Learn how to write a literary travel essay in just one day! Everyone has that one story that changed their life: Perhaps it's a story of transformation abroad, of a place that moved you or a stranger who transformed you, a journey that still haunts you, or simply of a distant meal you'll never forget. Or maybe it's a story of migration and identity in a foreign landscape. We’ll push the boundaries of the genre while remaining committed to the heart of the story.
This course is for anyone who wants to write essays that are as vivid as they are insightful. We begin by reading a broad range of travel essays to understand how different techniques impact the reader. When would an anecdote be more effective than a statistic? How should a writer portray a culture they know little about? We'll break away from the clichés, tropes, and stereotypes that plague travel writing in order to tell an authentic and dynamic story.
Next, we'll dive deep into structure and craft. Whether you're writing a chapter in a memoir, a magazine feature, a letter, or deep captions for a photo essay, we'll cover the pillars of a solid travel story—curiosity, sense of place, a moment in time, local characters, rich context, narrative arc, sensory details—as well as techniques to illustrate it skillfully.
This course is formatted as a one-day Zoom session to deep-dive into the craft of the travel essay, followed by material to guide you through the writing process at your own pace:
"Excavating the Travel Essay" E-book to guide you through writing an essay, step-by-step
Writing prompts that correspond with the material
Online community forum for peer support and feedback
Essay critique: Each participant will have three months to write an essay and receive personalized feedback from me, along with a list of publications to submit to
Course materials:
To take the course you will need a functioning computer with Zoom, Slack, and Google Drive installed (all are free).
To reserve your spot, please fill out this form and send the course cost ($195) via Venmo @ledestudio or PayPal at
jenna.scatena@gmail.com. You will receive an email confirming that you're registered after you've submitted this form and the payment.
If you have any questions, please reach out to me at
jenna.scatena@gmail.com. Otherwise I'll be in touch one week before the start of the course to help you prepare for how to make the most of it. I look forward to getting to know you and your writing!
--Jenna