/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10803807]

What are the strengths of a good travel narrative?
I've been trying for years to write a serious book my travels, but I can't seem to get it right. It doesn't help that I don't personally enjoy reading travel books, so I've nothing to take for inspiration.
I'm trying to keep from making myself the central subject.

[Anonymous No.10803813]

>>10803807
Blood Diamond is actually one of my favorite movies ever. I realize that this is execrable taste but there it is.

[Anonymous No.10803888]

>>10803813
Hey, I could say a hundred bad things about it, but the fact of the matter is I cried at the end, so they must have did something right.
Also I recently read a memoir written by an ex-child soldier from Sierra Leone, and it backs up a lot of the themes in the film.

[Anonymous No.10803924]

>>10803813
Leo's Afrikanner accent was hilarious
"hey, muh man"

[Anonymous No.10804241]

>>10803807
Dialogue.
You should treat dialogue like you are doing Gonzo, write that shit down right away and be sure to go out of the way to but yourself in situations where good, interesting dialogue will happen.
Be sure that you record your thoughts and feelings during and after the dialogue and try to reflect how it fits into the story in devolpment, look for themes and play along with the plot as it presents itself.
Do asstons of background research from biogeography and natural history it all relevant literature and recorded history.
After you find interesting things through research, seek them out.
This all works even better if you go full on vice news. Email and talk to people.
Don't pay for fucking anything and travel on a shoestring besides travel, always try to get taken in or sleep without a roof.

I think the only contemporary travel book I ever read; In Siberia, by Colin Thubron. Did an excellent job at all of that.