All About Writing was founded in 2007 by two writing professionals, novelist Jo-Anne Richards and scriptwriter Richard Beynon. We are passionate about writing and have devised our courses to help communicate that passion – plus the skills that make it all much more than an academic exercise – to others with a similar calling.
Operating from South Africa and the United Kingdom, we offer courses that promote good writing. They include creative writing and scriptwriting courses, coaching and mentoring programmes as well as workshops and writing retreats including our annual retreat in Venice, Italy, retreats in Barrydale, South Africa, and our annual Cotswolds writing weekend.
Our duo is also complemented by the skills of:
Fred de Vries – non-fiction specialist/mentoring
Joanne Hichens – memoir and short story workshops/memoir weekend and retreat
Michele Rowe – Hero’s Journey course/screenwriting course
As a company, we are based equally in the UK and South Africa. Our experience covers:
We can offer you the benefits of our book-learning, which includes:
We have:
- Provided assessments and edited manuscripts for publishers
- Supervised post-graduate writing students
- Acted as examiners and external examiners for post-graduate writing programmes
“We believe our greatest skill in All About Writing has been to bring together an unbeatable assembly of global expertise.
All that we have achieved in our lives individually has coalesced into a collective set of skills capable of providing any help you could need, at any stage of a writing project.”
Richard Beynon
Richard Beynon, story-doctor, screenwriter of over 1000 scripts, story creator for over thirty years, ghost writer, writer of the popular Monday Writing Motivation blogs, and lover of children’s books and writing. He offers specialist skills in:
- Help with story creation – for screen or page
- Identifying problems in story and structure and discovering solutions through creative discussion and analysis
- Story doctoring
- Collaborative and ghost writing of fiction and non-fiction
- Mentoring writers – of scripts or for the page – through projects, offering advice on narrative, character, structure and story
- Teaching practical creative writing skills.
Richard has recently published Waterlines: Writing Lessons from a Life Afloat – one of three books dedicated to the craft of writing. His next creative project is well in the works, so keep your eyes on our social media channels and newsletter to find out more.
Jo-Anne Richards
Jo-Anne Richards, internationally published author of five novels, with a PhD in Creative Writing, has lectured in writing at university level and works with publishers in nurturing talented young writers. She offers specialist skills in:
- Coaching and nurturing writers
- Teaching the craft – providing practical skills and techniques
- Providing developmental and structural edits to identify problems in manuscripts – both fiction and creative non-fiction.
- Mentoring writers through projects, encouraging, and offering practical guidance on how to make every scene sing.
Jo-Anne’s first novel, The Innocence of Roast Chicken, was originally published in 1996 by Headline Review in the UK, and has now been re-released in 2019 as part of the Picador Africa Heritage Series.
In this prestigious collection, her book joins those of writers like Frank Chikane, Ellen Kuzwayo, Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Pallo Jordon and Johan Steyn.
When it first appeared, it topped the South African bestseller list in its first week and remained there for 15 weeks. It was nominated for the International Impac Dublin Literary Award, short-listed for the M-Net Book Prize and chosen as the 1997 Dillon’s Debut novel in London, to be showcased in UK book stores as an “outstanding first novel”.
“Together, we offer honest, but kind advice to develop manuscripts, scripts and screenplays to the best they can possibly be – while growing writers with practical craft solutions, inspiration, guidance and encouragement.
All that we have achieved in our lives individually has coalesced into a collective set of skills capable of providing any help you could need, at any stage of a writing project.”
Our skills mesh to provide a strong foundation. Journalism taught us accuracy, clarity, the importance of research, and a strong beginning.
Writing for film and television has strengthened our understanding of scenes, dialogue, and showing rather than telling. Fiction skills can brighten non-fiction, while non-fiction provides a strong basis of reality and believability for fiction writers.
Perhaps most importantly, we have placed at your disposal not only our successes but our failures, our strengths and weaknesses, and our vulnerabilities.
We bring you what we’ve learnt in all humility, understanding exactly what is involved in being a writer. We know what you need, and we’ll give it with our characteristic blend of honesty and kindness.
This is who and what we are.
No matter who you are, or what you need, we believe we have the understanding and expertise to provide you with the skills, to hold your hand and give you objective, compassionate and knowledgeable advice on the way forward.
