“No endeavor to write a travel book is ever lost, since it gives you a useful perspective on (and intensified attention to) the reality of the travel experience itself. When embraced mindfully, the real-time experience of a journey is invariably its truest reward.” –Rolf Potts

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf touches on nine lessons from attempting to write a (never finished) van-life vagabonding memoir at age 23, including:

On Pilgrims in a Sliding World (1:00)

Lesson #1: No work is lost (and “failure” has lessons to teach)

On the author as a character (6:30)

Lesson #2: “Show, don’t tell” is still good narrative advice

On depicting other people (14:30)

Lesson #3: Travel books require reporting (not just recollecting)

On recounting dialogues (22:30)

Lesson #4: Be true to what was said (but make sure it serves a broader purpose)

On veering from the truth (32:30)

Lesson #5: The truth tends to work better than whatever you might make up

On depicting places (39:30)

Lesson #6: “Telling details” are better than broad generalizations about a place

On neurotic young-manhood (48:30)

Lesson #7: Balance narrative analysis with narrative vulnerability

The seeds of Vagabonding (1:01:30)

Lesson #8: Over time, we write our way into what we have to say

The journey was the point (1:06:30)

Lesson #9: In the end, taking the journey counts for more than writing it

Books mentioned:

Essays, poems, and short stories mentioned

"The Mystical High Church of Luck," by Rolf Potts (1998 essay)
"Greenland is Not Bigger Than South America", by Rolf Potts (1998 essay)
“The Faces,” by Robert Creeley (1983 poem)
"Reflection and Retrospection," by Phillip Lopate (2005 essay)
"Why so much travel writing is so boring," by Thomas Swick (2001 essay)
"10 Rules of Writing," by Elmore Leonard (2001 essay)
"In the Penal Colony," by Franz Kafka (1919 short story)

Places and events mentioned

People's Park (activist park in Berkeley)
924 Gilman Street (punk-rock club in Berkeley)
Alphabet City (neighborhood New York City's East Village)
Brentwood (Los Angeles neighborhood)
1994 Northridge earthquake
Panama City Beach (Florida spring-break city)
Gainesville (Florida college town)
Athens (Georgia college town)
Big Sur (coastal region of California)
Humboldt Redwoods State Park (park in California)

Other links:

"Van Life before #VanLife" (Deviate episode)
Paris Writing Workshops (Rolf's annual creative writing classes)
Picaresque (prose genre)
Roman à clef (fictionalized novel about real-life events)
"Jumping freight trains in the Pacific NW" (Deviate episode)
"Telling travel stories, with Andrew McCarthy" (Deviate episode)
"Rolf Potts: The Vagabond's Way" (Ari Shaffir's Skeptic Tank podcast)
"A personal history of my grunge-bandwagon band" (Deviate episode)
Gettysburg Address (Abraham Lincoln speech)
José Ortega y Gasset (Spanish philosopher)
Jack Handey (American humorist known for "Deep Thoughts" jokes)
Laurel Lee (American memoirist)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

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