When I wrote No, I Won't Buy You a Drink!, I made a conscious decision.
I wasn't trying to write the most literary travel memoir ever published. I wasn't trying to impress readers with descriptions, elaborate vocabulary or clever turns of phrase. I was trying to communicate.
One of the recurring ideas in my book is the concept of packaging - the ways people, organisations and even ideas present themselves to appear more attractive, important or valuable than they really are.
As I travelled, I noticed that packaging often got in the way of understanding. People became harder to know because they were busy presenting themselves. Conversations became harder to trust because everyone seemed to be performing. I didn't want to do the same thing with my writing.
There are thousands of books that can describe famous landmarks more beautifully than I ever could. Many readers enjoy that, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It simply wasn't what interested me.
What stayed with me weren't the landmarks themselves. They were the conversations, the misunderstandings, the friendships, the risks, the generosity, the loneliness, and the strange ways people connected with one another. If I spent three pages describing a cathedral but ignored the person standing beside me, I felt I would be packaging the journey rather than sharing it.
So I made a deliberate choice to keep the focus on people.
Some readers will wish there were more descriptions and more literary detail. That's perfectly fair. But I also suspect there are many people who don't read very often because books can sometimes feel over-packaged. Simple ideas become complicated. Ordinary experiences are dressed up to sound extraordinary. Readers are asked to admire the writing before they are allowed to experience the story.
I wanted the opposite. I wanted the writing to feel like a conversation with someone sitting across the table - honest, unpretentious and free from unnecessary decoration. Rather than trying to make every moment sound profound, I wanted to describe what happened, what I observed and what I gradually came to understand.
Because in the end, I realised I wasn't really interested in describing the world.
I was interested in understanding it - and perhaps understanding myself a little better along the way.
Topics:
#TravelMemoir #MemoirWriting #AustralianAuthor #DJGifford #WritingPhilosophy #Authenticity #HumanConnection #Observation #TravelWriting #Memoir #NoIWontBuyYouADrink