The Art of Travel Writing
Date & Time
Saturdays, 1-5 p.m.
Oct. 22 and Nov. 5
Class Size
12 Students
Saturdays, 1-5 p.m.
Oct. 22 and Nov. 5
12 Students
Have you ever come back from an exotic trip to a far-flung destination—or even just had a unique adventure in your own neighborhood—and wondered how to turn your experience into a travel essay that will catch an editor’s eye? This two-session bootcamp will make a travel writer out of every traveler.
The first session will be a lecture that will teach students the craft and rules of good travel writing. Through an examination of outside texts, the class will focus on the broader types of travel stories and writing techniques (narrative features vs. roundups; reportage vs. first person essays; etc.). We will also get more granular and drill down to the sentence level. Students will take what they’ve learned in the first week and apply it to a piece of writing that will be workshopped by the instructor in the second week. The instructor will provide written comments and in-class feedback, and will also address the best practices for pitching travel stories to magazines.
Jessica Flint is a senior features editor covering travel for Departures, the luxury lifestyle magazine that goes out to American Express’s 1.3 million Platinum and Centurion card members. Her work at Departures won the 2015 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for Best Travel Coverage. She has previously held on-staff editing positions at Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, and Bloomberg Businessweek.
"Every writer benefits from a good editor who can lend an objective eye, find the holes and recommend spackle. Jessica Flint is one of those excellent editors who not only understands what makes a story and how to report it, but how to bring out the best in her writers through positive feedback, constructive criticism, and encouragement."
"It’s very easy for an editor to simply rewrite someone’s work to make it align with a magazine or newspaper’s tone. Jessica is a writer’s editor. She has the patience to work with a writer to assure their story maintains both the publication’s tone and the writer’s voice. I always feel her edits and suggestions make my writing sharper and smarter. She also has a great eye for what makes a good story. It’s easy to pitch a topic, but Jess knows how to help her writers develop a topic into an original idea that then becomes a compelling story."
"I have had the pleasure of working with Jessica Flint from her beginning as a young editor at Vanity Fair. In the stories we have worked on together, I have found her to be an editorial steward who values clarity, verve, and style, and who guides her writers to their best work without being overly fussy or interfering. She has a clear eye about what a story should be, but is a tremendous ally and partner who encourages her writers to find their own voices and methods of storytelling."
"Jessica was SO prepared and had clearly done a ton of legwork before we ever showed up. I couldn't believe how many well-curated resources she offered us, which perfectly supported the points she wanted to make. She also had a well outlined syllabus with all of the things she wanted to talk about, and while she was flexible and able to work around the things we wanted to discuss, this meant she was never searching for what she wanted to say or how we should approach things. She must have put hours into prep outside of class, and it was genuinely appreciated. "
