Allison Tait had it all figured out. Having worked for years as a staff writer and sub-editor at glossy women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan and Cleo, she could see the obvious genre for her first novel would be romance. It made perfect sense: she knew the audience, she knew what they wanted and she had the voice down-pat.
Looking at Tim Harris’ body of work, it would be easy to think he had planned it all out in advance. After spending 15 years as a primary school teacher, he picked up a pen and started writing for that same age group: less than a decade later, he has 11 children’s novels under his belt along with a pack of literary awards, and he’s an in-demand presenter at primary schools across Australia.
Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, name your poison… Q: Hi
Bestselling author of several hilarious book series for kids Tim Harris joined Valerie Khoo in our Creative Conversation series to share his clever writing tips and tricks to writing stories that will make kids – and even adults – laugh out loud. A full-time primary school teacher for 15 years,
By Adrian Beck, author of the Derek Dool: Supercool series.
Making time to write is tough.
Making time to write when you have kids is an even bigger challenge.
But making time to write when you have kids (doing remote learning) whilst in the middle of a pandemic is MISSION IMPOSSIBLE! Well, nearly. But like Tom Cruise, I’ve found a way. And I also do all my own stunts.
In Episode 344 of So You Want To Be A Writer: You’ll meet Adrian Beck, author of the Derek Dool Supercool series. AWC presenter Candice Fox’s book turns into a movie. And AWC grad Brooke Graham’s picture book Go Away, Worry Monster! to be published! Plus, we have 3 copies of The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle to give away.
Identical twins only look the same… It’s giveaway time again and this week we have three copies of Rose Carlyle’s The Girl in the Mirror to be won. This edge-of-your-seat debut thriller explores identical twins, a crazy inheritance and a boat full of secrets. Who can you trust? Absolutely nobody!
Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, here’s the catch… Q: Hi
Deciding whether a story is YA, Junior Fiction or Middle Grade comes down to the fundamentals of all writing. That is: story, idea, setting, language, character, voice, structure, length… All these factors help shape what sort of story you’re writing. But in making this decision, possibly the most important thing to decide is… Who is your reader?
After more than 20 years as a solicitor and legal academic, Penelope Janu thought it was high time she finally followed her creative impulses. She completed a short course at the Australian Writers’ Centre (AWC), which gave her the confidence to pursue a creative writing degree – and led to her first novel, In at the Deep End, being accepted for publication.
In Episode 343 of So You Want To Be A Writer: You’ll meet Jeff Apter, author of Friday On My Mind. Discover why you need to remember that your genius comes naturally to you. Download Valerie’s free printable. Plus, we have 3 copies of Enid by Robert Wainwright to give away.
“Did I really kill them all?”… This week’s giveaway book comes from Australian journalist and bestselling author Robert Wainwright. His previous books include Rose: The unauthorised biography of Rose Hancock Porteous, The Lost Boy, The Killing of Caroline Byrne and Sheila. His latest is Enid: The Scandalous Life of a
Some rules are meant to be broken. When author Deborah Abela and illustrator Marjorie Crosby-Fairall came up with an idea for a picture book, they were also acutely aware of the unspoken rule that publishers DO NOT like authors and illustrators to work or pitch together. But, flying in the
Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, the sky’s the limit… Q:
Aspiring writers from diverse backgrounds are invited to take part in the SBS Emerging Writers’ Competition and enter a memoir piece of 1000-2000 words on the topic of ‘Growing up in diverse Australia’. What is the SBS Emerging Writers’ Competition? The aim of the competition is to search “for the
Secrets can pull you under… Hot off the press is this week’s giveaway book – Across the Water – the second novel from Australian author Ingrid Alexandra. Ingrid is an AWC alumna, and you can learn more about her journey to publication on our blog. Described as The Woman in
In the second part of our series of promotional tips from successful authors, here are 7 more ways to make yourself and your book stand out. If you missed the first 8 tips, you can find them here. We’ve created a blueprint on exactly what you need to do in
So your book – the labour of love you’ve poured countless hours of work into – is finished and ready for publication. Whether you’ve got a publisher with a marketing team or not, as an author you still want to do everything you can to spread the word about your
Recently, we thought we’d inject some creativity into our community’s week with a simple tiny fiction challenge. There were only two rules – the first that it had to contain no more than 23 words. And the second, that it must be inspired by the picture above. We received almost
Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, don’t be such a “Karen”…
We’re always thrilled to see our world-class presenters recognised for their work. This time, our congratulations go to Patti Miller (Life Writing) and David Leser (Profile Writing) who are both longlisted for the 2020 Nib Literary Award! What is the Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award? According to the
Congratulations to AWC alumna Samera Kamaleddine (a graduate of our Creative Writing Stage 1 course), for being shortlisted in the inaugural Matilda Children’s Literature Prize. Launched in 2020, the mission of this prize is to discover Australia’s next great voice in children’s literature. Samera was shortlisted from nearly 300 entries!
Utopia Avenue might be the most curious British band you’ve never heard of… Your giveaway treat this week comes from the prize-winning, bestselling, Irish-residing, twice Booker-shortlisted David Mitchell (whose seven novels include Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks). This is in fact his first novel in more than five years
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