Writing a travel memoir can be cathartic

The travel and adventure genre has many sub genres, and one of the most challenging to write is memoir. Writing a memoir can be a kind of therapy or catharsis, and writing a memoir set around a trip you took adds another layer of complexity.

If you’re writing a memoir set around tough events that happened on your trip, the writing process will likely be confronting. You might find yourself pouring your heart out in a way you didn’t expect. Often, enough time needs to have passed, and enough processing needs to have been done, for you to effectively reflect on the events you’re writing about.

If you find yourself shying away from digging into particular events or people or moments, those might just be the moments and people you need to write about. A common suggestion I leave on manuscripts is for the writer to dig deeper into their thoughts and emotions. Return to that moment, even if it hurts, and drag out the feelings. Bring them to the surface. Get them on the page. You can then use your present voice to reflect on that experience now that time has passed. 

With the power of distance, you can give yourself the grace to acknowledge who you were at that moment, the pressures you faced, and what made you behave or react in the way that you did. You might not have liked who you were in that moment, you might have acted like a dick or not stood up for yourself or someone else, but with that passing of time, you can acknowledge how you’ve changed and grown.

Two great examples of memoir in travel and adventure are Wild: A journey from lost to found, by Cheryl Strayed, and Adventures with Emilie: Taking on Te Araroa trail in 138 life-changing days, by Victoria Bruce.

Both books are set around thru-hiking: for Strayed, it’s the Pacific Crest Trail. For Bruce, it’s Te Araroa. Both books are about grief, loss, addiction, family, and finding yourself. They are both confronting reads, and, I imagine, were difficult for the authors to write about. In a way, the stories are less about what the authors experienced on their thru-hikes and more about their histories and working through all that life has thrown at them.

Another great example of travel memoir is Lebanon Days: Memories of an ancient land through economic meltdown, a revolution of hope and surviving the 2020 Beirut explosion, by Theodore Ell. Not much time passed between the story’s events and when Ell wrote it. We get a dream-like account of what it was like to live in Beirut from 2018 to 2020, and when the port explosion happened, the writing is raw and immediate.

If you’re writing a travel memoir, know that the process can be difficult. Know that it can be confronting. But know it can also be cathartic and freeing. Writing can help you work through the events in your life. And not all events have to be included. Sometimes, just getting them out into the draft is enough, and you can then delete the moments that aren’t serving the story.

And know that people want to read your story. They want to learn about who you are, what journey you’ve been on, and what you learned about yourself along the way.

If you’ve written your adventure memoir but you’re not sure if the story is hitting the way you want it to, then a manuscript evaluation could help. When you’re ready, get in touch and let’s work on your story together.

Books listed

• Wild: A journey from lost to found, by Cheryl Strayed
• Adventures with Emilie: Taking on Te Araroa trail in 138 life-changing days, by Victoria Bruce
• Lebanon Days: Memories of an ancient land through economic meltdown, a revolution of hope and surviving the 2020 Beirut explosion, by Theodore Ell

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