The Guardian travel blog most recently published a post about travel writing and whether or not this somewhat self-indulgent art form is in fact truth or fiction. They argue that the line between truth and fiction is often blurred because writers may ‘introduce “colour”, altering the sequence of events to make a book or article “flow.”
Of course these types of exaggerations don’t have a place in guide books or instructional articles because they require accurate research on accommodation, budget, and description of sites; however, when it comes to personal accounts of travel, does “colour” interfere with the purpose of the story. Writers such as Tim Cahill and Bill Bryson have long inspired me to travel and experience Road Fever. Their perspective and slightly off humor personal accounts are clearly from their perspective. There is no confusion about that.
When I think of the times that I may ‘colour’ a story on some of my recent travels, they are hardly ever a declaration of a falsehood. This year while traveling on a trail towards Machu Picchu, I experienced a horrible bout of food poisoning and altitude sickness. At the time I was in the middle of the mountains with no easy route back to a doctor or even a moving vehicle. Was I close to death? Hell no. But did I feel like it? I guess you could say that (a mixture of puking, dizziness, and difficulty breathing can certainly change a person’s perspective). When a tour guide suggests to take some oxygen to help with breathing, rationality tends to go out the window. Let’s just say that the colour added to this story was in fact, an accurate, but emotionally exaggerated depiction of the truth.
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