Rationale

Travel Writing Rationale Form

Question	Comment giving specific visual or written language evidence
What techniques did you use to make your blog instantly appealing?	I used a variety of different techniques to make my blog appealing. To start off, in my first blog entry, one of the first things I did was provide a hook at the very beginning of the entry so my readers would feel inclined to continue reading. My hook in this case was “The sun glowed like a burning ember…”I thought this was a very important thing to add as it captures the reader's attention and gives them an impression on the writing piece before even reading it. I also made it very narrative-like, including very descriptive adjectives and metaphors, similes, and personification to help them imagine being there and enduring the three days in the same way that I did. Another very noticeable technique I used was to make the visuals as big as they could get depending on their resolution to draw people’s eyes not only to the words but also to colours and other objects being seen.  As a backdrop color, I used white to make my blog look neat and clean but then cut the pristine colors when the eye lands on a blog entry, where the preview includes an image and the title of the entry. It looks very organized and easy to use as well as it draws attention to the blog name, which is up to the interpretation and/or the imagination of the reader. I try to keep it simple to also make the photos stick out more as I do think that bringing the attention to the alluring scenery and visuals will make the text more charming and entertaining. They complement each other perfectly.
Describe your target audience.	My target audience are people that are looking for an adventure and people who are willing to think outside of the box, ignoring past stereotypes of a place and who are willing to give a place they would never go a chance. The reason these people are my audience is because Colombia is a place that has had a rough history, so many people don't go due to the past drug cartel problems.  I want to show the people that are willing to give Colombia a second chance what one can really experience in such a place and maybe persuade them with my personal experiences there to travel to Colombia and see the beautiful country in the way I did. My blog is not so concentrated around activities because I like to keep things general, leaving space for them to visit other attractions that might interest them because every person is different, and something that I might have experienced might not be something they would enjoy. So I keep the activities I explain in the blog basic because I am sure that most if not all people can do them and will enjoy doing them. Additionally, I try to stay clear of any tourist attractions as I feel there are enough blogs and articles promoting those attractions and in my opinion, one can only experience a true culture if you see what the people of the culture see everyday and coexist alongside of them instead of only seeing the ‘most important things’ that every other tourist there will see. This is why there are no tourist spots mentioned in my blog, the activities I do are neutral, for example going to the beach, taking a walk around a certain area, eating at a restaurant, or simply talking to the locals.
Comment on visuals or images.	Each visual was chosen carefully to extract a certain mood from the readers. If I wanted them to feel hungry, I tried to find a picture relating to the text that made them feel my hunger at that moment. An example of this is in my blog, where there is a picture of a Mojarra and other food on a plate. You can see the grease and the freshness of the dish, making everything look appealing and appetizing. Another reason I would insert a picture in the blog is if there was a certain scene I talked about in the text that I felt could not be properly portrayed through the text and needed a visual aspect to portray the emotion or vibe. I tried to pick photos that reminded me of the place or the memories I made there to make the blog more personal and perhaps even show a bit of my personality through the image selection. The picture of the Walled City during the night time is a great example of this, radiating the same vibe I had felt that night mentioned in the text, despite it not being the exact thing I saw. Furthermore, it is very important in my opinion to include visuals frequently as too much text can be overwhelming. I also believe that one should not simply insert a photo in the middle of a sentence. Therefore, I placed them generally at the end of each paragraph to conclude the paragraph and topic before moving on to the next. If I did not pick any visuals to complement the text, the text would be interesting to read.
Identify  phrases and techniques that you used to establish a strong sense of place?	A technique I used to develop a strong sense of place was to add many different adjectives and metaphors for the reader to piece together the image using their past knowledge and the information I am telling them so they can imagine the scene happening as if they were there. I also tried to be very specific about the setting, personalities, situations and describing things. So instead of food I would try to say what food I ate. So instead of saying “What I ate was delicious” I specified what I ate, “Fried Mojarra, coconut rice, fried plantain, fresh salad, and a Limonada de Coco”. Being a reader myself, I know that I tend to skim over unspecific words as they are very generic and give me no associations that can help me create an image of that word in my mind. If I am given a specific word I can search up the word and envision it more easily and I can connect my past knowledge to whatever that word was. Another technique I used in my text that I used to establish a strong sense of place amongst my readers was using all the senses or as many as I could to describe something. I felt like this made it easier for the reader to engage as well. An example of this in my writing includes “...during which we enjoyed the ocean view while the salty wind blew against our faces, cooling us down considerably. When we arrived, we could see the quality of the water and the sand had changed drastically. Instead of polluted beaches, there was a gorgeous mix of white sands and turquoise and blue waters, getting darker the farther it distanced itself from the shore. It was here we lounged for the rest of the day, sipping on tangy and sweet Limonadas de Coco and enjoying the breathtaking panoramic view.” Of course, both these techniques were particularly challenging to use, as it is hard not to make the text too wordy. So I did need to know when to use the technique and when it was not as important.
First, second  or third person perspective? Describe the voice of the narrator in your blog?	For this blog entry, I generally wrote in first person perspective because I was recounting an experience that I personally had in this place. However, there were moments in the text where I changed to second person perspective to give a small piece of advice or to recommend something. I believe this was very important because I can address the reader directly, making it easier to give them that advice. This however was very rare and I would say that for the majority of the blog entry I used “I” or “We” as I am now. It was written from my own perspective and experience and it is happening in my past. I would say my voice in this blog was informal as well as chatty and extremely descriptive. As I am writing in first person throughout most of my blog it does offer a less factual and fictional point of view as this was something that was actually experienced and is not made up. The entry follows me through my own experience and I present Cartagena how I saw it. This also includes more emotion and the voice is more emotive. I try not to go super deep and philosophical but I also do not write like a news article or history book word, whose main purpose is to inform the reader about a certain topic or event. On top of everything, as my blog was informal in my first entry, I believe that this decision will let me connect to my reader and establishing that connection can give that reader a sense of relation to me, making it easier to understand how I see some things so they can see the same things for themselves without actually being there with me.
Explain how your blog  relies on facts and statistics?	Of course, travel writing comes with many different purposes, forms and talks about a selection of different places. It is up to the writer to interpret the city and what they would like to share with their readers. Some rely on historical facts or statistics, but this was not the case for me My blog relies very lightly on facts and statistics almost to the point of none. Instead, I relied more on anecdotes or memories of a moment. One of the only facts I used was that Cartagena is one of the most historical cities in Colombia as it has a very important and interesting history that many come to see. But as I have said before, my purpose is to inform people how I saw Cartagena, which was not from a factual standpoint. I also mentioned how I generally try to stay clear of the main tourist attractions in a place, and sadly, many of these places are the ones that hold the most factual information and statistics. I am a very emotional and intense person, and I tried to show that through my choice of using many descriptive words that provoked an emotion in the reader. The purpose of the blog was to mainly provide my readers with something they could not simply search up on the internet or find out in a book. It was to give them an experience from the comfort of their own homes and to discuss my own experience in one of the exquisite cities of the world. I also tried to use analogies that people could imagine based on their own experience to connect to my readers in a more effective way as it makes it easier to envision something you have already endured and it lets them relate to me easier.  I also tried to focus less on the things that Cartagena is already known for and outline the many other aspects of the culture that stand out to me personally. This includes daily life, music, dance, the personalities of the people, beaches, and other things that you cannot understand without experiencing it. I chose to write like this because it made it easier for myself to write because it was something I could connect to more personally and something I enjoyed writing more.
Comment on your use of humour, anecdotes, philosophising and other stylistic devices.	In my blog, I did not use much humour as I did not think it is very necessary. In my opinion, humour is a very touchy stylistic device and to appeal to a variety of different humours is very hard. Personally, I am not a very funny person so I did not feel it was necessary nor a good idea for me to add humour. This way, my blog is also more open to all kinds of different people, and not just one group of people with a certain humour. However, although there was not much humor I did include a few anecdotes. Anecdotes are great ways of connecting to a reader and I know that I personally like reading anecdotes because it lets me connect to the author, learn more about their personality and in the case of this blog, the city they are writing about. This was something else that I also had to limit though. To promote the traveling to Cartagena and experiencing the trip for themselves, I did not share more than two or three anecdotes. Everyone will most likely have a different trip than I did when they go to Cartagena. It is up to them to gather those memories in this wonderful city. I do not want them to presume something about the place like I did and then arrive, realizing it was a whole other thing. It is important that they make their own memories in that place, not try to imitate the ones I made. So I tried to inform them about a place through my eyes, but not an overbearing amount. I want them to use their imagination or experience it for themselves. I did not philosophize as much as I moralized this this blog. Especially when talking about personality, culture, and tradition (all things that cannot be touched) I moralized on most of what I experienced. I included many lessons I had learned throughout the trip that have changed me or shaped the way I am today. Cartagena taught me a variety of things, but the most important lessons were included in the conclusion section of the entry, as these lessons only came to my realization at the end of the short visit. One example is, “...many cultures can combine to create a beautiful city in peace despite a rough past where conflict was not uncommon if willing to accept each other for who they are.”