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    Writing courses, free resources and webinars, and developmental editing Writing courses, free resources and webinars, and developmental editing
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    Archives

    Tag Archives for: "backstory"
     Character vs Story: What Should Come First?
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted September 16, 2025

    Character vs Story: What Should Come First?

    Should you start with character development or plot structure? This fundamental writing question sparked lively debate in our latest Q&A webinar. Jo-Anne and Richard share insights on both [...]

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     Writing Secrets: Your character needs a signal, even if they interpret it wrongly
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    By Jo-Anne Richards
    In Jo-Anne Richard's blog, Tips for Writers
    Posted October 10, 2018

    Writing Secrets: Your character needs a signal, even if they interpret it wrongly

    Are you old enough to remember that old Robert Altman move, Nashville? There’s a poignant scene in which Keith Carradine takes the stage to sing the haunting, I’m Easy, for his married bandmate, [...]

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    ✍️✍️What exactly is the Power of Writing c ✍️✍️What exactly is the Power of Writing course? ✍️✍️ The Power of Writing takes you to the heart of creative writing. Over just four online modules, the course introduces you to a handful of creative writing’s essential skills. The Power of Writing course is designed to introduce you to the key skills of creative writing – and help you use these skills in your own writing. We’ve wrapped the theory around a series of practical writing exercises in four modules. The course will: ✍️Help you to write confidently without constantly censoring yourself. ✍️Give you tools to develop your unique writing voice. ✍️Introduce you to disciplines that will continue to help you to write fluently long after the course is done. ✍️Give you tools that will help you write more vividly. ✍️Show you how to think more creatively and communicate this in your writing. ✍️Help you get more out of books by reading actively. ‘I have been writing for a number of years but every so often, I like to sharpen the saw. Your course is so valuable in this regard.’ – Hendie Grobbelaar ‘I thoroughly enjoyed the modules… I loved the fact that the modules are balanced. The first two do not require specific writing techniques, but exposes thoughts and observations. The last two modules start exploring the how of transforming ideas/happenings into something that works on paper.’ – Melanie du Plessis, Centurion ‘I enjoyed the introduction to each assignment, explaining what is needed with examples, especially for an online course.’ –Alma van As, Welobie ‘My experience was positive. I enjoyed the challenge… It was great focusing on writing rather than the content that one does in the daily drudge of communicating. I liked writing for the pleasure rather than rushing through the normal communications of the day – bit like “stopping to smell the roses”.’ – Charles Nesbitt, Somerset West Sign up online: https://allaboutwritingcourses.com/product/power-of-writing-course/
    In this week's writing motivation, Richard invites In this week's writing motivation, Richard invites us to just write three good sentences. Can you avoid the trappings of being a writer and put pen to paper, or fingertips to keyboard? Read the full piece in our Link in Bio and if you don't subscribe already, sign up via the same links. #AllAboutWriting #allaboutwritingcourses
    "I do try to make Tannie Maria different from myse "I do try to make Tannie Maria different from myself. However, as I have become softer and plumper, I guess I’m becoming more like her. But that wasn’t my plan. Where we do overlap is in our love for the Karoo." - Sally Andrew, author of the Tannie Maria mysteries. It was a real pleasure to host the unassuming author of the Tannie Maria mysteries, Sally Andrew, on our monthly webinar. She had much advice for would-be writers, imparted in her generous, down-to-earth style, always infused with her quirky humour. We chatted about place, about characters and about planning and writing practice. She finds it important to keep her characters as different from herself as possible. I guess I’m the same. It’s not something I’ve ever particularly striven for, yet most of my adult characters are quite different from me, in personality, preoccupations and the way they present to the world. Yet, nonetheless, I always draw on myself to some extent. I try to embody them and, for that brief period of writing, become them. In that way, I draw on what is different from me, yet still to be found, real or imagined, somewhere within me. - Jo-Anne Richards, All About Writing Watch the replay now available at www.allaboutwritingcourses.com or visit our link in bio #allaboutwriting #writingwebinar
    Why wait for a New Year's resolution? We've opened Why wait for a New Year's resolution? We've opened up the dates for our next LIVE Creative Writing Class starting 2027. 🦆Early bird special currently running!🦆 Transform your writing in 10 weeks. Our live Creative Writing Course gives you the skills, tools and expert guidance to tell your story – whether it’s a novel, short stories, biography or memoir. Led by Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon, this course is ideal for aspiring writers beginning their journey and established writers looking to refine their craft. When: Thursdays from 14 January to 18 March 2027 Time: 16:00 to 20:00 GMT | 18:00 to 21:00 SAST Sign up online: https://allaboutwritingcourses.com/product/creative-writing-course-live/ #allaboutwriting #creativewriting #onlinewritingcourse
    Next week we are joined by South African author @s Next week we are joined by South African author @sallyandrewkaroo of the bestselling Tannie Maria mysteries ( @penguinbookssouthafrica ) for a FREE online webinar. ✍️Live Zoom Event | Monday 24 August 2026 ✍️17:00 to 18:00 UK time ✍️18:00 to 19:00 South Africa Time 📚 We'll explore her recipe for success 📚 We'll talk about her latest book, 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 SIGN UP FOR FREE: Link in Bio #allaboutwriting #freewebinar #writingwebinar #sallyandrew #writingcraft
    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
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    NEWS & TIPS
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    • 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
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