Travel feature writing with Mike Carter

Perfect the art of writing first-rate travel pieces with tips and personal feedback from top experts

For all the advances in digital media, the written word remains the most evocative, emotive and entertaining way to capture the experience of travel. This two-day masterclass is for anyone who wants to learn how to write first-person travelogue pieces to a high standard. Through a series of lessons, discussions and practical exercises – including using great travel writers' work as a guide – Guardian and Observer travel writer Mike Carter will teach you how to structure a piece, write a compelling introduction, make a place come alive with your writing and how to avoid common pitfalls. There will also be a session hosted by former Observer Travel editor Joanne O'Connor, focusing on how to pitch your ideas and work to newspapers and magazines.

Class size has been kept small to allow for personal feedback and an informal and inspiring atmosphere, and you'll leave the course with numerous suggestions for further learning. After the course has finished, participants have the opportunity, should they wish, to submit a 500-word piece to Mike for feedback.

This course is for you if…

• You're a new writer wanting to turn your travel experiences into coherent narratives
• You're an experienced writer in another field wanting to explore the world of travel writing

Course description

This course mixes practical and theory sessions, carefully designed to help participants gain confidence in their writing and find their own style. Topics covered over the weekend include:

• How to write arguably the most important part of any travel story: a compelling, dynamic introduction that has the reader gripped
• How to use the "building blocks" of our travel experiences to create the main body of a piece
• How to avoid cliché
• Writing great dialogue
• Taking effective and useful notes

Tutor profile

Mike Carter has been travel writing for 10 years. He writes regularly for the Guardian and the Observer newspapers, and had also written for the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Harper's Bazaar and Daily Express. He is the author of two travel books – Uneasy Rider, which won the 2008 Oldie Travel Book of the Year, and One Man and his Bike, published in 2011, which documented his 5,000 mile cycle ride around the entire coastline of Britain.

Guest speaker profile

Joanne O'Connor has been a travel writer and editor for 20 years. She was Travel editor of the Observer from 2005 to 2010 and has spent the last few years working as a freelance journalist. She writes for most of the broadsheet travel sections and magazines such as Marie Claire, Tatler and BA Highlife, and has a travel column in the Observer magazine.

Full course and returns information on the Masterclasses website