John Flinn at RolfPotts.com

As I hinted at a couple weeks ago, my May interview subject at the RolfPotts.com Writers page is the award-winning editor of the San Francisco Chronicle travel section, John Flinn. Over the course of his career, Flinn has journeyed on assignment to more than 20 countries, including Bhutan, Cuba, the Cook Islands and Croatia, and written more than 400 travel articles. Prior to his job at the Chronicle, Flinn was a feature writer for the San Francisco Examiner, where he was paid to, among other things, fly with the Blue Angels, climb El Capitan, wrestle a bear and go on a date with Miss America.

Recently, I blogged about Flinn’s tips for travelers; in our Q&A, his advice for writers takes a different tack. “It’s not about the traveling,” he says, “it’s about the writing.”

Editors are looking for writers who dabble in travel rather than travelers who dabble in writing. Plop Pico Iyer down at a Stuckey’s on the Jersey Turnpike and I guarantee he’ll come back with a great story. On the other hand, a dozen men have walked on the moon and not one has written anything worth reading about it. Also, strive to be a writer, not a travel writer. All the authors I cite above have extensive experience doing other kinds of writing, and that’s what makes them so good.

As an editor, Flinn says he look for the following elements in a travel story:

• A fresh and compelling angle.
• Insight and context.
• Good structure.
• Good storytelling.
• When I pick up a manuscript it has to pass this test: Would I read this if I didn’t have to?

Full Flinn interview online here.