Time Out Prague's Will Tizard Gives a Lesson

Will TizardI always assumed that how a guidebook describes a place is how that place really is. I failed to take into account or think about how they are written and by whom. Last week, Will Tizard, editor of Time Out Prague came to my Travel Writing class to discuss his career as a guidebook writer. “We are given a stipend and a set time to finish a project by,” Tizard stated when asked how exactly does a guidebook writer work. Not every hotel bed is slept in and not every museum is visited. There is not enough time or money. The once glamorous life of a guidebook writer I had so prized in my head has now been reduced to average Joe, but just getting by. I read the majority of the guidebook after this class because I really wanted to understand Will’s impression of Prague. Subjection always comes through in writing even if the assignment is an unbiased description. In the beginning, he describes young Czechs out on the party scene as “a fashion shoot for Cosmopolitan or GQ.” Though I haven’t had a reason to disagree with a guidebook before, I am jealous of the impression Tizard got from young Czechs considering fashion is “nonexistent” as my writing teacher says and deodorant is an afterthought. I can’t blame him though. Until Tizard’s presentation in class, I had no idea that guidebook writing is a one-man job, at least in his case. He described his work as a “cult”, that it’s a way of life. Since he is never “off duty” when he is doing a project, staying at the Four Seasons does equate to rest and relaxation.