachian Trail with his friend and was, in 2015, made into a film. Another who used travel for inspiration was Chris Stewart, with ‘Driving over Lemons’, descibed as an optimist in Andalucia.

    As a student, one of the first travel writing books I became aware of was Eric Newby’s ‘A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush’. Written in 1958 this adventure, told with British humour, captured many a young person’s imagination over the following decades.

    Sometimes however our aims are less ambitious. It’s great to record our travels, and maybe use a diary to detail the sequence of events. Alongside that, it can be interesting to focus in on one small thing – a meal, a sight, or a character you met. This might ‘show’ the feelings you experienced while away from home, rather than ‘telling’ the reader every step you took. It might also keep your memories alive.

    This is the approach I took in entering a recent travel competition, which asked for a 50-100 word travel highlight. My 94 word piece called ‘Nets’ can be seen here. Re-reading it, I am immediately taken back to the beautiful Monte Isola, on Lake Iseo in Northern Italy. Have a look at the published story:

http://www.fd81.net/freds-blog/nets-by-philippa-hawley

A Sense of Place 2 - Iceland for Aliens by Philippa Hawley

At this time of year thoughts often turn to planning holidays. How about giving Iceland a visit? 

Here's a little something I wrote after my trip there in 2013. 

ICELAND FOR ALIENS

We drove through lava fields, vast as Siberian steppes and I waited to be inspired by the sweeping skirts of mountains covered by moss. Lichenous greenery heaped itself over lumps of lava down at ground level whilst higher up it draped shantung-like over an edge, carved like velvet; fabrics folded, pleated and creased by time.

I envisaged tales of trolls hiding behind waterfalls. Rainbows came into view then faded as the sun crept through mists of rain. Pots of gold must be hidden here as ravens flew overhead and whooper swans perched on the volcanic bed. This surely was a place of folk tales and legends – a raven marrying a swan might give birth to a leprechaun, or a troll could cast a spell on a puffin. As it turned out mystical inspiration passed me by.

The stories that captured me were those of my travel companions in this weird and rugged landscape, battling the elements one cold wet September in the remotest of places.

An elderly South African woman, now living in Toronto was travelling alone, still keen to climb rocks, defying her osteoporotic frame. She told naughty stories of

a life well-lived and was not yet ready for bedroom slippers and a quiet life.

An elderly Englishman, a film-maker forced to retire due to hearing loss, travelled with his caring wife who looked after him too well, made him use a stick lest arthritic knees gave way. He’d been places, knew people, loved life.

A stout, middle-aged geography teacher was travelling with a childhood girlfriend. She’d recently met her third husband at a supermarket deli counter doing Saturday morning shopping. The friend was an expert bird watcher, with high-quality binoculars, able to show us puffins, whooper swans, fulmer, skua and wheatear. An excellent companion, she distracted the troubled teacher who was seeking respite from the worries of an aged mother back home but missing her new man.

A group of ten Hong Kong Chinese tourists who lived in Toronto posed at every photo opportunity with dubious camera etiquette, but charmed us still.

A Professor of History from Cape Town, was having some days to herself before sorting out her late aunt’s estate in London. She’d travelled from far in the Southern Hemisphere to the extremes of the north.

We were all mesmerised by the towering icebergs on glacial lagoons – blue, white, black; liquorice allsorts on a cold white sea. We marvelled at the power of volcanoes and the extent of lava fields. We sighed at the beauty of waterfalls and fleeting rainbows that appeared in the haze of spraying water. We were all aliens in an alien land, two degrees south of the Arctic Circle, far out in the North Atlantic at the junction of the North American and Euro-Asian tectonic plates. We walked across the ancient rift valley together and east met west and north met south – now that was inspiring.

A Sense of Place

A Sense of Place

– thoughts on travel writing by Philippa Hawley.

I’ve just submitted my first piece of formal travel writing; an article for the online magazine, the Literary Bohemian. Doing this has made me realise that much of my writing over recent years has been travel related. Travel writing overlaps with so many genres; memoir writing, autobiography, blogging, or simply keeping a journal. It can form the basis for a short story or a novel, and in my own case I realise travel has frequently inspired my fictional attempts. My first book, ‘There’s No Sea in Salford’ came out of a desire to write about some time I spent working in Sri Lanka. ‘How They Met Themselves’, my second book, was inspired by a road trip I once made with friends in California.

     Traditional travel writing commonly results in articles for magazines, newspapers or online blogs. It is usually written in the first person, present or past tense. As with all writing description is important and clichés should be avoided. A narrative thread can be helpful, maybe some quotes and references included, but perhaps most importantly any facts have to be researched and checked.

     A different form of travel writing is the autobiographical book. I’m thinking of the success of “A Year in Provence’ by Peter Mayle in 1989 and also ‘A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush’, once described as the greatest travel book of all time in both the Guardian and Telegraph listings. Written by Eric Newby in 1959, this book stimulated travel ideas in many a young person in the 60s and 70s.

     In a similar vein Chris Stewart, the retired drummer of Genesis, published “Driving Over Lemons’ in 1999, an account of his Andalucian adventure. Wivenhoe writer, Jan Ward’s autobiographical book, ‘Travellers Wanted…’ about her journey in 1968 from Sydney to London in a bus, was self-published in 2012 and is well worth a look.

     The transition from autobiography to fiction allows the constraints of travel writing to shift. In ‘A Thousand days in Venice’, it's hard to know if Marlena de Blasi is writing true biography or fiction as she describes an unexpected romance in Venice and adds tasty snippets about food and recipes along the way.

     When travel inspires pure fiction the rules change further. In a short story a sense of place often grounds a piece of writing, giving the reader a greater understanding of a plot or character by showing not telling. In longer pieces or novels, knowing where the story is set can add depth and realism to the writing. But in fiction facts can be modified to suit your story, reality and fantasy can merge and create a new place, or a new way of looking at a known environment.

     Placing your novel in a different part of the world or in a specific city or town, can add interest for a reader, allowing them learn about another country through the eyes of the characters within. It can rekindle their own memories of travel or create a desire to visit and make their own journeys.

     I love reading stories set in places I’ve been to. ‘The Miniaturist’ by Jess Burton reminded me of frequent trips to Amsterdam, ‘Brixton Beach’ by Roma Tearne took me back to my time in Sri Lanka, and ‘Brighton Rock’ by Graham Greene made me think of when my daughter lived in the town, albeit decades later. Other novels I’ve read have taken me across the USA, or into unknown areas of the Middle East. I’ve been transported to Sweden, Africa and New Zealand as well as enjoying more familiar European places through different eyes.

     Reading can help you travel the world and as writers we can encourage our readers to do just that. So next time you write, think about place and setting and maybe add a little travel to your tale.

***

‘There’s No Sea in Salford’

‘How They Met Themselves’

&‘Travellers Wanted…’

 are available at Wivenhoe Bookshop and online.