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    Writing courses, free resources and webinars, and developmental editing Writing courses, free resources and webinars, and developmental editing
    • Home
    • Mentoring
    • Retreats
      • Venice Writing Retreat
      • Stow-on-the-Wold Writing Weekend
      • Karoo Writing Retreat | Memoir & Fiction Getaway in South Africa
    • Courses
    • Resources
      • Free offerings for writers
      • Downloadable writing resources
      • Blog
    • About
      • About Us
      • Testimonials
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    Archives

    Monthly Archive for: "March, 2026"
     How to Write a Short Story: Key Insights from Joanne Hichens, David Mann and Kamva Majo
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted March 18, 2026

    How to Write a Short Story: Key Insights from Joanne Hichens, David Mann and Kamva Majo

    Want to know how to write a short story that truly resonates — and gets it published? In this candid and practical conversation, short story editor Joanne Hichens sits down with award-winning [...]

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    The All About Writing Team is thrilled to congratu The All About Writing Team is thrilled to congratulate our own Jo-Anne Richards on her publishing deal for a new non-fiction book! She has signed with Jonathan Ball Publishers and her publication date is set for April 2027. This marks Jo-Anne's 6th book and her first non-fiction title. Congrats, Josie! 🥂 You can stay updated with her news via our newsletters and her website: https://jo-annerichards.co.za/ @jonathanball_local @joannerichardsauthor #allaboutwriting #joannerichards #southafricanauthor #jonathanball
    Join us for a very special *free webinar* with Sal Join us for a very special *free webinar* with Sally Andrew — bestselling author of the Tannie Maria mysteries – to talk about the recipe for success. 🌟 Live Zoom Event 🗓️ Monday 24 August 2026 ⏰ 17:00 to 18:00 UK time ⏰ 18:00 to 19:00 South Africa Time Sally's new novel, Wild Things Never Die, brings Tannie Maria and her hen Henrietta undercover with Maria’s fiancé, Detective Henk Kannemeyer, to the Karoo Wilderness Reserve. Their mission: save the vetplantjies! At the luxury game lodge, they spy on guests and support the Anti-Poaching Unit in a battle against dangerous gangsters. 📚 We'll talk about Wild Things Never Die 📚We'll explore the real ingredients of a writing life: from planning to publishing 📚There will be a reading 📚Live Q&A with Sally 📚And we might even talk about a recipe or two Sally Andrew is the best-selling author of the award-winning Tannie Maria mystery novels. She lives with her artist partner in a mud-brick house on a nature reserve in the Klein Karoo. She has a master’s in Adult Education from the University of Cape Town and was a social and environmental activist. She now writes, cooks, does Biofield Tuning (sound healing), and is training to be a doowop girl. Her Tannie Maria novels include Recipes for Love and Murder, The Satanic Mechanic, Death on the Limpopo, and The Milk Tart Murders. She has also published a cookbook called Recipes to Live For. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages and adapted into an international TV series.
    ✍️Read this week’s Monday Motivation as Rich ✍️Read this week’s Monday Motivation as Richard discusses the three clauses of the writer/reader contract. ✍️ 1)Unfamiliarity has to be real. 2)Surprise has to be earned. 3)Remember the felt, lasting effect of events on both characters and readers. Three clauses, then, though really they're one obligation facing in three different directions: don't let the reader's appetite for the unfamiliar go unfed, don't let the mechanism of the surprise go unearned, and don't let the aftermath go unfelt. Break any one of them and the contract curdles – into repetition, into cheap trickery, or into a book that was pleasant enough at the time and entirely forgettable by the time you’ve turned off the light and turned over for sleep. Uncover all three in depth in this week’s newsletter and if you don’t yet subscribe - visit our link in bio. #WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    Read this week’s Monday Motivation as Richard wa Read this week’s Monday Motivation as Richard walks us through a multi-character dialogue scene he is crafting and discover the key ingredients for making the scene work. Uncover more in this week’s newsletter and if you don’t yet subscribe - visit our link in bio. #WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    Did you know you can find our past webinars right Did you know you can find our past webinars right on YouTube? With 46 Creative Writing Webinars and 8 dedicated to Short Stories, you're sure to find the inspiration to spark the next part of your own writing journey. WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/@allaboutwritingcourses/playlists And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe. For more free resources, visit our website: https://allaboutwritingcourses.com #allaboutwritingcourses #allaboutwriting #WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    Looking to connect with a like-minded community of Looking to connect with a like-minded community of writers? Become part of our inner-circle of writers and experience on-going support and companionship on your writing journey. At a monthly writers’ circle meeting, acclaimed writers, Richard Beynon or Dr Jo-Anne Richards, will hear your writing, offer feedback and answer your writing questions. #WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    ✍️ Upcoming FREE WEBINAR: Two Crime Writers, T ✍️ Upcoming FREE WEBINAR: Two Crime Writers, Two Very Different Worlds ✍️ Join us for a conversation with Tony Park & Bonnie Espie on the craft, challenges and sense of place behind two distinctive South African crime series. 💻Live Zoom Event: Monday 13 July 2026 🇬🇧17:00 to 18:00 (UK time) 🇿🇦18:00 to 19:00 (South Africa Time) What you'll get: ● An inside look at how Tony Park has sustained his Sonja Kurtz series across six novels – and what it took to write King of Beasts, the long-awaited sequel to his very first book ● Bonnie Espie on writing Lifting the Lid, the second in her Winifred and Sylvie series set in the fictional winelands village of Riviersvalleij ● A conversation about sense of place – how the African bush and the Cape winelands shape plot, character and mood ● Two very different publishing journeys, compared side by side ● Live Q&A with both authors Sign up via link in bio. #writingwebinar #freewebinar #writinglife #allaboutwriting
    Keep your friends close - and your neighbours clos Keep your friends close - and your neighbours closer. This week on the water - we shared printed copies of the free ebook “Murder as a Matter of Taste” with our neighbours who provide inspiration for the James Clatterbridge series. If you’d like an ebook - sign up via LINK IN BIO or visit www.allaboutwritingcourses.com/richard-beynon #RJBeynon #JamesClatterbridge #allaboutwriting
    This week, Richard dives into the very heart of th This week, Richard dives into the very heart of the writing challenge: “Every character you write is a character you are not. I mean that quite literally. Yes, I know many of us base our early protagonists on ourselves... Using yourself as your model for characters is quite natural. But the moment your protagonist ceases to be a direct copy of yourself – the moment you give her a different childhood, a different set of insecurities, a different way of entering a room – you are already doing the thing that some writers treat as a special and dangerous challenge. You are already inventing. You are already entering into the consciousness of another... The challenge of writing characters who are not you is not an exception to the craft of fiction. It is the craft of fiction. It is what you are always doing, every time you sit down. The question is not whether you can do it. The question is how you do it honestly.” Read more in this week’s newsletter and if you don’t yet subscribe - visit our link in bio. #WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
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    NEWS & TIPS
    • What eight drafts and a long wait taught me about the writing process
      What eight drafts and a long wait taught me about the writing process
    • Writing a Thriller or Crime Series: Key Insights from Tony Park and Bonnie Espie
      Writing a Thriller or Crime Series: Key Insights from Tony Park and Bonnie Espie
    • From Journal to Published Memoir: Writing Tips from Sheryl and Sandy James and Indeed Books
      From Journal to Published Memoir: Writing Tips from Sheryl and Sandy James and Indeed Books
    • The Creative Writing Skills That Make the Most Difference: Key Insights from Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon
      The Creative Writing Skills That Make the Most Difference: Key Insights from Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon
    • You Can Finish Your Manuscript: Lessons from Two Writers Who Did
      You Can Finish Your Manuscript: Lessons from Two Writers Who Did
    • How to Write a Short Story: Key Insights from Joanne Hichens, David Mann and Kamva Majo
      How to Write a Short Story: Key Insights from Joanne Hichens, David Mann and Kamva Majo
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