How to Write a Guidebook

Many readers are reluctant to edit pages on sites like CasualTourist.com. Some folks are shy or self-critical. Don't be silly! Take a chance, start small. No one here ever won the Pulitzer Prize for writing but we enjoy sharing information. All we ask is that if you see something, anything, that is blank or needs improvement, then hit that edit button! Did we miss a restaurant or bookstore that bus travelers might like? Do you know something about the town's history that we missed or got wrong? Do you ride the bus/subway/ferry every day and know something we don't? Pretend we're nice tourists from out of town and we're lost. Fill us in! Help us out! Look for that edit button in the appropriate section and add a sentence or two. Give us a name and website or phone number or hours. Tell us what you like about it and why we should go there or know that or try whatever. Don't worry, as long as you are honest and mean well then we appreciate whatever you have to say. You don't have to be Arthur Frommer to add a few sentences.

What should you write? That's up to you! We have loaded more than 1,200 guidebook entries, each uses the same basic template preloaded with questions and ideas on what to write. For example, larger cities might have extensive transit networks so we loaded templates that ask readers to describe subway, bus, commuter rail, and ferry services. We ask readers to tell us the history of the transit company and to describe the fare system and where the routes go. If you're familiar with that transit system you can contribute to that section by answering the questions in the template. But don't let our template limit your writing. Break free, be original, be creative, but be honest and be objective. Whatever you know about, be it the bus station, city, transit, hostels, restaurants, nightlife, newspapers, or whatever, just write it. Our readers will take even the most haggard, broken, run-on, misspelled sentence and turn it into a useable idea. So please don't be shy.

That being said, if you really want to make an impression on our readers, take a minute and clear your head. Now imagine you are about to describe something to a nice guy or gal from out of town, someone whom you've never met before but you can tell instantly that you like him or her. First, whatever you say, base it on what you've seen and done, not what you heard or read. If you haven't “been there, done that” at least a few times then move on to another topic. That's the participant part. The objective part is a little more complicated. Objective writing is based on facts and experiences, preferably several experiences. For example, if you've been to a lot of hotels you can tell when one is good. You can judge its cleanliness, price or convenience relative to other hotels. You can build a useful opinion based on the hotel compared to other hotels and not just how you felt that day or whether the bellhop was wearing too much makeup. The same is true of restaurants, bus stations, parks, nightclubs, et cetera. Take your experiences, shuffle them around in your mind, and describe them to that nice guy or gal from out of town. Be descriptive and objective.

In our case, the classic example of objective writing is to describe a bus station. An objective writer will have visited the station and others several times and will naturally develop an honest opinion over time. The writer can tell us whether it's clean, convenient, crowded, or dangerous based on observations and in comparison to other stations. A subjective writer (the opposite of objective) is one who rarely if ever visited that bus station and writes what he or she thinks it's like based on what he or she heard or felt. Many people are afraid to ride a bus because the bus station is in a sketchy neighborhood. Well, if you've never been to the station, or even downtown, then you can't write an objective or fair description of the station. Of course, it doesn't have to be a bus station, it can be anything.

The only thing we don't want and can't use is a travelogue. We're sure you had a great weekend at Aunt Betty's, but that doesn't help the reader. Sorry, but we can't publish anecdotes, complaints, or rants:

• Yes, we know you used to ride the bus to wherever when you were a kid and the driver gave you a candy bar.
• Yes, we know the guy on the bus next to you smelled like Listerine and urine.
• Yes, we know that buses are cramped and always behind schedule.

Whatever you write it should be meaningful to someone you've never met. Any rude, racist, or hurtful writing will be summarily deleted. Oh, and please, no commercial or pornographic content ever.