What’s it like to learn with AWC?

The tutor clearly knows writing and gave useful advice.

I enjoyed the variety of voices providing feedback and the opportunity to develop my own skills in critical reading and providing useful feedback. I'm better able to see the flaws in my writing (plot holes, poor characterisation etc.) and how to fix them.

Sign up - it's worth the money.

I was impressed by my online tutor because of the detail of information and the kind delivery of advice on how to correct my mistakes that I had made in my haste. The feedback was helpful and it was enjoyable to hear the good comments too.

I am reading and writing more each day. I love all the information that I have learnt, and I am inspired to work harder and be more focused on the craft.

Even though I am still redrafting my manuscript, my 'aha' moment was achieving the task of completing my manuscript. Also, that reviewing other students' manuscripts really opened my eyes to the art of storytelling and fresh ideas.

AWC courses are great. Choose one you like and get started. You will achieve your goal of writing and improving your craft.

I had begun my novel in the Novel Writing Essentials Course and wanted to finish it. I thought this program would be the best option and chose the six-month course because I wanted to get the first draft written as quickly as possible.

I enjoyed the interaction and feedback to and from my fellow students. It was fantastic. Great group. The tutor comments were very helpful.

AWC offers outstanding courses. I've done several now and they are all amazing. You learn so much and they are worth every penny!

Cathie was excellent. Honest and encouraging. She knows how to push you to produce your very best.

The learning modules were excellent and it was lovely to be part of a supportive writing community.

It's given me confidence to pursue my dream as a fiction writer. I've discovered I have talent and, with hard work, have a good chance of success. I'm inspired to master my craft and can't wait to do Edit Your Novel.

The Australian Writers' Centre will unlock your creative potential. Look no further!

I really wanted to finish my manuscript and get some good feedback on it. This course helped me do that!

I am really grateful for the writing friends I have made in the course. I found their feedback to be the most helpful part of the course (aside from the audio classes which I loved). During the feedback my peers gave me, they pointed out how passive my language was. I didn't realize I was doing that and so that helped me moving forward.

This is a great way to continue education on your own time and pursue your writing goals! I have learned a ton in the three courses I have taken!

Cathie's feedback gave me pause to think and was always helpful.

I didn't think I was going to learn as much as I did. A few suggested changes to my writing made my novel fresh and more modern. I feel I've learnt the skills to streamline my writing but also give it some depth.

Cathie was very knowledgeable about the industry and gave insightful and valuable feedback.

I'm continually going back to the handouts and modules, particularly the ones on structure and voice. These have really helped me not only sort out my story but sort out my overwhelmed brain.

I enjoyed messing around with POV and tense to get the voice right. I didn't realise how intimately entwined they are and how great it feels to get it right.

Thanks everyone at AWC. This course helped me get stuck in, just get it done and I found my people along the way :) It's not just about doing a course and completing modules, it's so great to be supported and feel like there's a whole community behind you.

I had pantsed the first part of my novel but felt I had lost control of it and didn't know how to progress the story in a way that made sense. Definitely word spew, to borrow another writer's words. I saw the Write Your Novel course as a way to provide structure to my work and give me deadlines to ensure I completed the first draft.

The course is so comprehensive and I feel Cathie has just the right amount of push and reward with new writers. I learnt so much and really enjoyed the process. Cathie's direction and feedback were excellent. I've come back for round 2, so that indicates the respect I have for Cathie and the course.

It has given me the confidence to continue writing. Also, this has been a time of transition in my life and the course and the contact with the other students has helped me keep my chin up.

If you are serious about wanting to advance your writing and give yourself a good chance of being published, the courses at AWC will give you the knowledge and confidence to persevere until you have that well written manuscript.

I'd like to thank Cathie Tasker and everybody at AWC, including the administration staff and course writers. I've sat in on some of your other podcasts and I always learn something new.

I was ready to keep going with my story idea but needed help with structure as well as a deadline to keep me focussed and writing. I had completed Novel Writing Essentials and this was the next step.

This course and tutor allowed me to write as the type of writer I am: a pantser. A chaotic one. I always looked forward to the new modules dropping and reading the feedback, although this last was also the most nerve racking.

It has shown me I can write something someone else would like to read; that it is okay to be a pantser and that not everyone is going to like what I write and that's okay too. It has also given me permission to be a writer.

I highly recommend these courses to anyone who is thinking they want to write. Even if you only have a tiny idea but want to see it grow these courses are what you need. Just do it.

Angela was a terrific tutor: she was honest with her feedback but also encouraging. She gave me some excellent ideas for problems in my story.

I enjoyed chatting with everyone about their books, helping them by giving good feedback, receiving the feedback from others.

Without it, I don't know if I would have finished my novel!

Write Your Novel really is what it says it is - if you do this course and complete the weekly tasks you'll end up writing your novel! It may just be a first draft but that's still an incredible achievement! The feedback given from the tutor and from classmates is absolute gold and although it is a lot of work reading other people's writing it adds immensely to your understanding of what makes for good writing.

Thanks. I really enjoyed it.

The outcomes for the course attracted me. You need to submit a draft at the end of the course. It makes you accountable. You know what you're signing up for.

I was concerned I wouldn't finish. I wasn't sure I would be able to meet the deadlines for submissions and feedback but I did it! I didn't let either myself or others down.

The tutor provided very good feedback - highlighting both areas that needed to be worked on, and areas that were working well. She had a good understanding of each of our novels - impressive!

I enjoyed the workshopping aspects - giving and receiving feedback. It's easier to pick up issues/errors in others' work and then notice you are having the same issues or making the same mistakes.

It has given me a lot more confidence and self-belief. A lot of positive reinforcement and encouragement. But also feedback on what's working and what's not.

If you're serious about your writing, then don't hesitate. Do a course. You learn to step up your game. There's no hiding. It's a supportive and encouraging learning environment. But you do learn what works and what doesn't. You will soon be able to see how you measure up, and areas you need to improve in. And you meet other great likeminded people.

I was able to improve my understanding and application of POV, character development and storytelling techniques. The workshopping was invaluable.

The tutor was very professional, encouraging while still picking up on areas to focus on. I enjoyed reading and workshopping the submissions by fellow students.

I feel so much more confident in my ability to achieve my lifelong ambition of completing a novel. I understand where and why I have given up before and felt it was beyond my ability. It is one thing to be able to write well, it is quite another to be able to tell a story well.

I've loved the interviews (and Facebook posts) with the various authors--hearing about their techniques, how they achieved their goals, and making me realise some of the things I feel are completely normal (for a writer!) I hope one day I am among them.

Thank you for keeping my dream alive!

Regardless of how well you think you can write or tell a story, the AWC will help you do both better.

Pam is ace. She is so calm and kind and she took my intro comments and gave me pointed feedback that was useful and easy to digest.

I enjoyed the deadlines to submit work. It helped me overcome my procrastination or letting life get in the way.

It helped me establish a new creative writing routine post-uni. Indeed, I considered Write Your Novel as a remedial course! Due to university commitments, I hadn’t been able to work creatively and focus on my novels for three years.

I established a good writing technique or routine by pushing myself to write toward a deadline. After working from home for three years, I understood I couldn't be creatively productive there.

I took the train to the library on the weekend, aiming to get there by the 10am opening time. I could sometimes use my phone to write on the train if I felt up to it. At the library, I could put in 1.5 hours of writing. For a lunch break, I would walk to a cafe, and while waiting for food, I could sometimes put down some more words. Afterwards, if I felt up to it, I would return to a library to write or do a creative nourishment activity (such as a movie). Had I seen a movie, the train ride home was another space and time to get some more writing done.

This seems indulgent, expensive and fattening! But making time for myself to work on my novels and do creative things was wonderful for my writing progress *and* mental health. This course helped me to develop and understand my writing needs.

Overall impression of Pamela Cook: she was amazing. Her feedback has been invaluable; she is so knowledgeable and organised. I felt so comfortable with her as she guided us through the course and I could not think of a better mentor to have.

I loved the interaction with my peers, the modules were easy to follow and the time frame between submissions, and also to be able to gain the knowledge of how to give feedback as well as receive it.

It has given me the tools to follow my dreams and aspirations of one day becoming a published author.

I can actually do this! I felt this halfway through the course after a couple of submissions. I let down my guard and allowed the feedback from my peers to help me dig deeper into my novel and think about the storyline in a different way. To take a step back and look at my novel through different eyes!

I just want to say thank you! Thank you for having a course like this available and being able to step outside my comfort zone and chase my dreams!

Pamela Cook was a fantastic tutor. She was insightful, helpful and encouraging. She has helped so much and I cannot thank her enough.

The feedback from an experienced writer just helped me to understand how to make my work more engaging. I have the confidence to continue with my writing journey.

Pamela was amazing. She was kind, responsive, motivating; it felt like she went above and beyond.

I enjoyed providing / getting feedback and engaging with fellow classmates.

The course made me realise that a novel is a poem in long form. You write, you rewrite, and each part must be perfectly connected to all other parts. Overall, it has motivated me to keep on writing, helping me to stay accountable to the writing process and to my goal. It's aided my understanding that the writing process is challenging and ongoing, and that a novel is achievable.

I've done many courses with AWC and I needed this course to focus on completing my novel. I thought the 6 months would be just the right amount of time without getting distracted.

The class was great, the feedback was fantastic and Bernadette was a great teacher. She was very thoughtful with her feedback and was very encouraging.

The class feedback was great. I really appreciated the interaction with the group and everyone was encouraging and offered suggestions if you were stuck with something.

It was done really well; I highly recommend how the course was set out and run.

I had completed Novel Writing Essentials with Pamela Freeman and got so much out of doing that course. After that I had continued to write my story and had nearly completed a first draft. Was keen to get some feedback and continue to improve.

Was so lucky to be put in such a great group, with people who really wanted to help each other.

Pamela was lovely and encouraging the whole way through but also gave genuine, constructive feedback with direct and specific tips on what to improve and how to go about it.

My favourite part of the course was reading everyone's feedback from Pamela, and also my course mates' feedback to each other.

It has given me confidence to keep going and motivation to keep improving.

Would have no hesitation in recommending any of the courses. I have done several and loved them all.

Thanks to Pamela and all of my classmates of September 2021 WYN. Have loved the experience and feel motivated to keep writing.

The quality and detail of the course work was wonderful. It felt so targeted and relevant to what I was trying to achieve.

Bernadette was a generous and experienced tutor. I appreciated all the feedback and support I received from her.

I enjoyed sharing the journey with others. The ongoing links to people and knowledge. The recorded course work and handouts.

It's got me writing and believing that I can actually finish my novel and it might be half good!

If you're serious, or even if you just want to have some fun, I highly recommend AWC. The tutors are industry professionals who know what they are talking about and the course work is relevant and detailed. It's also a wonderful way to make connections that will outlast the course.

What a pleasure this course has been!! So thankful for such a wonderfully talented, diverse and supportive group of writers, and of course, Pamela's invaluable mentorship.

Pamela was brilliant. So generous with her time and feedback, she was always insightful and considered. I found her feedback invaluable. She gave me the encouragement I needed to keep pushing through to meet my goals. She helped me to learn a lot about my writing, both strengths and weaknesses. Could not have been happier with a tutor.

I really lucked out with a great diverse group of people in this course. On the whole, really helpful and supportive. The deadlines were good for me - made me go the extra mile and produce what I probably wouldn't have done in the timeframe.

I am changing my working life next year to free up more writing time. I want to get this current novel in print and commence, if not complete, my next manuscript in 2023.

Just do it! There are courses for all kinds of writers and you can do them at your own pace. Great tutors and a fabulous way to connect with other writers. I have already recommended AWC to a number of people.

Just a sincere thank you for helping me get to where I want to be.