archives: Notes on Writing
Notes for Travel Writers on the “Ladder of Abstraction”
5 Comments
The Ladder of Abstraction is a simple but powerful way to habituate a critical attitude toward language and writing. More »
One Talk: Meeting Up With Writer Jon Cotner
5 Comments
"No one else writes like this about New York." More »
Notes on Codification and Commodification in Travel Writing
Popular 19 Comments
Because codification enables a "common frame of reference" for people, it can cause them to describe place / culture experience not as they perceived More »
Outsiders Looking In: An Interview with Suzanne Roberts
3 Comments
"Whenever we are traveling, we are outsiders looking in, no matter how we travel. In some respects, the poet also places herself outside of things bec More »
Notes on Ten Walks / Two Talks
Popular 21 Comments
'Ten Walks / Two Talks' mixes travel notes and transcripts of conversations from Jon Cotner and Andy Fitch into a super original work of nonfiction, a More »
7 Things That Humans Shouldn’t Be Saying
Popular 25 Comments
Two grown, straight men shouldn’t be calling each other “baby”, let alone telling each other to behave with a come-hither voice More »
Components: John McPhee’s Nonfiction Writing Structure
7 Comments
"Once I’ve written the lead, I read the notes and then I read them again. I read them until they’re coming out my ears. Ideas occur, but what I’ More »
Notes on a Picture I took in Haiti
5 Comments
"This boy had just ran nearly a mile to keep up with our van in the stop-and-go traffic clogging the exits of Port Au Prince. " More »
Monday Mashup: How Writing is “Supposed to Sound” vs. Writing Your Perceptions
Popular 10 Comments
"Ironically, creating a new framework for expressing your perceptions is just another way of writing according to how things 'sound.'" More »
Twilight of the Travel Guidebook?
Popular 47 Comments
Are guidebooks still worth the paper they're printed on? Maybe. Fact is, they're still considerably cheaper to start a fire with than an iPhone. More »
Tales From the Road: Beginner’s Mind
2 Comments
These stories are imbued with the way a traveler can feel when looking at the world as if for the very first time. More »
Tales From the Road: Cambodia
3 Comments
Cambodia is Tim Patterson's favorite travel destination. These stories help explain why. More »
Using Travel Journals for Writing a Novel
5 Comments
"I realized the value of that travel journal I was keeping – jottings that, although I didn't know it at the time, were going to find their way pret More »
Writing Tips: Descriptions that Reveal Characters’ Relationships
7 Comments
A short passage from Raymond Carver is an example of writing that describes not just characters' appearances but their relationships, their emotions, More »
Tales From the Road: Beating the Odds
2 Comments
The most worthy travel narrative, for me, is the story that was almost silenced, the bullhorn of truth speaking out against power, the steady recitati More »
The ‘Legitimacy’ of Reading: Placing Books in Context
Popular 13 Comments
Till the age of fourteen, I believed I was well read and that I was using my critical faculties to decipher fiction. Today, I believe that I was too u More »
What music do you listen to when you write? [Poll]
Popular 36 Comments
How does listening to music affect the way you write? Can some music help you write better? More »
Notes on 2 Transparent Responses to Current Economic ‘Climate’ for Writers and Journalists
2 Comments
"...Jason Paul, a recent graduate from American University attempted, like many from the 2009 class, to secure a job. After applying for over 180 jour More »
Writing by Remixing: Gordon Lish and Raymond Carver
Popular 11 Comments
". . there are infinite ways to remix the phrasing, sentence construction, amount of background info / temporal references, and dozens of other eleme More »
Dancing With Chains: Notes on Iranian Translation
Popular 11 Comments
Matador Life Editor Leigh Shulman has just completed the translation of a novella by Alimorad Fadaienia, a Persian author in exile in Iran. More »
Tales From the Road: Haiti
1 Comments
Our hearts are with Haiti. This collection of travel stories paints a portrait of life in Haiti before the quake and in its devastating aftermath. More »
Tales From the Road: Ted Conover
3 Comments
A collection of remarkable travel narratives by Ted Conover. More »
14 Thoughts on Being a Writer in 2010
Popular 21 Comments
At the end of 2009, David Miller looks ahead to what being a writer might mean in the upcoming decade. More »
Tales From the Road: Renewal
Popular 5 Comments
Any travel story that features a gregarious 28-year-old blond named Svetlana has a good chance of making this roundup. More »
8 Ways of Seeing People that Can Sabotage Your Writing
Popular 21 Comments
The way you write begins with the way that you look at the world, at people. More »
Notes on Sadhus Getting High
Popular 3 Comments
"I’d heard lots of stories about sadhu stoners. They always made me defensive. I wanted to believe the sadhus kept alive an ancient solitude the wor More »
How to Develop a Personal Brand as a Writer
Popular 15 Comments
Every day, in many different ways, I massage my brand and am pitched by other writers who have (or have not) polished their image. More »
Travel Writing as Punk Rock: 15 Vital Matador Narratives
Popular 14 Comments
You don't mistake travel writing for punk rock. Most of it just isn’t loud or raw enough. But not all. More »
The Importance of Connecting with Travel Writing throughout History
Popular 6 Comments
Now that the world has been Google Mapped, how does does the modern travel writer fit into an ancient tradition? More »
Great Narrative Travel Writing: “I just don’t see a lot of it in the travel blogosphere. Do you?”
Popular 24 Comments
I read this comment last night and wondered (and am still wondering) about various things. More »
Your Travel Writing Doesn’t Matter!
Popular 35 Comments
It seems to me that most travel writing doesn’t matter. More »
Material Transparency: manifesto on a writer’s personal brand
Popular 10 Comments
Material Transparency is an underpinning or ethic of a writer's personal brand. More »
Whatever happened to travel poetry?
Popular 18 Comments
Has the only 'legitimate' form for writing on travel and place become limited to the narrative essay or memoir? More »
What is your most productive writing environment?
Popular 27 Comments
Looking back over my journals from this past summer I realize there are these flow-enhancing factors. Here are some of mine. More »
NaNoWriMo – Anyone writing a novel next month?
Popular 21 Comments
"Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. " More »
Do Freebies Undermine Honesty in Travel Writing?
Popular 40 Comments
How do publications' policies on what a writer can and can't accept for gifts or comps affect the integrity of travel writing—as well the writer's a More »
Field Notes From Elizabeth Eslami
Popular 6 Comments
In this new series we look at notes taken unedited from authors' journals, then learn how they're worked into stories, novels and other writing. Today More »
Thoughts on Plot by Famous Writers
Popular 3 Comments
Notable writers on plot structure, plot development, and the plot of our lives. More »
The Danger of the Single Story
Popular 10 Comments
What are the implications of growing up reading about characters who are nothing like you? More »
3 Writing Styles that Kill Your Authenticity
Popular 20 Comments
These three common marketing 'constructions' completely kill your storytelling authenticity. More »
Notes on Shoplifting from American Apparel
Popular 5 Comments
In a new series, Notes on Writing, Matador editors examine different books and writing styles. We begin with Shoplifting From American Apparel, a new More »
Field Notes From Mary Sojourner
Popular 11 Comments
In this new series we look at field notes from well-known writers, then ask how their writing and creative process takes shape. We begin with novelist More »
