So you want to be a Writer and be a Traveller tooPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
It comes naturally, when we travel we want to tell others about what we have seen and where we have been and we usually do this by taking pictures or writing postcards or we may even write long letters home. What often happens is that these letters are so interesting that the recipients say to those who sent them that they should become writers. That’s when I get the e-mails. How did I get started? Did I study journalism? Do I have any tips?
I have no tips, no secret formulas. There is no special talent needed. There is no special gift, other than determination. And God does not grace one with a gift for writing. Talent does help but in reality writing is a trade, a trade that has to be learned. And that is the key. It can be learned. Read what Ayn Rand had to say. Remember her? She wrote "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead," both classics. She said: "The process of writing cannot be taught, not because it is mystical but rather because the process is so complex that a teacher cannot supervise the process for you. You must practice to learn." And how do you practice to learn? One way is to keep a journal and writing in it every day. And another is to read. Read good writers and see how they tell a story.
The bottom line is we don't need to spend hard earned money on how-to-do textbooks or do we need to attend long courses on journalism. For me to tell one that they don’t need a textbook on how to write, and then I write a book on "The Education of a Travel Writer, So You Want to be a Writer" seems a bit ludicrous but it is not quite the same. I answer those questions aspiring writers want to know by simply telling them how I got started. It's up to the reader if he or she wants to follow what I have to say. However, it's not orthodox; it's not what they teach in school.
I find there are a lot of would-be writers out there and they are on the right step. Everywhere I go, I see travellers, both young and old, sitting in cafes, in train and bus stations, at airports, all scribbling down notes into legers. Some legers are the size of books. Are they the future travel writers of the world? They could well be. The only thing they have to do is find a market for people to read what they write—and get paid for it.
I have to admit, I got started this way by keeping a journal and writing in it every day. From this journal came over 4,000 magazine and newspaper stories and more than 25 books from travel and adventure to biographies, and some fiction. I learned a long time ago that the words that one puts down, and keeps, are valuable, no matter how badly written they might be. They become more valuable as time goes on. Let me give an example.
I was out of college and wanted to see the world and I did just that. I set out to see the world, keeping a journal. The trip over, I took a job teaching school at Washington, D.C. One of my students was the secretary for the travel editor of the Washington Post. She mentioned the Post planned to do a feature piece on New Zealand but at the last minute the writer assigned to the project hadn't produced. I said that I had taken notes on New Zealand and could write a story. I did the story, gave it to her and it was printed the following Sunday in the travel section. How thrilled I was to be published in the Washington Post. The following week, the Post was covering Central America and was short on material. I wrote a piece "Through the Paper Curtain to Panama." I had taken notes on the trip when I came up from Panama to New York. The story was published and others followed—"Harry's New York Bar in Paris," "Across the Australian Outback," "Cheap Dining in Tokyo" and a raft of others, a story every week.
The editor became suspicious and wanted to know where I was getting all my material. According to his secretary, who was our go-between, the editor had a strong suspicion that I might be plagiarizing the material. But from where was I getting it? He couldn't figure it out, and it was driving him crazy. I explained to his secretary that my material came from a journal I kept. The editor became convinced my journal was fictitious, that it didn’t exist. One Friday evening, I had a surprise when he came to the school, walked right up to my desk and asked to see my journal. Of course, I had to turn it over to him.
That was a start, and it wouldn't have happened had I not kept a journal.
Necessary to learning to write is learning not to make excuses. Many maintain that one needs the right environment to write. In the beginning I searched long and hard for the right place. It was a search down one dead end road after another. It was an education. I found a number of places I liked where I could have settled down with my Hermes typewriter––Paris, Washington, D.C., Singapore, Papeete, Los Angles, Jerez de la Fronteria in southern Spain and a few more other places. I liked them all. I also liked writing aboard my schooner. Not at sea, but in ports and in quiet coves around the Pacific and Asia. Each place, as lovely as they were, were only excuses. Eventually I found that perfect place to write. It's a room with four walls. There are windows and they are curtained over so that I cannot look out. For a writer, a room with a view is destructive.
The toughest part to writing is getting started. If one can write letters home, then they know how to get started. Beginning writers should not masquerade with big words and flowery expressions. Just tell a story, simple and stick to the point.
It's tempting to steal someone else's work and pass it on as our own. It's called plagiarism. Don't do it. Written words are property and they belong to someone, and to take them is punishable by law. In "The Education" I go into detail about how one can get into trouble by stealing. I even admit that I once did it.
I had just begun writing for Thai Airways as their travel correspondent. It was my first assignment and an important one. The airline was opening an international route to Bali. The management sent me ahead to write a series of six promotional stories. I had to travel overland across Java and then take a ferry across a narrow and turbulent strait to reach Bali. It was a tough trip, but I was there when the first Thai Airways jet liner landed. After a month, I returned to Bangkok, quite pleased with my results. "But you didn’t write anything about stone carving," the assistant to the assistant director in advertising said. No one had told me I should write about stone carving, but I learned way back then you don’t argue with the one giving the assignments.
"Never mind," I said. "I have the material. I’ll write it." But I didn't have the material. I had to do something. I began my research and uncovered a travel article about Bali with a few paragraphs the author wrote on the art of stone carving. Not much, just a couple of paragraphs. Who would ever know? So I borrowed.
Bali became a big commercial hit for Thai Airways, and the management ran my six stories on the arts of Bali in media around the world. I never expected them to have the worldwide exposure they did. Everyone was reading about Bali, and I was the expert. More assignments came, including stone carving. I cringed at the thought of what might happen had I been caught. But a year passed quietly, and then the next, and it was forgotten—or so I thought.
Three years after the articles appeared, Thai Airways opened the first flight to Katmandu, and travel writers from around the world were invited. A big reception was held at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Bangkok. Everyone of importance was there—THAI management, magazine editors, the press, radio and TV. And there was someone else. I had never met him, but when his name was mentioned, I immediately remembered—the writer from whom who I had "borrowed" my stone cutting material. I tried to avoid him, even his stare. But meeting him was inevitable. The PR Director at Thai Airways saw me standing in the background and called me over. With her were a few writers, including Mr. X from the Los Angles Times. Introductions were made. I was as good as dead when my name was mentioned. I saw the look on Mr. X's face suddenly change. I was in for trouble. My writing career was over, finished, ended because of one miserable story on stone carving on Bali. And sure enough, Mr. X said, "I want to talk to you." Perhaps I was saved. He was sparing me from public disgrace. We excused ourselves and headed to a far, secluded corner. I was preparing in my mind what I would tell him. I would make a clean confession and appeal to his sympathy. He spoke first, before I could begin.
"Look," he began, "I wanted to talk to you. I have felt baldly about this for a long time."
He felt badly. What was he talking about, that he felt badly? I was the one who felt terrible. I was about to interrupt him, but it was most fortunate that I didn't
"I am sorry, for you see, I was rather in a hurry, and I had to borrow some of your writing." He said 'your writing.' He continued. "I had to get a copy in, and I used your work on stone carving on Bali, and I have never done that before, I feel terrible."
I couldn't believe it. He had stolen the text from some place he couldn't remember and, when he saw my story in print, he thought it was mine. He asked if I would forgive him.
"Don't worry, I said. "I won't tell a soul." And I never did—until now that is.
Writing, of course, is much easier when one's heart is really into it. I love to write and that is a step forward. But it's only a step, one step. I hear it often from those who want to write—"I's easy for you. You are a writer." What they mean, or believe, is that once a writer becomes established, it’s no longer a struggle. That is not so. Most folks don't realize the discipline it takes to sit down and write. Every story you do has to be the best you can do.
I feel fortunate to have been given the opportunely to write these weekly feature pieces for Thai Airways. I first began writing for THAI in 1966, and for Weekly Travel Features it has been six years, and this marks my 300th article. I enjoyed the research and writing every one of them. I also feel fortunate to have met all the interesting people that I did. I don't know any other profession, except perhaps photography, that brings one close to VIPs and interesting people, people they wouldn't normally get to meet. Most everyone likes to see their name in print and writers do that for them.
For our readers of Royal Orchid Holidays, I have arranged with the Publisher for a 20% discount for those who want copies of "The Education of a Travel Writer, So You Want to be a Writer." Email the publisher directly www.wolfendenpublishing.com QUESTIONS & ANSWERSQ. Dear Mr. Stephens. Thank you very much for your interesting story last week on the Chindwin River in Myanmar. We organized that trip again together with Tourasia Roemer AG and with Thai Airways in Zurich. All of the participants were immensely impressed. We are hoping we can make this a regular, scheduled tour for all your Royal Orchid Holliday readers. I have sent your article to Myanmar Marketing Committee for their consideration, and to the Ayravata Cruise and all the friends in the industry. Thank you again. If you can organize a couple dozen of your readers we can arrange a trip on the Chindwin, and we welcome you to join them. Phyoe Wai Yar Zar, All Asia Exclusive Travel Co., Ltd. Yangon 11072, Union of Myanmar
A. Dear Phyoe. It was my pleasure to make that Chindwin River trip with you and the story I wrote was an easy one to do for my heart was in it. I witnessed a very pleasant and tranquil side of your fabulous country. And now it’s my turn to thank you for the invite. Maybe it will happen. ––HS
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
