What’s it like to learn with AWC?

The course is really comprehensive and gives a novice writer a great insight into the publishing industry. It was divided into small sections that you can work through at your own pace.

I had no prior knowledge of the publishing industry or any idea about how to get a book published. I have found the course to be very motivating and I now believe that if I put the hard work in, my dream of being a published author is achievable.

I am just amazed at how much information we covered right down to small details such as why books are stacked the way they are on bookshelves in bookstores and libraries.

This is a comprehensive self-paced course written by industry experts. I didn't know what to expect when I started the course, but it has been time and money well spent. I would highly recommend this course to anyone thinking of embarking on a career as an author.

Cathie is wonderful! The revisions and explanations she gave for the assignments were punctual, clear, objective, and extremely professional. Her evaluations were of great value and helped me understand where I need to improve and study to be able to write better. This motivated me to seek more knowledge, since I am a beginner on this journey and still have a lot to learn.

What I enjoyed most was the assignments and the exercises, because both point us in the right direction and help us stay focused on what we should be doing.

I would say the Australian Writers' Centre is one of the most renowned institutions in Australia, with excellent quality courses.

Margaret was fabulous. The feedback I received for my assignments by my tutor was constructive and helpful manner. Just what I needed.

I am now more conscious about the way I write. I am more aware of what makes a good story and how to go about using the senses to describe scenes.

You would not regret doing the course. It is professionally laid out and easy to follow.

I've written almost three novels, the first one of which has been published. In writing a sequel, I found myself stuck with where it was headed, what the characters might reasonably be expected to do. I wanted to learn how to more easily avoid this impasse.

I enjoyed the philosophical underpinnings of narrative and narrative structure because they grounded my understanding of my own writing process and enabled me to make some useful changes.

Many of the suggestions I learned about helped me decide on a process that I can happily use.

I have moved from a mainly instinctive, intuitive writer to a more hybrid mix of that and careful pre-planning.

It reinforced that writing requires hard work that pays off.

AWC courses are well-planned, relevant to their purpose, challenging yet supportive to a range of users.

I like the pace of the course, the informality, the content and the ease of progressing through each unit.

I realise how many rookie mistakes I was making in the way that I conveyed dialogue.

I found the voice of secondary characters which shaped the end of the novel in a way that I had not conceived of. The end has now become clear to me through the final conflict.

AWC courses are short and succinct. You learn a lot in a short time to help deepen the characters and their dialogue.

I'm now better able to use the features of the programme to streamline my writing process.

Grant was friendly and knowledgeable.

The course introduced new concepts, such as query fanout, as well as clarified how the basics of SEO are still important.

Great course for beginners to SEO as well as those with more experience.

I am a scientist by training. I have published about 500,000 words in scientific papers. I knew HOW to go about that. So I was very pleased to uncover a METHOD on creative writing, and this has given me confidence to start writing in a different way.

The tutor was quick and perceptive. Very helpful.

I am now ready to have a go at writing a story about my grandparents' life. They lived through a rapidly changing world, in the first part of the 20th century. Theirs is a complex journey... and here I am!

Learning about voice and POV was an eye opener for me.

If you want to write something, do the Creative Writing Stage 1 course.

Margaret was great. I learnt a lot from her views of submissions during the course.

It served to further improve my writing skills. I had done a few (self-paced) AWC Fiction Essentials courses throughout the years before enrolling in Creative Writing Stage 1.

The courses are well worth it as you can improve specific aspects of writing (dialogue/pacing/structure etc).

I'm an SEO beginner but the course information made sense and covered everything I needed.

Grant was great, very knowledgeable and had clearly put a lot of effort into course development. I loved the extra information he made available for reading during and after the course. The use of both slides and additional info worked smoothly.

It opened my mind to the usefulness of AI and helped me to understand very clearly on what to focus to improve my company's standing with AI; tips like the apps or programs available to support writing for SEO and AI eg Keywords Everywhere, Answer the Public; facts and figures used to highlight points.

I no longer feel lost or hopelessly out of date. I also can now see the opportunities presented by AI.

AWC provides plain-spoken, to-the-point descriptions of what to do and not do.

Thank you for your "you can do this" approach.

Pamela did an amazing job with this class and was very supportive. I've never had proper feedback on my creative writing before so this was great to have a professional give helpful tips and things to think about.

I enjoyed that each week was different and it gave us lots to think about when submitting our assignments.

I have enrolled into Novel Writing Essentials and am very excited to start.

It was a super helpful course with my goals and the classes were easy, tutor was lovely and super helpful.

I know how to do this now. How to tailor media releases with different angles. All the different editors and subeditors to contact for different media releases. I can promote my own work and books.

The AWC provides wonderful, easy to understand courses that are worth every penny.

I needed to learn more about memoir writing and hoped to find answers to my writing questions, especially structure, and maybe to find out about the merit of the story. I have learned a lot more.

I hesitated for years and enrolled at Open University instead. But the module on memoir kept eluding me, it was always just out of reach. Although it has recently been offered by the Uni again, I decided to do the course with the AWC, and I am glad I did.

It was great to be encouraged to write about real life experiences. I enjoyed the non-judgemental approach to the story, and that editing related to the text.

I liked Nat's gusto. Her fast speech pattern allows her to cover a lot of ground for each feedback, which is great. Her feedback taught me more about editing.

It has encouraged me to keep writing on my memoir.

Be brave, write from your soul, and trust that the story, and your voice will emerge.

If you like to write, start here. No requisite required; just go for it, and enjoy your learning curve.

I thought there would be a lot of theory, but that was limited. Instead, it was a treasure trove of useful and very practical tips and ideas for getting started and keeping the momentum.

I enjoyed the artworks Kate scattered through the slides, helping to underline how inspiration works for her and can work for others.

I had never thought about how my ideas became stories - it just happened. But this course was like opening a door to see into the world that was already happening inside my own head, but I never realised. By opening this door, I can see my stories even more clearly than before.

The course wildly exceeded my expectations. I loved getting Margaret's feedback and hearing her comments about other people's work. I learnt so much, from little things like - only one space is needed after a full stop - to bigger things like - the tense you use and the point of view you choose, can completely transform your story. I had no idea how much there was to learn about creative writing and that it could be taught. And that I could learn it.

Margaret was so clear and handled all of us with such skill whether it was at the level of punctuation, or clarity or consistency of point of view or general clunkiness. She was so real. If she couldn't understand what you were trying to convey, she said so. Her feedback was always in the service of bettering your writing, so it was very easy to hear. She was also super encouraging.

I loved how it forced me to write about something I didn't think I could write about i.e. a crime. I couldn't believe that I had something to say. Yesterday I 'lost' an entire day just writing, because I wanted to find out what happened next. I still don't know the end of my story but I can't let it go now and I love that. I'm also getting a kick out of using my actual environment as the backdrop for my imaginings. It's like blending two different processes.

It got me writing again. It was fun. I learnt so much. I got direct feedback on my writing and I could see myself improving. Do it!

I knew the structured content would be beneficial for my brain. Most of the information is probably out there on the internet for free, but the AWC content and delivery was excellent at giving a broad overview and then really honing in on what matters for scene and character creation. If I didn't sign up for this course, I'd likely still be lost in YouTube videos and not actually writing.

Nat was excellent. She delivered direct, relevant feedback, but always in a way that showed she genuinely wanted you to improve. I liked that she would acknowledge where you had improved, where you'd taken on her previous feedback, and then still take your feedback a step further to continue challenging you to grow. She always began with something like "hello writers!" and that small gesture was actually really nice, as silly as it sounds.

It got me writing. It filtered through all the noise about writing and gave me the confidence to just do it, and then gave me information to begin critically examining my writing to improve it.

Do it. Yes there's content on the internet and this costs money, but it's worth it. It cuts through all the noise and will have you writing.

I loved the way Bernadette structured the course and it was jam-packed with so much information that I can go back and review when I need to. There were so many helpful resources that I will definitely be using to launch my copywriting business!

I loved that it was so accessible and gave me the confidence to know that I absolutely can do this. It makes my goals look so achievable and I can't thank AWC and Bernadette enough for that.

It's given me the confidence to begin setting up my copywriting business and work from home. Here I go!

I do like self-paced learning, as I have a regular job, and the flexibility fits in my schedule.

I was impressed by the depth of the feedback I received and felt honoured to have it. This feedback has been incredibly beneficial and has shown me that I needed to take this course. It will be invaluable for my story writing. I am addicted to the Australian Writers' Centre website. I have taken an interest in the Master class and will register for this shortly. I am really excited about my writing development and improvement.

I loved the whole class, handouts, audio, and assignments. I am on the way to better writing and have the tools to do so.

Without a doubt go do the course. You will walk away with a different perspective.

I learned about simple mistakes I was making, as well as tools to help me be critical about my writing. I also appreciated the cut-to-the-chase teaching as I know we are all adults with real world goals in mind.

Do it. It's not fluffing around. It won't waste your time.

Thanks for the flexible learning, we need more of it for people like me!