Space Travel Notes

Have fun with your misadventures

Space Hotels — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:51:55 +0000

Before leaving on a trip, everybody hopes to avoid having misadventures of any kind; however, it is also true that, once you get back home, your best stories are usually about the misadventures you encountered. Find a good angle, with a touch of self-irony, to recount your small or big misadventures; your readers will be curious and follow you to the end of your story! How did your day change when you were on the way to Milan and got off the train at the Rogoredo station thinking that you were at the Central station? Or when you were in Rome and took the bus in the opposite direction ending up in the EUR district instead of the city centre?

Claudio Visentin and Giulia De Dominicis

Gathering information 2

Space Hotels — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 09:32:38 +0000

If you find yourself in a small town and have already seen all the monuments, visited all the quaint corners, tasted all the local specialities and cannot find any more information: what should you do? Don’t worry: often the people in very small towns, such as the mayor, elementary school teacher, priest or doctor, are quite approachable and willing to tell you stories that can make your reportage more personal. They say that a town’s beauty parlour is a hotbed for gossip: so why not go into one on some pretence and start from there?

Claudio Visentin and Giulia De Dominicis

Gathering information 1

Space Hotels — Tue, 28 May 2013 09:31:14 +0000

If you are looking for interesting stories to tell, you can begin collecting information before you leave on your trip. How? By using the internet. Wikipedia pages will not be of much use (perhaps not at all) because they do not add much to what you can find in a guidebook. However, do not underestimate the power of Youtube, Facebook, Twitter or the newest social website Pinterest. Online amateur videos, fanpages, comments on people and places can offer you a lot of information and save you a lot of time when you get to your destination, as you will already know about where to go and how to get there. And you could even make a few new friends online before you leave.

Claudio Visentin and Giulia De Dominicis

Seeing through another’s eyes (more on point of view)

Space Hotels — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:30:19 +0000

When we travel abroad, we are always foreigners to the local inhabitants just as they are foreigners to us. The “foreigner’s” point of view can be very useful for seeing the world around us in a different and original way; particularly, when our writing threatens to fall into a rut of triteness or stereotyping. How can we talk about Rimini [resort on the Adriatic Riviera] beyond Fellini [the Italian director born there], the piadina [a local flatbread] and discotheques? Look for a foreigner who has moved to Rimini and get them to describe the city from their point of view. You will probably be pleasantly surprised by what they have to say.

Claudio Visentin and Giulia De Dominicis

“Parla come mangi” [Talk like you eat": a commonly used Italian idiom]

Space Hotels — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:20:00 +0000

Do not be tempted to embellish your story or descriptions with frilly words that you would never use in everyday conversation. We can all agree that when the Spanish Steps in Rome are lined with flowers, it is indeed an amazing sight to behold. However, would it really be effective to describe the scene as “a jubilation of flowers with an inebriating scent”? Since you are not the reincarnation of Gabriele D’Annunzio [prominent Italian writer and nationalist figure], choose words that come from your real vocabulary. You will avoid sounding false or trite and your readers will thank you for it.

Claudio Visentin e Giulia De Dominicis

Verbs: instructions for use

Space Hotels — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:10:29 +0000

Verbs? You may ask, “Are we back in elementary school?” No, we are still talking about simple, useful writing tips.

First: whenever you can, always use verbs in their active form. The golden rule says to use the passive form only when the subject doing the action is unknown or if the object receiving the action is more important than the agent doing the action.

Second: use verbs more than nouns. They are shorter, stronger and more expressive. They are also more “vital” and describe the action that is happening. For example: notice the difference between “Our departure was set for eight o’clock.” and “We left at eight o’clock.” Or the difference between: “The group’s attention was very high.” and “The group was very attentive.” In the former examples, we have an abstract concept, while in the latter ones we have a live subject carrying out a live action.

It is not obligatory to use one over the other but pay close attention and choose wisely.

Claudio Visentin and Guido Bosticco

Sound

Space Hotels — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:09:46 +0000

Words have sound. Literature is music. We have talked about rhythm but what about melody? You may ask, “What has this got to do with travel writing?” Well, every word has a shape, a length, a flavour and an image attached to it, as well as an abstract form and a sound. We do not attach enough importance to the sounds of words. They serve more then just to create alliterations or other figures of speech that remind us of elementary school. The sounds of words are their very nature. If a word “sounds good” to you, it is because it has harmonic consonance with the rest of the sentence and with yourself. It is very important not to settle for what you already know; try to experiment with new sounds. Imagine a sequence of adjectives that become increasingly stronger (e.g.: it was an intense, acrid, penetrating and unbearable smell) and then imagine reading them aloud while you raise the tone and volume of your voice. Does it “sound good” to you? Then, it will work!

Claudio Visentin and Guido Bosticco

Rhythm

Space Hotels — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:08:50 +0000

Composing a sentence is like composing music. You must be attentive to the notes, the tempo and the rhythm. There is rhythm in every sentence: we know that there is metre in poetry but it also exists in prose. There is rhythm within every word; an example of which is the accent with which it is spoken. There is also rhythm within every page, every chapter and even within an entire book. Writing is about rhythm and rhythm is articulated by punctuation (which we will talk about in a future post): short, syncopated sentences create a specific effect in the reader, while long sentences and extended lists create another.

Rhythm in sentences is created by various elements including: where we place our adjectives; if we begin a sentence with “and” or “but” to intensify its connection with the preceding sentence; if we use many verbs in the passive form; and if we start a new paragraph often. Every good writer also has a good musician within!

Claudio Visentin and Guido Bosticco

One is enough!

Space Hotels — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:30:47 +0000

We often take two photos of the same landscape, subject or object. Of course, we have already told you that you should not keep both images. You must choose one of the two. But which one? What criteria do you use to make this choice? It is best to choose the one that “says” the most. The one that best depicts a place, portrays a person or describes an object or situation. However, these criteria can still be too vague. So, if both images have the same communicative power, then choose the one that is more technically correct. Keep the one with the best sharpness and eliminate the one with any blurring (unless this serves to convey an important condition happening at the time you took the shot) or superfluous elements (passersby, cars, birds, etc.). If it is an individual or group portrait, you obviously must eliminate the one where people’s eyes are closed.

Vincenzo Cammarata

Ok, let’s reflect

Space Hotels — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:30:49 +0000

Novice digital (which means that our economic investment is the same whether we take one or one hundred photos) photographers go through various phases based on subject matter, such as café tables, coffee cups, walls, self-portraits, etc. One very interesting phase is experimentation with mirrors, water and other reflective surfaces. Do not underestimate the importance of this phase because it forces you to study a scene and move around in search of the best framing, which are two fundamental actions that you must always do, even after this “reflective” phase.

Vincenzo Cammarata