Essay 1: Nature/Travel Essay


There is a difference between a travel writer and a tourist. A tourist is on vacation; a travel writer is on a pursuit.--Crafting the Personal Essay (196)
The key to successful nature writing...comes in the ability to see what is not commonly seen.--Crafting the Personal Essay (189) 
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
For this assignment, I want you to dig deep into a travel or nature experience that you have had, or will have, and write about it. Whether your experience revolves around your first visit to the Basilica in San Juan; or a sultry evening immersed in a Frito pie at the Palmview "pulga" on a Wednesday; or a visit to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville; or a hike through Bentsen State Park to the famous Hawk Tower; or a summer school session in London or Salamanca, Spain; or spying on a nest of mockingbirds in that mesquite tree in your back yard, all of these qualify as experiences you can write about. Your job will be to recreate one of these experiences for readers in a meaningful, coherent, engaging manner. If your piece will focus on a nature experience, remember what Moore states: "What readers really seek in a superior nature essay is for the writer to show us something new or something fairly common but in a new way" (187). If your focus will be on a travel experience, don't forget that your task will be to take readers along with you; to immerse readers in your particular journey and make them believe they are there with you. 


Regardless of which experience you choose to write about, this essay requires that you pay attention to the elements of the craft of creative nonfiction, such as narrative structuresensory detailsdescriptive and figurative languageconflictcharacterization and dialogueresearch (where applicable), and most importantly, verisimilitude--i.e. the realistic portrayal of people, experiences, and environments.

YOUR ESSAY GUIDELINES

  • in Google Drive, create a Google Doc and name the file like this: NatureEssay-YourFullName or TravelEssay-YourFullName (ex. NatureEssay-AndrewZimmern)
    • if your essay is hybrid (like Moore's "Ah Wilderness"), either file name is fine
  • your Nature/Travel Essay should: 
    • include include your full name, class information, and date (top left corner of first page only); page numbers (top right); and a creative title (bold and centered). Your entire essay should be double-spaced as well.
    • revolve around one nature or travel experience only
      • if your experience includes both travel and nature elements (again, such as "Ah, Wilderness!"), that's okay, too.
    • strive to render your experiences through the elements of creative nonfiction mentioned above
    • include no more than 2 images, if desired
      • images should be centered and in between separate paragraphs; also, all images included in your essay should be owned by you (do not download images from the web)
  • We will workshop a draft of your essay in class on Tuesday, 9/26, so plan accordingly.
  • the final draft of your essay is due with your final portfolio and should total 6-8 double-spaced pages.

That's it. Have fun with this assignment, and happy writing!