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What Type of Writing Should I Aim for?

The genres of writing that this section will feature are:

Fiction

Poetry

Creative Nonfiction: (sometimes referred to as narrative nonfiction or the narrative essay): Such writing is a large part of the American tradition, and enables you to combine the inner and outer journey. A preferred human-interest form for magazines.

Journaling or observational writing: allows the reader to learn from your experiences, focusing on details and not just conclusions and definitive statements

Once you've decided on a genre give yourself a frame, and the picture will be clearer. Like writers use a symbol or seek a metaphor; look at one small episode (a conversation with your host father, a festival, a local political or environmental issue…whatever stirs you is the place you should explore—nowhere else. Save “elsewhere” for another article. Before you know it 1200 words have passed, and 1200 words is the common length of a 2-page published spread in a magazine. Think of your article like a poem. How can you convey what you need and want to say in the space of a poem?

Your challenge is going to be deciding what not to write about from your semester or year of studying abroad. Your next challenge is to figure out how to say what you want to say in as few words as possible, with as much vividness as possible so that your reader joins you on the last stages of your black-sky 3 a.m., breathless ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro and has some stake in whether you make the summit.

There are obviously many different types of publications. And you have a choice: either to write your article for yourself and then find a publication suited to the subject and style of your piece OR to identify a publication you’d like to write for and then learn about its audience. Read some of the publication’s articles and read its writers guidelines.