Walking the Ancestral Ground
Describe a journey to a place that you have ancestral roots in. Discuss the importance of the location in your family history, how it felt to walk where your ancestors might have walked, and any long-lasting impacts of the visit on your identity or family ties.
Suggested length: An essay or article: 800 to 2,500 words
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- State your main point in one sentence before you start.
- Include a counterargument and answer it fairly.
- Cut every sentence that only repeats the one before it.
Writing travel books
Somewhere else, seen through someone's eyes.
Travel writing takes readers somewhere they may never go, through the eyes of someone who did. Guidebooks tell you where to eat; travel narratives tell you what the journey did to the traveler.
What readers expect
- A strong sense of place
- A curious, personal narrator
- Encounters with local people
- A journey with a shape
A tip before you start
The trip is the frame; the traveler's change is the story. A list of places isn't a book.
More Travel prompts
- Beyond the Travel HypeWrite a travel essay about a place you visited that didn’t live up to its hype. Explore what the experience taught you about expectations, reality…
- The Lesson of a Ruined TripWrite a reflective essay about the most unexpected lesson you learned during a travel experience that didn't go as planned. Describe the initial…
- Lost in the WildernessDescribe a challenging travel experience in a remote or rugged location that tested your limits. Focus on how you overcame these difficulties, the…
- A Solo Pilgrimage HomeDiscuss a solo travel experience to a destination that holds significant personal meaning to you, whether it's retracing family roots or following the…
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