What’s it like to learn with AWC?

My background is that I was an English teacher in high schools. I now teach a bridging course for students to get to university. I expected quite a lot of repetition of the English curriculum. Thankfully, this wasn't the case! It went well beyond that to aspects of writing I'd sensed but previously couldn't "put my finger on."

Nicole was fantastic. She knows the craft of writing inside out. She provided us with both technical and intuitive information. I loved her honesty. When I sensed a sentence had worked well, she inevitably identified it and told me why. Similarly, when I struggled with a sentence but didn't know how to fix it, she knew which sentence it was and explained what to do. For this reason, as well, it was great to see others' writing. We learnt that we had to put aside our egos in order to improve.

I really loved the content, the overall tone, and the fact that the assignments did not feel burdensome. The course has provided me with a great foundation to start to put together a story I've had in my head for more than twenty years. And it is the process that is fun for me so it felt great to start to put my arms around even starting. I will definitely be using the course resources in the future - as well as likely enrol in another course.

The tutor provided great feedback. Spot on. Really helpful insights. The feedback, the audio course, the exercises and the assignments were well aligned and Nicole really helped bring it all together as things were apparent in our writing assignments.

Loved it all...the audio portion and assignments in both content and length and the great feedback. Really great experience and will be back for more from AWC.

I feel like I now have a small but solid foundation from which I can start and build. I love the process and my life situation is changing in a good way which will allow more time for writing. That is huge and something I have had as a goal for a long time. Thank you AWC!!

Perfect course as a foundation for creative writing with outstanding faculty and resources.

The tutor was engaged, passionate and insightful.

I enjoyed learning not only from the classes and tutor but from the writing of my fellow classmates.

It has inspired me to work on the development of an idea for a novel!

A fun, insightful and very well organised course. Highly recommended!

My online tutor was knowledgeable and provided constructive feedback. I enjoyed learning interesting writing techniques that I had never thought of before and writing something I could be proud of for the assignments.

I connect with writing in my everyday life more than I used to by thinking up ideas through general interactions, what I read in the news, the faces I see etc... things I had never really thought of incorporating into any stories before.

The AWC is very professional, their online learning hub is easy to navigate, the course content is professional and thorough, feedback on assignments is provided quickly, and studying with them is an overall enjoyable experience. It made me eager to use the techniques I acquired to work on my writing skills.

I have been wanting to get back into writing for a long time, but realised I needed a little bit of guidance to get going. I felt the course overview suited my needs and the course was accessible, being online.

I truly appreciated Pamela's guidance throughout the course. She was encouraging and supportive. Her knowledge and feedback was excellent - constructive, comprehensive, positive and easy to follow. Pamela had such a friendly and genuine vibe about her, I really felt she was willing us all to succeed. I was always hanging out for the Monday feedback videos because her insights were so constructive and encouraging. Thanks, Pamela!

Prior to signing up to a bunch of AWC courses I had always dreamt of being a writer, but never really knew where to begin or how to progress an idea. Now I'm feeling much more motivated and encouraged to get back into writing and, if I'm honest, it's probably the first time that I've actually believed being a writer could be a serious possibility for me.

The biggest 'aha!' moment for me was probably figuring out how important it is to know how your characters speak. Getting voices right is a key ingredient for creating believable characters and good dialogue.

Sign up! The course content is inspiring and packed full of valuable information, and the tutor feedback and guidance is positive, constructive and supportive. If you've always wanted to be a writer but never knew where to begin, this is the place to start.

I found the instructor's critiques to be very helpful. Petronella knows her writing well and the feedback helped improve my writing. It was also good to read the other students' work as well as their feedback.

I enjoyed the creative writing process. I found that I enjoy writing and now I am thinking about doing another course with AWC. I've also re-discovered the joy of reading fiction! In fact I am replacing my podcast listening with fiction while driving in the car.

The tutor was very kind, approachable and friendly, wonderful at breaking down the content and gave valuable feedback.

I enjoyed getting to try out some writing exercises and push myself to write scenarios I have never thought of before. I actually enjoyed everything about the course.

The course gave me great tools and skills to help improve my writing. I would highly recommend it. I have already to family and some close friends also interested in writing. I would describe it as in-depth learning content and an open environment that is very welcoming and wholesome.

This is a wonderful course for a refresher on writing skills or starter for anyone interested in beginning their writing career. Thank you for the opportunity to get back into something I love.

The tutor was great. Feedback was spot on. A lot of people have beta read my work to date and she's the only one to pinpoint what I couldn't see myself.

The course was educational, easy to follow and self-paced. I'm in a far better place with my writing than I was just 5 short weeks ago. Thank you, Petronella.

A very thorough and wonderfully practical introduction to creative writing.

The tutor was warm and encouraging. All feedback was constructive and helpful. Petronella seemed to genuinely enjoy reading what we'd come up with.

I was worried about the assignments, being so out of practice, but they were a real self-confidence booster for me: the prompts were such that instead of having to worry about what I'm going to write about, all I had to do was write and focus on applying all the learnings of the module.

It has given me the confidence and tools to explore creative writing further. I still don't quite know what I'm going to write and whether I ever want to be published, but this is such a great start.

Creative writing is a craft and there is a whole toolkit you can apply to every stage of writing. This really appeals to my rather methodical mind, which I have always feared to be the antithesis of a creative mind. I realised that once given a prompt and the tools to use on it, the story just came to me from somewhere... amazing!

The AWC teaches and shares professional advice in a practical and nurturing way. More than that, it embraces you into a writing community.

Thank you to Petronella and everyone behind the scenes who put this course together!

I got a lot out of seeing everyone else's work and feedback. It also gave me some fundamental building blocks I was lacking and forced me to view both reading and writing from a different perspective.

Pamela was extremely knowledgeable and gave feedback in a constructive and empathetic way.

It has given me a bit of a path/framework to work in/toward step by step that maybe makes completing something seem a little less insurmountable.

It is short, fun and easy to access. It will give the opportunity to try out writing and the teachers are very knowledgeable. If you have ever thought about writing and have not done it, or have not progressed because you are intimidated, or not sure if it's any good, or not sure how to make it better, then why not try it?

I was most appreciative of Petronella's time, as well as the quality of audio and written information. It is clear that the AWC provides genuinely high-quality material that has been well thought out. It is theoretically on the mark and highly practical. Pitched to just the right level for me and also helped extend me beyond what I expected.

I have experienced a paradigm shift in the way I view writing - I now take my writing seriously and see it is not a skill that grows like a magic apple on a tree but takes dedication. It can be fun but requires hard work and commitment. I have learned that more formalised training such as that offered by AWC has the potential to make a profound difference to the quality of work produced and will probably save me years of going round in circles trying to teach myself.

The quality of AWC material is exceptional. The online tutor was engaging and immensely helpful. I feel I have had a whole new world opened up to me. The opportunity to interact with a similar cohort has been an unexpected bonus and made me reach out to a local writing group which I never would have done.

My fascination with writing began when I was old enough to write. My dream was and is to be an author and publish a few novels. But every time I sit in front of a screen to type, nothing would happen. I needed a place to start, some form of structure, hence signing up for this course.

This course has given me a place to start and a way to build my characters and stories. It has inspired me to take my writing further. I feel an opening of heart that wasn't present before.

The Australian Writers' Centre is a wonderful place to start a story. It holds space for whatever state you're in and offers possibilities to expand.

Petronella was really great; she gave quick and concise feedback with easy next steps.

The weekly nature got me in the habit of setting aside time, in my busy schedule, to write. The course put in motion something I've been wanting to do for years, which is to get back into writing in a purely creative way. No deadlines or business tone, etc, just write something you want to create.

It's a fantastic starting point.

I have done script-writing courses in the past but the teaching material in this course was the most useful I have ever been given. It was clearly presented and practical, so that I could start using it straight away. I also liked the exercises. Writing the assignments made me really focus on what I had learned.

I've just worked out a structure for a novel because of what I've learned on this course. I've never got that far before and it's given me confidence to keep writing.

The material is great, the advice is sound. AWC gave me the information I need and now I feel like I can write a novel.

The amount and quality of the content was above what I expected, and I look forward to working through it again now that the course has finished.

Petronella seemed very capable and was easy to understand. I liked her down-to-earth style and could tell that she is very competent at what she does.

I really enjoyed listening to Valerie deliver the audio modules, and the information was rich and of great value to myself as a novice writer.

The course was very user friendly. I was surprised at the impact and how it generated thinking and opened some of the floodgates. The skills introduced are invaluable.

The tutor was very, very competent and encouraging and the feedback was really useful. I also enjoyed being part of a group sharing writings.

The course provided a skill set and a learning from the writing experience. Making me look at books differently and learn. Opened up the creative narrative. I am reading voraciously at the moment and wish to create more time for writing. I also look at what I have written from a completely different perspective.

Creative Writing Stage 1 provides a great introduction into the skills of writing and can open the internal narrative and some feedback which is invaluable.

I was given this course as a gift from my daughter after she read a piece I had written.

The only hesitation I had was that perhaps, as an uneducated older person, I may not meet the standards of others in the course. I should never have worried about my abilities as I soon learned that everyone writes differently and I decided I would continue in my own style and learn from the course.

I found Pamela's feedback to be very helpful. I developed Covid in the first couple of days on the course but Pamela was very understanding of how I was feeling.

I loved the fact that I can have the handouts at hand to go back over and refresh my memory on the audio lessons.

I have learned so much in this course and it has given me the encouragement to continue with my writing. It does not matter at what stage in life you are or what your style of writing is, just get your words down on paper and draft, draft, draft. In the end, it is your story and you decide what you want to do with those words.

This is a fantastic course. It really covers the major points in writing a great story. Whether you want to publish or not is irrelevant. As a newbie to writing, I found this course to be invaluable for the insight that is given on writing an interesting piece.

I found the way the course is offered online makes it accessible, informative and supportive. I love the wealth of resources provided, the knowledge that is shared, and the way feedback is supportably but honestly delivered to encourage writing growth. I also enjoyed reading others' work.

Pamela provided excellent feedback in an honest and supportive manner. I found this encouraging and helped my reflection on why a specific piece hadn't worked so well, inspiring me to re-work it.

I found learning the behind the scenes, deeper insights into the writing process fascinating, for example, things that other writers experience. This has helped build my confidence to keep going, especially hearing it's OK to write because I enjoy honing my craft.

Undertaking this course has lifted my confidence and helped me through some bits I was stuck on in my draft. As a result, I'm feeling excited again about picking up my work and continuing to build it.

AWC provides accessible, supportive and informative writing experiences in a fun manner. Thank you for this opportunity to emerge myself in my passion. It's truly been a delight and I'm excited about keeping it alive.

I was attracted to this course because it was a beginner course, had exceptional reviews and also the online tutor was Victoria Purman. I love her books!

I enjoyed the assignments. It was great to submit a short piece of work practicing the skills we had just learnt and getting real timely feedback. I also loved reading other students' works. The online feedback was very timely, detailed and really provided an insight into ways of improving my writing.

I had no idea (which is why I took this beginner course) how a book was structured, the recommended do's and don'ts of writing scenes and POVs and the overall process behind writing a novel. I am now armed with so many more skills that my confidence has been boosted and I have actually commenced writing!

The Creative Writing Stage 1 course provided a concise overview of story writing with enough detail to give me the skills and confidence I needed to actually begin writing my novel. I was challenged to submit short assignments each week specifically working upon the skills taught in that weekly module and I received timely and encouraging feedback within a safe environment. All in all, it was thoroughly enjoyable too!

The tutor was very experienced and adept at analysing the written pieces and communicating the feedback in an insightful and encouraging way. I appreciated the comments about her own experience in writing and publishing that was relevant to particular pieces of writing. It gives me hope and sheds some light on the potential road ahead.

The feedback from the tutor not just about my work but others' work too. I also enjoyed reading others' writing and giving each other feedback. This was very worthwhile in learning how a reader interprets your writing and showing your blind spots.

Even if you are tentative, if have even a small stirring within to write, you should definitely jump off the cliff of doubt and enrol in a course that resonates with you. You won't regret it!