2nd paper (a fictional travel narrative as if you have been to Cairo)

I want you to imagine you have been in Cairo in or near Tahrir Square during the January 2011 revolution. Don’t tell us how you got to the Square. Just start in the middle of things. I don’t want airport arrivals, or the taxi from the airport, or why you are in Egypt.

Some Ideas for the Creative Paper

Mahmoud Darwish, a great Palestinian poet (1941-2008):

Acre is the smell of iodine and spices. Haifa is the smell of pine and wrinkled sheets. Moscow is the smell of vodka on ice. Cairo is the smell of mango and ginger. Beirut is the smell of the sun, sea, smoke, and lemons. Paris is the smell of fresh bread, cheese, and derivations of enchantment. Damascus is the smell of jasmine and dried fruit. Tunis is the smell of night musk and salt. Rabat is the smell of henna, incense, and honey….

If you’re having trouble imagining a narrative about your own travels, write about two characters from these books you’ve read so far. The two characters do not have to be a large part of your travelogue. Listen in on a conversation between them and interfere a little bit. Or write an email or a text to a friend or family member—or to two different people—about one long scene or a couple of scenes of your travel adventure. Jump right into the description—no tales of the flight over, of the taxi ride from the airport. You are in the middle of a new or old neighborhood—in the city or in a village outside the city. Use a line or two of dialogue from these two characters—lifted whole from the books—as stimulus—to get a feel for how these characters speak.

Without worrying about describing the characters, try spending time describing your location and surroundings in as much detail as you can. This is setting the stage, so to speak, using the senses. What do you hear, smell, see etc.? Smells are the best way to evoke a place—Egypt was a combination of diesel fumes and donkey manure and apple flavored tobacco smoke to me. Are you inside or outside? Is it noisy or quiet? What is the temperature? What is the weather like? Are there other people around? Decide if you are going to be more or less stationary (sitting somewhere observing), or if are you going to be mobile in some way.

Decide on a reason why you are you at the location you choose even if you never mention the reason in your creative project: are you vacationing, studying, on business, or visiting family? This decision might affect your experiences or how you describe them. Think about things that you typically look for or notice when you are in a completely new place. If you are stepping outside of your comfort zone, there are probably things you look for or notice right away that speaks to this zone. If you are not in a completely new place, what are the things you notice that make up your comfort zone in this particular place? How have things changed/not changed?

You won’t have to explain why you chose the characters from the books you’ve read in your project, but knowing why you chose them may help you picture the conversation that may occur between them (you could, for example, choose a character from Rifaat’s book and a character from al Aswany’s book—putting them in the 21st century; or imagine overhearing Rifaat and al Aswany themselves). What is it about the characters you chose that interests you? Will you choose characters that you think will get along/have things in common or will you choose two characters that you feel would not normally meet or want to meet? These decisions will in some ways determine the scene/conversation that you are going to be describing.

“Send” some emails to yourself or to a friend. Notice who you decide to send them to and how these emails differ depending on who the recipients are: friends, family, co-workers etc. The emails should contain content about your experiences, not just greetings/salutations. Read up a bit on whatever place you’re writing about. It’s okay to add a bit of post-trip knowledge to a piece of travel writing.