Category: Fiction writing

Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Michelle Upton goes from school teacher to successful author

A few years ago, Michelle Upton made the life-changing decision that she wanted to be a writer. So she focused her efforts on learning about the craft and getting as much practical experience as possible. This included entering literary competitions, enrolling in the Romance Writing course at the Australian Writers’ Centre and taking part in the Centre’s Furious Fiction competition.

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Author Madeline Te Whiu working at her desk, surrounded by editorial notes and bookcases.
Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

How Madeline Te Whiu became a fantasy author

Her perseverance paid off with the completion of her first draft for The Assassin Thief. But over 50 rejections later, she knew she needed to try a new approach. Madeline enrolled in Creative Writing Stage 1 at the Australian Writers’ Centre to nail the basics of her story, then went on to edit her manuscript with Cut, Shape, Polish. After taking Pitch Your Novel: How to Attract Agents and Publishers, she was ready to send out her novel again – and this time she was snapped up by New Dawn Publishing.

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Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Zewlan Moor launches her career as an author with two picture books!

When Dr Zewlan Moor started her training to become a general practitioner, she had two goals: to complete her GP fellowship and to write a novel for National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo). It might seem like an unusual combination, but Zewlan was determined to follow her passion for writing alongside her medical career. She was drawn to Writing Picture Books at the Australian Writers’ Centre and is now delighted to announce that she will be publishing two picture books in 2023.

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Build your profile and promote your book
Australian Writers' Centre Team

The secret ingredient in a book’s success: Part 2

Welcome to part two of my short series on book distribution. If you read part one, you’ll know that distribution is an integral part of a book’s success – but it’s also an area that many emerging authors don’t know much about. Book distribution is essentially what it says on

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Build your profile and promote your book
Australian Writers' Centre Team

The secret ingredient in a book’s success: Part 1

Write the book, edit the book, market the book… there’s a lot for a new author to think about when publishing a book. But there’s something else in the mix when it comes to a book’s success. Distribution is something that most emerging writers never think about – and many

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Competitions and Opportunities
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Scarlet Stiletto Awards shortlist announced

Sisters in Crime have announced the shortlist for the 30th Scarlet Stiletto Awards, and we’re so thrilled that a whopping 13 out of the 25 writers on the shortlist are AWC graduates! Here are the details from the Sisters in Crime website: Sisters in Crime Australia is proud to announce

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Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Lucy Lever’s journey from aspiring writer to published author

Lucy Lever had been writing on and off for years, but could never quite finish the novel she dreamt of writing. That all changed when she discovered the Australian Writers’ Centre. “Stumbling across AWC was like discovering a treasure trove of wonderful courses, and I wanted to do them all,” Lucy told us. “I realised that I should have started rather than finished here, given that AWC offered a step-by-step guide to novel writing and many other wonderful courses with lots of workshopping along the way and highly skilled teachers.” Lucy went on to complete several courses with the AWC and her debut novel, Mystic Ridge, has now been published by HarperCollins HQ.

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Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Apsara Baldovino’s picture book ‘The Lucky Shack’

“I sent one of my stories to Cathie and she told me that she felt that I should consider starting with the foundations first and recommended the Australian Writers’ Centre Writing Picture Books course before taking on a mentor,” Apsara told us. “It was the best advice I could have ever received. Cathie had designed the course so, in a way, I was able to learn from the best in a structured way with a group online.”

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Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Three writing tips from Katherine Rundell

Katherine Rundell is a bestselling author whose novels for children include Rooftoppers, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer and The Good Thieves. She has won the Costa Children’s Book Award, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, amongst many others. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide.

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Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

The creative magic of the mundane

“The best time to plan a book is while you’re washing the dishes.” You don’t have to wander too far across the wild plains of the internet to discover this quote from acclaimed mystery writer Agatha Christie, and it’s one I’ve used myself in author talks for many years –

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Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

The 70-20-10 formula used by author Vikki Marmaras

By Vikki Marmaras For the past few years I have immersed myself in the world of children’s literature. I started writing when my eldest son was born, at a time when I was looking for a change but didn’t want to commit to long term study. Naively, I thought writing

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Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

5 short stories to read right now to make you a better writer

Short stories are the perfect reading solution for our time-poor era. With an average word count of 2000-7000 words, a short story encapsulates everything readers love about storytelling – compelling characters, conflict, setting, theme and plot – in a compact form that packs a wallop. This means that, for writers,

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Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

How Alli Parker’s tweet resulted in her book deal

Alli was worried that she hadn’t written prose for over a decade, having been focused on screenplays. She decided to follow the novel writing path at the Australian Writers’ Centre, starting with Creative Writing Stage 1, then moving on to Novel Writing Essentials and capping it off with Write Your Novel.

“I wanted guidance, I wanted to learn and grow and be better so I could hone my craft and write a beautiful book to do justice to the story of my grandparents. The AWC had a range of courses, it was accessible and didn’t cost a fortune. I figured it was a good place to start.”

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Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

5 ways to keep your reader guessing in a crime novel

Crime writing in Australia is having a big moment, and the best crime novels are the ones that keep readers guessing right to the very end. My new novel The First Summer of Callie McGee is a middle-grade mystery novel set in a seaside village on the south coast of

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Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Ned Kelly Awards shortlist nominations announced

The Ned Kelly Awards shortlist has been announced and we are so thrilled to see AWC graduate Kerryn Mayne on the list! Here are the details from the Australian Crime Writers Association website: We are proud to report that Aussie crime writing continues to grow in strength and identity, as

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Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Chenée Marrapodi goes from hobby writer to published children’s author

“Writing news stories is very different to writing a children’s book!” Chenée told us. “I knew if I tried to find all of the information myself, I’d end up falling down the ‘Google rabbit hole’ and I’d waste even more time – yet another excuse to stop me from actually writing the book!”

Instead, she dove into the course Writing Children’s Novels and, as she says, hasn’t looked back. Chenée’s debut book, One Wrong Turn, is out now with Fremantle Press.

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