1. Appeal to the senses. During your adventure, the world around you came to you through your eyes and ears. To put the reader in that same place, you need to focus the writing on that same sensory information. For example, "The wind was blowing very hard," doesn't describe the scene, it only analyzes it. The things that impressed upon you the strength of the wind reached you through your senses: what you saw, what you heard, what you felt on your skin. If you focusing only on your conclusion-The wind is blowing hard-you deprive the reader of feeling a part of the experience. Write vividly, describing what you saw in enough detail for the reader to picture the same image. Aim your writing at the immediate experience of the senses: "The crests of the waves were torn off in white streaks of foam. Spray coming over the bow stung my skin and eyes. I shouted to John, who was no more than a boat length ahead of me, but he never even turned his head." The readers can feel that they are a part of the scene and will come to the same conclusion: It's blowing hard.

2. Avoid vague descriptors. Words like "glorious," "incredible," "awesome" and "magnificent" have no real content. What is an enormous wave? Is it as big as a credenza, a boxcar, or a split-level house? What color is the "colorful" fish?

3. Avoid words you wouldn't use in conversation. An "ursine interloper" is still just a bear that wandered into your camp. If you interrupt the flow of the story to send a reader to the dictionary, the word should be worth the trip.

4. Pathetic fallacy/anthropomorphism. The sea may seem cruel, but it is just a bunch of waves, none of them malicious. In describing animal behavior, focus on what you see and hear, and steer clear of what you think the critter might be thinking or feeling.

5. Theme. To give a story continuity and a sense of progress, it may help to develop a theme to hold the story together. Some of our more adventurous, or ill-fated, writers draw readers in by sharing their close calls. If you stayed out of life-threatening situations-our compliments on your good planning and judgment-you might be able to unify the story by touching on something you learned or some transformation that occurred over the course of the trip.

6. Immediacy
Your narrative needs to be anchored in a specific time and place. It is especially tempting to lump experiences together to squeeze a narrative about several days or weeks into the limited space of an article. You don't need to cover every day. Focus instead on the highlights and the most significant moments. We can make format breaks in the article to signify gaps in time. If it is important to relate regular routines, pick a specific instance that is representative of that part of the experience. When you describe routines using words like "usually," "often," "generally" and "typically," you distance the reader from the story. Describe the events as they unfold, not as you are looking back on them.

7. Quotations. If you're quoting someone, make sure the quote is accurate and that it has the sound of spoken language. The quote should also give the readers some insight, through the way the speaker has chosen his or her words. Don't use quotations where good descriptive writing will serve as well or better: "Look, whales!" I shouted. "Where?" Henry replied. "Over there!" I hollered, "to your left." "I see them. What magnificent cetaceans!" he exclaimed. It's better in this case to stick to a description of the whale, allowing the details to conjure up the thrill in the readers' minds.

8. Keep to the point. Tangents must take the reader somewhere worth going. If you need to take a detour to bring some interesting information to the reader, make sure you bring them back to the story. Don't lead them down a dead end, only to pick up the narrative again where you left off: "The surf scattered our kayaks on the shores of Hard Luck Island, where an annual oyster-shucking contest is held. We salvaged the broken..."

9. Flow. Read your story aloud. Better yet, have someone read it aloud to you. You'll get winded if your sentences are consistently too long, and hyperventilate if they're too short. Vary the length and structure of sentences as the content dictates, to keep the pace of the story lively.

10. Time line. There are always exceptions, of course, but generally it's best to pick a verb tense and stick with it. Don't confuse readers by switching back and forth between present and past tenses. There are other, more creative ways to weave in events from the past or present. Some of our writers have written their introductions in the present and then "looked back" for the remainder of the article, or until the conclusion. That's a time line we can follow easily; it doesn't interrupt the flow. Many writers attempt to use the present tense to create a sense of immediacy. The present tense is difficult to use, and because it is not often used in literature, can draw the reader from the imagery to the written word. The use of the past tense will not get in the way of bringing the reader into the moment.

11. Chronology. Nothing puts us to sleep faster than a manuscript that starts at day one of a trip (or sometimes at the planning stage) and trudges on through day two, three, etc., to the end of the journey. You don't have to start at the beginning and end at the end. Chances are your most interesting or exciting experience-the tidbit that can pull readers in to a story-happened somewhere in the middle of your trip. You can start in the middle, then give us a little background to put the event in context before going forward. Or start at the end, if that's your strongest opening. Whatever works well.
No matter how you structure the timeline of the story, avoid foreshadowing. When you are writing, you are seeing the events in hindsight, but you need to keep the reader in the "present." If you write "Nothing could prepare us for the events that were about to unfold" you'll draw the reader out of the moment. You can set the scene for something that is about to happen by using details to create a mood that will deepen the impact of the event you are leading up to.

12. Selective writing. William Faulker said, "Writing consists of killing your little darlings." In other words, be your own editor, and be ruthless. The writing should not draw undue attention to the writer. It should be "transparent" and not get in the way of the images the writer seeks to create. Hit the highlights-those exciting, profound or challenging moments that give us the most insight into your experiences, and that make for a good read.

13. Clarity. Put yourself in the reader's seat. Be aware that others will not be as familiar with your subject as you are, and write accordingly. Separate your thoughts; don't stuff so many into a sentence that they become entangled. We (editors and readers) don't want to work too hard at deciphering your meaning.

14. Title. You know what your article is about better than we do, so let loose with a little creativity. Give us a title or two. Even if we decide to use something else, it's a good place to start.

15. Length. Surely some English teacher said to you, "Why use three words when one will do?" Write economically. We want articles filled with adventure and great descriptions, yet short enough to be read in one sitting. Edit your writing to eliminate extraneous words and passages.