Avoid clichés like the plague. Here’s a 60-Second Travel Writer Tip from LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm: Cliches are easy to latch onto because they grow from kernels of truth but become so shopworn that they lose their punch. Worse, they can weigh down your otherwise crisp prose. They […]
In your writing, watch out for redundancies. Here’s a 60-Second Travel Writer Tip from LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm: All bullies are mean, all jinxes are bad luck, and all redundancies are repetitive. We’ve all done it, and it’s embarrassing when we don’t catch it. Sometimes these creep into […]
Like what we wear, the way we write and talk changes. Certain things go in and out of fashion. But lately, we’ve noticed a bad fashion choice – the use of the word “so.” Here’s a 60-Second Travel Writer Tip from LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm: The word “so” […]
Active voice makes for vibrant prose. Here’s a 60-Second Travel Writer Tip from LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm. When we write, “The lumberjack chopped down the tree” or “Serena Williams crushed the shot over the net,” you can picture the action. But sometimes, we paint word pictures in the […]
Be your own editor. You can save yourself trouble and ingratiate yourself with your editor by taking some precautions before submitting your story. Here’s a 60-Second Travel Writer Tip from LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm: –After you’ve finished your story, walk away for a couple of hours; then come back […]
The English language has millions of words – a veritable buffet. But like a buffet, sometimes we overindulge. Here’s a 60-Second Travel Writer Tip from LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm: Strong verbs and nouns are keys to great prose. Adjectives and adverbs are not always your friends. If you’re […]
At an SATW professional development session some years ago, University of Missouri professor Don Ranly gave us this gem: Something compared to nothing doesn’t mean anything. Here’s a 60-Second Travel Writer Tip from LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm: Dr. Ranley was talking about using numbers effectively to paint the […]
The old joke among journalists is that we chose our profession because we can’t do numbers. Here’s a 60-Second Travel Writer Tip from LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm: You don’t have to be a mathematician to use numbers in stories, and that’s good because they lend gravitas. The number of […]
Show me, don’t tell me. Here’s an SATW 60-Second Travel Writer Tip from LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm: Missouri is the Show Me State. It’s a good reminder for travel writers that our craft requires showing, not telling, readers about what they’re seeing. The best travel writing gives the […]