What’s it like to learn with AWC?

My five-year-old son loves humour and I wanted to explore different types of humour for his benefit.

It was very thorough and covered a broad range! I took heaps of notes!

Lots to think about and ponder. I know how to add humour to my writing and I can't wait to dabble. Amazing.

I feel I was lucky with the cohort I had in this group as I received constructive criticism from some members. As a beginner in fiction this was valuable to me.

Nat was very helpful. I got really good feedback and she got it spot on when she said I enjoyed writing certain responses. I would do another course with her.

I enjoyed responding to the diverse assignments. They were a challenge and I feel my assignment 1 and 2 could become a book eventually.

It gave me the belief I could write fiction. I'm ready. I'm ready to write.

I am developing a family story and needed ideas on how to approach it. The course helped me understand and think about structure.

Rather than one 'aha' moment, I found by methodically going through the course it provided confidence in my process - validating and improving my approach to writing.

It is a stepping stone and valuable reference for my future writing. A great way to kickstart your writing journey!

Great feedback. Bernadette is an excellent tutor - this was my second course with her.

It was good to learn when it's OK to tell - so helpful.

I feel more confident to go through my manuscript again, adding more showing where it's needed.

There was so much detailed information about each step of the Travel Writing process which was presented clearly and sequentially.

I enjoyed learning about Pitching and Publishing, as these were the next steps I was looking for. I also enjoyed Valerie and Katrina's conversations about travel experiences and how their experiences morphed into published travel articles.

As I love travel and writing, it has challenged me to combine both loves moving forward. I have had so many wonderful, unique travel experiences in my life and I plan to have many more, so why not share them?

Just Do It! It's such an easy way to learn and develop your skills as a writer.

I enjoyed the insights into the potential for travel writing. It encouraged me to plan and get off my butt.

Katrina and Valerie were generous in sharing the realities of travel writing.

AWC courses are a great mix of technical skills, industry knowledge and encouragement to write.

Margaret was great. She kept it real, was friendly and to the point. I learned a lot from her.

She showed me that with some rearranging of sentences, I could create a more action-based opening scene.

It's easy to follow, has great lessons and advice and gets you started on your writing journey.

Nat Newman engaged well with students' submissions and was able to draw together different insights from her writing and acting background in a way that I found interesting and entertaining.

Being able to engage in the techniques of writing were enjoyable. Writing is one thing, but I also enjoy the elements that surround it, from characterisation, visualisation, planning etc.

It's been a good exercise on creative muscles and being able to gain an insight into the writing industry, especially as a first step. It's helped reflect on what I like about the creative process, what I'm good at, and what I need to work on.

In the final assignment, I was able to more accurately identify why I was writing something and what I was writing (e.g. exposition, scene, summary, etc), rather than just putting words to the page. It helped make better sense of the story I was trying to tell and what I wanted to do with the story.

The Australian Writers' Centre Creative Writing Stage 1 course provides a simple and straightforward environment to engage with creative writing. Although it requires some time and effort, it can be a worthwhile activity for those who are interested in creative writing and want to give it a try in a safe space.

As I went through the course, I organised my notes (everywhere) and bookmarks, photos, websites into my Scrivener writing project. I love a good categorisation and organisation, although often not my natural state, and this gave me the knowledge and impetus to get everything ready to go. The course also dovetails nicely into the Structure one I'm currently doing.

Go and have a look at AWC courses. You can trust the quality.

Simple, straight forward, encouraging. A pile of great ideas. Really supportive and great information.

Jo was wonderful!

The course gave me a wonderful view of the scale and effort it takes to write a novel and it showed me all the ways I can improve the use of my time as well as strategies to help my writing reach new levels.

During the character stages, it showed me how much one character's arc can impact the story and plot as a whole and it enabled me to build my characters in more depth!

I would describe it as the perfect way to improve all aspects of your writing, whilst limiting the impacts to your schedule whilst still effectively encouraging improvement!

I can't thank the AWC enough for running this amazing course.

I liked how the exercises allowed me to hone in on my characters and structure. It gave me useful scaffolding to make sure I stayed on the right track when editing my manuscript.

It asked the questions I had answered in my mind while writing, but committing them to paper meant I really dug deep into the reasons for my creative choices, which made the characters and ideas better.

AWC produces courses that actually teach you how to write in the genre you want to focus on, and get words on the page instead of just thinking about it.

The course material delivered by Pamela was well structured and easy to understand. The feedback Bernadette provided was practical and I can see how it will improve the flow of the passage.

I enjoyed reading the other participants' scenes and listening to the feedback Bernadette provided.

I feel I have a better understanding of how to show rather than tell in my own writing.

Great courses that take you to a point where your writing becomes publishable.

Very easy to follow, good explanations, good approach on how to link theory to practice.

Apart from it being very informative and educational, it was also interesting and inspiring to listen to Kate talk about the paintings used.

I feel much more organised and calm going about writing.

I used to be a 'pantser' (frankly I did not know this word existed before taking this course) and it never got me anywhere. Knowing that I can combine my free writing spirit with an organised plan helps to look more optimistically at my project and lessens self-doubt.

Dear friend, just go for it :)

I enjoyed the very clear framework, in detailed steps, to enable a thorough and practical understanding of the editing process.

I now feel like I have the steps to undertake to do a thorough self-edit. And even if I don't do it for ages, when I come back, the steps are clearly and concisely laid out. I don't need to remember the steps between manuscripts.

I have done a lot of courses on illustration - so I was worried that it would be a repeat of the information I already knew. But it wasn't - it was quite different. I learned the difference between what a cover designer does and an illustrator for instance. I also realised I don't know anything about working with printers!

I think that Jo Riccioni was very kind and polite during the experience. She was so nice, and I felt I learned a lot from her during our time together. I appreciate the time she took to read my essays and give thoughtful feedback back to me. Thank you, Jo!

I think it has helped me develop skills I hadn't yet mastered, and now I feel like I have a bit of a guide if I want to do more writing in the future.

I am so grateful for this experience opportunity, and I thank everyone behind the scenes of this course, making the audios and exercises and my mentor for her wonderful feedback. It was a wonderful 10 weeks! Thank you so much!

I was able to finish a polished first draft of the manuscript during this course. I learnt so much than I thought I would and loved every minute of it.

Our online tutor was amazing. She was enthusiastic, honest and supportive in every way possible. The feedback was such that it enabled me to go forward in my writing process. Without her guidance and constructive feedback, I fear I would still be turning in circles.

I loved every aspect of the course. I loved the camaraderie of everyone in the group and subsequently I got so much from reading classmates' writings, providing feedback to them and receiving feedback from them. Such a valuable aspect of the course.

I want to keep on writing. I love it.

I really enjoyed Nat's approach to giving feedback. Her ability to identify where improvements could be made and the way she challenged my thinking and offered advice that strengthened my writing skills were excellent. I absolutely loved her humorous and witty approach to delivering her feedback. I was left each time feeling good about my writing and yet absolutely clear about what I needed to do to make it better.

I enjoyed giving and receiving feedback - I learnt so much from the other writers in the program.

Great course to improve your writing skills and add some discipline and accountability to your writing.

I'm now feeling inspired to start editing my first draft!!

Nat was good fun. I gained an extra appreciation of deep POV and of the physics/logistics/believability of scenes from her and I think she had a genuine appreciation for my novel concept.

Highlights were authenticity/inclusion videos, setting an inclusive culture in AWC courses (Nat did a good job of that too), and feeling invested in the projects of other students (we are keeping in touch).

Spending 10 weeks focused on writing my first novel was invaluable to me in figuring out a process that works (for me). I've also had to remind myself that the key (for me) is keeping the process fun and playful rather than pushing for word count, because a novel, like other goals in life, is 99.9% the process of getting there - so savour it, because I'll only get one first novel.