What’s it like to learn with AWC?

I want to learn how to craft characters in stories more efficiently and needed insight and tools to do this. I sometimes get bogged down with details so this helped a lot.

I think I have a better understanding of what it takes to create and write characters in stories now and can see how I can action this in my writing to bring memorable characters to life.

The part about internal discourse resonated with me because I realise now how I can use this for further character development.

The Australian Writers' Centre has practical, real life courses that help writers and creatives with writing and creating.

I feel more confident with the characters I have created. I also have more techniques to make them more interesting and unique.

I would say it is very worthwhile.

I really enjoyed this course and how each unit expanded my knowledge around creating strong characters. It was easy to follow and the tasks were easy to implement.

Helped me to realise that there is so much more to writing about characters and the importance that a strong well-developed character has to a story. The importance of dialogue and the different types to use in a story. Also how a character's past and present influence their actions.

The Australian Writers' Centre is a wonderful resource for all writers. Their courses provide such wonderful insights into the world of writing and publishing books and the knowledge I have gained has been indispensable.

I enjoy reading complex characters and the interactions between many complex characters and wish to develop the skill for myself. I am inspired by speculative fiction about survival and science, for example Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series, with its large cast of individuals with one overarching goal (to terraform Mars) but each with their own belief in the "right way to do it".

I enjoyed creating the characters, their backstories, their drivers and motivations, and then being mean to them to drive the narrative tension.

I now understand better how to achieve what I want to do, to create compelling characters that will leave an impression on readers.

AWC courses are very tuned in to the area of writing you want to improve, the handouts and audio lessons cover a lot of mileage, and the courses are very accessible.

Blend of short punchy audio, short punchy worksheets and short punchy activities.

Do it!

I enjoyed the ease of listening and referring to the handouts and being able to go back to the videos whenever I wanted to relisten to cement the information.

I am writing historical fiction and, because I had the characters already, I could jump straight into the handout work. It is making it easy to finally put pen to paper.

There were too many 'aha' moments to mention!

It helped me to believe I can actually write a story.

The course broadened my understanding of my characters. I enjoyed exploring the mind of characters and what drives them.

I really like the helpful downloadable sheets that I can use to focus my characterisation. Building out thorough characters and thinking through all the aspects, even if they won't be 'used' within my story. Having a full idea of who your character is makes them react to a situation in a way you perhaps wouldn't have thought - and seems more natural for them to react that way - rather than forced.

I have always 'made up stories' about random people while people watching, but now I enjoy doing that with full characterisation in mind. But also, I'm taking the time to develop my own characters in full before they embark on their murderous little journeys.

I'd definitely recommend Australian Writers' Centre (and already have) and I'd say the courses are focused, easy to manage while working and well worth the effort and cost involved.

I had done Creative Writing Stage 1 and this course helped me develop characters more deeply. Very helpful.

I'm actually starting! I have my cast of characters mapped out in quite some detail, have really thought through the relationships between characters, and how they'll change over time, as well as what the main characters need vs what they want. I've also mapped the plot events and now I'm looking forward to writing and see what else develops as I go.

If you are interested to learn helpful structure to start writing creatively, don't hesitate. I have found the formats and prompts super helpful to give me a starting point and the mapping of characters really stretches your mind to think about key plot events. All of which has made me ready to finally start writing. Very inspiring.

I feel more confident in shaping multi-faceted characters. I'm considering using the handouts to jot down the character traits of interesting people I meet to use as inspiration.

This is a practical course that will set you up with frameworks for developing true-to-life characters your readers will love and/or loathe.

It sparks the joy of writing in me and makes me want to pick up my pen again. It has made me think about my characters in new ways which I am sure will have a positive impact on my storytelling.

The course exceeded my expectations. I now have three wonderful main characters that I am looking forward to exploring when writing my novel.

At the start of Module 4, I looked back on all the work I had done to create the three main characters. The jigsaw started to fit together into a whole picture.

If you want to write, this is the place to start. You get the framework and the confidence builder.

This course exceeded my expectations. I now have tools for digging deeper into characters.

I was able to get unstuck with the ending of my fantasy novel, by understanding the motivations of my main character better. Awesome outcome

I was relieved to hear that you don't have to know your characters inside out before you start because I tend to get to know the characters as I go. However, having the tools to find out more about them during the story is much better.

You always learn something new when doing an AWC course, even if you think you know it. You don't know it all and the insights into crafting your work are definitely worth it.

I enjoyed the mix of information and practical exercises. I could make real progress on my novel as I completed your course, ending further ahead in my own work than when I started.

I feel much more confident in creating characters and I found that my plot events just fell out of the process of creating characters!

The AWC courses offer expert advice and practical ways for you to write your own novel.

I enjoyed the clarity and detail, which has confirmed previous lessons on how to develop characters.

I found it gave me more clarity on character development, and helped embellish the existing characters in my story.

My characters have 'grown' and taken their own path, which was different to what I had planned.

Fabulous courses. Well worth the investment for the understanding and motivation it creates.

The course gave me more ideas about how to develop characters as well as insight into why I am drawn to some characters in books that I have read.

The AWC care enough about writing to teach about it and use relevant examples from their own experiences. Get connected!

Well, this course was really amazing! I learned a lot from it and it helped me make some really awesome characters that I love and contribute well to my stories. If you were interested, I'm certain it could help you in whatever you are struggling with in your writing.

I feel much better equipped to create better characters. I feel like I can understand my characters and what it is they want and what exactly I want from them much better than I did previously. I just hope I can incorporate this into all my writing to create relatable characters.

I knew that characters are the key to any good story, but having written a first draft of a novel I also knew I was still struggling with my characters and making them the heart of the story. I needed a course that would help me to develop my skills around making well rounded and interesting characters.

I found it useful that I came to the course with characters already in mind and have definitely focused on making those characters better using the tips and information in the course. I can also see that the skills I've learned will be invaluable in the future when creating new characters from scratch.

I liked that I could do it in my own time and stop, start and repeat whenever I needed.

Having already written a very rough first draft (and not really knowing where to go next with it) I can see how focusing now on all my characters and how their lives will interact with each other will help improve my next draft exponentially!

Fiction Essentials: Characters gets to the heart of what it is you want to know and how to achieve it in your writing. The course breaks down your learning into manageable chunks and is supported with easy to follow handouts that can be used time and again.

AWC has made me realise more than any other book / course / online learning that I can write. This is a big freaking deal.

I like Valerie's audio files. Feels like there's a writer buddy there giving me great advice and leading me through the exercises. I have 11 pages of notes!

I now know it's achievable to write a book. That's all I want to do now.

I was surprised that I could use character interactions to build plot, and with only 3 of my main-ish characters (so far), I've been able to flesh out a lot more of the story, in terms of the plot points, and just helping me get that word count up to where it needs to be.

The AWC gets you from point A (Can I write? Can I write a book?) to point B (YUP!) by guiding you through the process / steps in a logical way and unlocking all the ways and tools to get you there.

The course is super helpful to dive deep into your characters, which will enrich your story tenfold.