Pull your writing out of the toddler zone

Kia ora,

Have you ever got stuck talking to a toddler who’s telling you all about their trip to the playground and that they got to feed the ducks, and then they got chased by the ducks, and then they stood in duck poo, and then they found a stick, and then, and then, and then? 

They might be cute, but their storytelling can get dull quickly.

That eyes-glazing-over feeling is exactly what you don’t want your readers to feel when they’re reading your travel book. But that’s what will happen if all you do in your story is go from one place to another without giving readers more.

My latest blog post gives you six ways to avoid the “I went here, then I went there” trap so your story is more engaging and – most importantly – gives readers a reason to care about you and your journey.

Here are the highlights:

• Why and what details tell readers your motivation for your trip and why you made the decisions you made along the way.
• Emotional details show readers how you reacted to events and let us into your brain (creepy, but effective!).
• Historical details let us learn alongside you. They can provide context and understanding, and learning new things is always fun.
• Human details let us meet the people you met and let us hear them in their own words.
• Sense details immerse us in a scene with scent, touch, taste, sounds, and vibes.
• Flashbacks take us back to events that happened before your trip and can take us further into your world and motivations.

These are the types of details that readers love in travel and adventure. We want you to take us along for the trip, and immersing us in the experience is the best way to do that.

Work in these details and you’ll sound less like a three-year-old and more like the adventurous, curious, fantastic writer you are!

Cheers,

Deborah 

PS: Thank you for your replies on last week’s email about pets and grief. It’s been a weird few weeks, but I’m getting there.

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📚 What I’m reading

The book of trespass: crossing the lines that divide us, by Nick Hayes. Nick writes zinger after zinger. I’ve had to keep a pencil with me because how can I allow myself to forget lines like “The myth of the aristocracy is that they were ever anything more than rent collectors.” And gorgeous descriptions like “The maze of azaleas opens out into long, sloping fields, with large fallen oaks like ossified squid trailing their tentacles across the grass.”

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📅 Availability

Now booking edits from January 2026.

If publishing your travel or adventure memoir is your goal for 2026, grab a free sample edit. Let’s make it happen!

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