Writing Secrets: No need for a war or a car chase on every page
So you’re writing the first pages of your novel and want to set up the fact that Linda is as happy as she could ever hope to be with her […]
Monday Motivation: Good writers say it simply
It’s an old story oft told but one worth telling and retelling: simple is best, clear is most beautiful. It’s true that writing requires artifice and contrivance. Threaded through even […]
Writing Secrets: A character needs ‘oomph’ to power a story
We recently advised one of our mentoring programme participants that a protagonist “lacked oomph”. The character ran away from problems and relied on others to rescue her. I didn’t respect […]
Monday Motivation: Start your writing day with a little jumping and climbing
Start every morning with a little strenuous exercise. Well, of course it would be good for you to walk around the park, or swim twenty lengths, but I’m actually not […]
Writing Secrets: One magical point for better writing
Remember just this one magical point, and you’ll be an infinitely better writer for it. There’s great power in specific details. I was recently asked: “But surely some specific details, […]
June Newsletter: Writing tips galore
Two workshops in two towns – as removed as winter is from summer All About Writing split itself in two this past week to offer writing advice on different continents […]
Monday Motivation: A meditation on dialogue
Let us consider all the things that dialogue can do: It enables us to elicit and transmit information: “What’s the time?” “It’s a quarter to four.” That but information can […]
Unveiling the winners of our April/May Writing Challenge
Hey ho, to the winner’s podium we go for the April/May Writing Challenge. (Here are the details on our June/July Flash Fiction Challenge). What we asked you to do, if […]
Writing Secrets: Writing takes thought – so look beyond the obvious
Let’s look beyond the obvious in the old tenets of writing advice. We all know that “showing” is supposed to be better than “telling”. We know, for instance, that we […]
Enter our June/July Flash Fiction Challenge for a literary assessment or a voucher
All About Writing’s latest writing challenge offers the winner a literary assessment on 5000 words of writing worth R 2750 / £ 150 or a voucher to the same value […]
Monday Motivation: Three ways in which your writing could misfire – and how to fix it
Mishaps happen all the time in writing. Most of them are little niggles, easily erased during a light edit. In one chapter the stable boy has a shock of blond […]
