Paging through one of those magazines that comes to the house even though we don't subscribe to it, I found a travel article. Out of professional interest, I took a look at the ending (the place where writers usually bring out their best stuff). It began: "Barcelona is alive, thriving, romantic - a magical metropolis that will steal your heart."
In one short sentence, the author had committed a multitude of sins: telling instead of showing, using forced alliteration, resorting to a cliche. I read it aloud to Hania, who admitted it was bad but didn't understand why I was so annoyed by it. If I got upset by all the bad writing I read ...
But I teach travel writing, mostly to people who want to get published. This sentence - appearing in a glossy magazine - suggested that I've been going about it the wrong way all these years. If I could just get over my obsession with nuance, honesty, humor, originality, I could really help my students.
