What’s it like to learn with AWC?

I found this course extremely educational. There was a lot of information and advice that I will take to the project I am currently in the process of writing and apply what I have learnt. It brought up a lot of questions for me and helped me see the things that I can improve in my writing.

It was great to be able to take it at my own pace and squeeze it into the spare moments of daily life; around all the other boring obligations we have to tick off the to do list, LOL. It is also great that I have access for a full 12 months. I will be able to go back to it for a refresh.

Every section of the course had great content and I learnt something applicable to what I want to achieve throughout the entire course.

If you are considering doing any courses to improve your writing, I thoroughly recommend the Australian Writers' Centre. The information is presented in an easy to digest manner and there is an amazing supportive community available to you.

Making sure that each scene in the story has to fight for its place was a great discovery. My manuscript is way too long and your courses on scenes and structure have shown me how I can cut out at least 50,000 words. I am learning to tighten up the essence of the story.

Your courses are great.

It really opened my mind as to how scenes function, some rules in applying them and how to make sure they have a good balance of elements to make a scene feel really rich. I really enjoyed the Module on setting as well, as it's not something we usually think about in terms of conveying what is happening in the story, but it's really useful and valuable.

AWC is a terrific place to learn and develop your writing skills, for anyone interested in writing. All types of topics, levels and backgrounds with great courses and tutors. I highly recommend them!

The course built upon what I had already learnt in Creative Writing Stage 1. These courses complemented each other well.

I enjoyed getting extra insights on how to make effective scenes and found the bonus module on settings especially interesting.

I decided to go through all the Fiction Essentials courses, to help me to strengthen my understanding of what I already know about writing, and to supplement with what I hadn't already internalized.

It has encouraged me to stop being so perfectionist about my first draft: get the story on the page, then go back to edit.

Consistently excellent instruction that can help good stories become great stories. Thanks.

Very comprehensive and easy to follow, even take a break and come back.

Made me look at things with a much broader aspect. There are many layers that need to be covered when writing a scene.

The courses are great and you can take your time with them and go back over things.

I was attracted to this course because I needed help with my writing - I was getting bogged down.

It exceeded my expectations. It made me think in wider terms about what I'm writing. The fifth module on Settings has really made me think of the scenes I'm writing in a different way.

Great courses. Professionally presented and always relevant to what you are working on.

Like all the other courses I've done, it's great. I like that it's in smaller chunks, making it easier to contemplate and absorb, and then apply to my writing.

I enjoyed the actionable aspects. i.e. colour-coding the elements of scenes, matching scenes to story questions by colouring. My manuscript is a WIP but I'm listing my scenes to check on variety. When I come to my second edit, I'll be colour-coding elements in scenes for the trickier ones.

Great courses! Very practical.

I have now done this course twice. The first time I completed the exercises, then I went away and basically rewrote my book. The second time, I used my actual scenes to complete the exercises, and was happy to find what a massive difference this course made to those scenes.

I found my settings almost becoming another character in the book, as each of my point of view characters reacted to the setting and the action occurring there. My white rooms are gone, and I have settings that are alive, full of emotion and atmosphere, a place my characters really can be.

If you want to improve your writing, or just brush up on the basics and get those invaluable tips you may never have thought of, go for the Fiction Essential series by the Australian Writers' Centre. They will be worth your time.

I really struggled with choosing the right scenes to write, and somehow they never came out how I intended for them to when I was first planning them. I knew I needed to improve my scene writing, and after doing a course with Pamela, I was convinced that this course would be able to help me. I was right!

The way that this course provides you with specific information, specific ways of structuring scenes, and specific ways to use scenes throughout an entire novel was invaluable. And the module on settings is bound to improve my writing so much!

I especially enjoyed module four, which went through common pitfalls and how to fix them. This gave me a new way of looking at scenes, which helped me identify what was missing from a scene I'd just finished writing in my work in progress.

I've never really understood the function of scenes before. I tried the 2 Hours to Scrivener Power course and could not get my head around actually moving scenes around. I get it now.

The course has changed the way I approach writing a story and gave me tools to edit.

I enjoyed relating the examples and exercises to my own pieces of writing and recognising where I need to make changes.

It's a comprehensive course and provides excellent examples and writing exercises. I now write everything in scenes no matter what genre.

The moment about the story questions and how they need to be worked into every scene was an important moment for me. It has changed the way I look at and consider my scenes and what I'm putting in them.

This course will really help you nail how to write a story.

This was a tertiary level course which gave me heaps to think about and experiment with. The exercises were brilliant and can add to my understanding the more I do them.

I enjoyed the practical suggestions, and not being talked down to. The course notes were also very thorough.

Having completed a first draft, I can now go back to begin my second draft with knowledge rather than going in blind.

If you are serious about improving your writing, do more than one AWC course. They build expertise in you like a Sara Lee cake, layer upon layer upon layer.

I loved the detail it went into. I didn't realise how much there was to think of.

I have all of these tools now to improve each scene of my second draft, especially my settings which I think I have been a bit slack on.

AWC courses are both very thorough and concise; it would be hard not to get something out of them.

The workflow of the modules took an understandable approach to how to plan scenes before writing them and then how to best write scenes.

I now feel ready to look closely at planning my novel scenes and how to make certain I've got all the necessary elements for my story.

Definitely do it. The courses are such great value and really improved my skill set and understanding of fiction writing.

I enjoyed the very practical and no-nonsense approach to writing a scene. I really understand now how to approach a scene logically, rather than barrelling through without much thought on place and setting.

The AWC has great courses that really help you pick apart your writing and understand where you are going wrong (and right!).

Thanks to this course, I now understand the true value of the scene. From the first to the last module, I was engrossed. There were no words wasted, just gritty information, the stuff that counts for aspirational writers.

I enjoy the audios which reinforce the handouts. I can do things while I'm listening, tidy my desk, bake a cake or curl up on the sofa. Mostly, I enjoy discovering new things about the art of writing. Especially when I find I've included some of them in my work without being aware of it.

Now that I understand the true value of the scene, it's made a huge difference to the quality of my manuscript. This has heartened me and increased my motivation for excellence.

This course is essential for new writers if they want to improve their writing. It's beneficial to more experienced writers who need to polish their manuscripts. There's so much to learn for those attempting a novel. This course makes the hard slog easier.

The course was well-structured, provided examples, and spoke to the notes. It brought the art and composition of scenes to life and pointed out to me the built nature. The idea of making sure the scene is from the point of view character was illuminating.

The examples helped me to really understand some of the concepts. Realising just how much goes into making a great scene. It's a lot, but the course broke it all down into bite-sized bits.