Want to share your travel adventures with others? This author reveals the key to turning an otherwise mundane travel story into a gripping tale.

by Candace MacPhie

In the nineties, I did a one-year backpacking trip around the world. As a woman traveling mostly solo, I had some crazy times. Cool, right? Ugh, but so did thousands of other people. How do I transform my stack of journals and photos into a standout read?

Here’s how I morphed my penned thoughts into the five-part Back in a Year series (book one, Finding Color, and book two, Life Strikes Back, which are available now, and book three, Hello, I am Here, which will be published in March 2025):

1. Why? What’s the point?

Sure, we’ve all taken awesome trips or done something we find interesting. What separates your tale from a holiday recount over drinks and makes it a compelling book?

Start by defining the goal of what you want to share. You owe it to your readers to have a story arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end that they can follow and cheer along with. Once you land your why, the book is easier to structure and write because you have a purpose to follow—one you as a writer are accountable to deliver.

2. This is not an itinerary

Not every detail needs to be included. When I woke up, what I ate every day, when I went to sleep? Boring. And I want to sleep, too, just thinking about all those extra details and draggy words that slow down a reader’s experience.

Use your story arc—why—to guide what needs to be included. This anchor helps you as a writer to determine which details are important and which need to be omitted. It sounds simple enough. But sometimes it’s hard to let go of content. This is where you have to be strong. Be a stickler and think about your reader: if it doesn’t add to the story or move it along, it doesn’t belong.

Not every detail about your travels needs to be included. When you woke up, what you ate every day, when you went to sleep? Boring.

3. Don’t turn your story into a travel guide

Enough details need to be included for readers to immerse themselves in the location, but not everything.

I quickly dump readers into the scene, but I’m meticulously economical with my location words. I include additional details about the place as the scene progresses, but my focus is always on the story and characters, with just enough on the place.

4. Bring the emotion and more emotion and then some more

Bring me in. All the way in. I’m here for your story, but I need to feel it.

In any book, characters must develop and grow. And the reader needs to experience all the emotions of that journey. Everyone has a voyeur side and will be entertained by a real, relatable experience. Key word here is “real.” As a memoir writer, I believe it’s your job to be real by not taking the easy route and glossing over or not including the messy parts that are embarrassing or show you in a negative light. No one is perfect. You have to put it all out there. It’s imperative to include good, bad, funny, and sad moments and all the emotions that accompany them.

5. It takes time

It’s taken me longer to write about the trip than it did to take the trip.

I was on the road for over a year. And it has taken me five years to understand my why, structure the story, and learn the craft of writing. The hours and hours I spent getting one paragraph perfect are humbling. But worth it. Because I know when you pick up one of my books, you are sucked into the nineties, wearing a backpack, sweating, crying, laughing, and feeling all the feels on this epic trip.

This has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But also, the most rewarding. If you have a book in you, it’s your job to share it with the world. Give it a go. I promise you someone out there is waiting for your words.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Candace MacPhie spent years backpacking and working around the world. She has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and an MBA, worked for twenty years on four different continents, and now calls Calgary, Alberta, home. After getting married and having kids, she shifted gears and quit her job to spend time at home. During the Covid lockdown, she decided to try writing and started the Back in a Year series.

When Candace is not at her computer yelling, “Just a few more pages, then I’ll make dinner,” she loves hiking in the Rocky Mountains, doing hot yoga, reading romance novels, and making up new cake recipes. She especially likes to laugh and spend time with her husband (the self-proclaimed “grumpy motherf—ker”) and her three awesome kids.

Visit Candace at her website and connect with her on Instagram and TikTok.