What’s it like to learn with AWC?

Having completed a number of courses with AWC (serial workshopper here!) and then bringing my story idea to life through the Novel Writing Essentials course, Write your Novel was the next step in the process.

Reviewing the work of others and having your work reviewed by them is invaluable. Reading the tutor’s comments and feedback to others (in addition to your own specific feedback) adds to the learning.

Cathie is incredible. So knowledgeable, practical and her feedback is so well presented (and spot on!) Areas for development were provided in an honest and supportive manner and I loved the recommendations for wider reading.

I enjoyed the combination of learning from the audio content, workshopping and submission of chapters for feedback. Great online, group support.

I finished the draft of the novel I had been thinking about for so long. I navigated through plot and character changes to come to a point where I can now start my subsequent drafts focused on refining and improving through each of the drafts to follow.

Just keep writing. You can't write the start till you know the end so stop re-writing those first few chapters and keep going.

Do it. Give yourself a structure for pushing through and achieve what you've been wanting to do for so long.

Cathie provided excellent detailed feedback and guidance in how to draw more from a piece of writing.

I enjoyed watching my classmates' skills grow and really value their comments and feedback on my manuscript. I feel I have grown as a writer. I can now add more depth to my stories. I have also gained the confidence to share my writing with others.

Go for it. The courses are informative, provide useful and interesting lessons. The tutors are knowledgeable, give fair and valuable feedback and are supportive of your journey as a writer.

The speaker was very engaging and generous with his thoughts and experience. I enjoyed learning invaluable tips from an expert profile writer.

After completing Creative Writing Stage 1 and Writing Workout, I wanted to delve deeper into each of the elements of writing discussed.

I loved learning more about the intricacies of writing great dialogue and was pleasantly surprised by how detailed the course material is.

I loved doing the exercises as I created a few more scenes for my book!

I’m loving building on my writing skills and doing the Fiction Essentials courses (I’m assuming the others I’ve purchased are going to be as fabulous as the one on dialogue!) is a wonderful way of building that knowledge and confidence.

I’ve been telling all my friends about the courses I’m doing and how much I’m getting out of them. I tell anyone who’s even slightly interested in writing to check out your website!

Though I have written and published a picture book, I wanted to test my ideas out on others to see if I am on the right track. I have completed multiple courses with AWC and always find the content/takeaway notes extensive.

I found the feedback on everyone's story very valuable in how to self-assess my stories. I liked Suzanne's gentle way of pulling a story apart and by doing so giving us insight into what is needed and what to leave out of the text for a picture book.

I enjoyed the challenge and now know I can write a picture book each week if I put my mind to it.

Whatever stage of your writing journey the Australian Writers' Centre has a course for you.

I did the Novel Writing Essentials course with Cathie and Plotting and Planning with Kate Forsyth and my idea for a historical novel took shape. Once I had written 20,000 words, I enrolled in this course to complete my novel.

The comments and the reading material suggested by the tutor and collective wisdom of the reading group were extremely useful in shaping my novel.

I am grateful to Cathie as her gentle yet tough love edged me on to do my best and complete the first draft of my novel.

The comments by other participants, the tutor's comments on other drafts (in addition to my draft) and the list of reference books on writing fiction were good. The online audio sessions and course material were good as well.

I liked the pace of the twelve-month course as it gave me time to absorb and apply the principles I learnt through the lessons. This allowed me to do my homework and be prepared with my submissions.

The AWC offers a huge range of courses on writing. I love their courses on writing fiction. If you follow the lessons and listen to all the advice you get from the experts, you will achieve your goal to complete your first draft of your novel.

Thanks to everyone at AWC - the course creators, the course deliverers, the experts, the tutor and the participants. Loved every day of the course.

I've always loved creative writing and wanted to start taking it seriously. The course was so much fun and was lots of help!

Pamela was very friendly and gave great feedback that I'm using to improve my writing as a whole.

The best part had to be the characterisation section where we went through the PDF worksheet for our characters and really worked on fleshing them out - I learned a lot from there.

It has helped me to structure my writing better and give life to my words on the page. I have been taught how to flesh out ideas and build them into narration, dialogue and more. The course has also inspired me to write more often and now I can clearly see the positive difference it is making in the quality of writing I produce.

I would say it's a great tool to use for improving your writing and also a great and friendly community of writers and courses of all types.

Thanks for the great experience!

The tutor was amazing. I particularly liked the audio feedback.

I enjoyed the hands-on writing and the expectation for us to write stories for several of our assignments.

A wonderful, practical course with a talented teacher.

Suzanne was great at giving constructive feedback. It was always clear what she was expecting of your writing.

I enjoyed the assessments and listening to the lessons in my own time.

I think now I would really like to put more time into my writing, and try to formalise it rather than it just be a hobby.

I would say it is an excellent course if you are wanting to develop your writing skills and learn more about the industry.

The course was great fun and has challenged the way I think about writing. It covered a lot of ground and yet made the thing approachable and, more importantly, POSSIBLE!

The course is based in solid practical advice from people skilled in the craft. The exercises are meaningful and useful. And its bloody good fun!

Thank you.

Thank you so much for the stimulus materials that you put into this course. I feel that I am a different person, more creative and confident of my identity as a writer.

In the transition to my new identity as a retired teacher, I have tried different activities. While I go to a U3A writing group, I have not felt confident in the development of my writing skills. This course has taught me that it is okay to be creative for the rest of my life.

Do the course; it is so stimulating and stretching. It opens your mind to other worlds and confirms that you can make a valuable contribution to the world of words.

I'd always been interested in writing children's books, but the motivation to complete the Writing Picture Books course serendipitously appeared at the start of this year. Being a former journalist and currently a freelance copywriter, I was approached by a local school that works with children who have Autism to write a picture book on their behalf. The book will be used to help neurotypical children better understand Autism and sold for fundraising purposes.

Suzanne's feedback was well-considered, tactfully delivered and I found her to be highly knowledgeable on the course subjects. As an aside, her tone of voice was delightful to listen to, which I'm sure isn't a prerequisite to being a tutor, but appreciated all the same!

I really enjoyed the assignments! If I didn't have any other responsibilities, I'd have spent many more hours a week on each of them, just editing and playing. The requirement to 'find the best word here', and 'shorten this sentence there', etc, was so much fun! (Though I'm guessing only a fellow writer would understand this comment :-))

I'm in the process of pitching a memoir/self-help novel about pregnancy. The manuscript took me 7 years to finish (including 5 beta readers, 2 assessments, 3 medical checks, all the legal permissions, copy and line editing), and while I can't see myself writing another novel I definitely want to continue writing creatively (i.e. not just for the corporate world as with copywriting).

Now that I understand what's involved in writing a children's picture book and how much I enjoyed the process, I can see myself with a potentially ready-made 'audience' for my future picture books, given I'm planning to publish a book for a bunch of pregnant women! (I think it will be about timing the publications correctly and keeping in touch with my readers.)

It would be a dream come true for me to publish a children's picture book, and this will happen with my book about Autism, but I'd love to continue writing children's picture books for myself and hopefully get a traditional publishing deal.

My 'aha' moment was when I understood great picture books are about subtlety...I had heard the saying 'show don't tell' many times before, but this course gave me a far better understanding of the phrase than I had previously.

This is a fantastic course to do if you're interested in learning how to write a children's picture book.

Thank you!

Cathie was brilliant. She has helped and is helping me create the book I've always wanted.

I enjoyed the feedback and growing from that. And watching my fellow writers grow.

Cathie Tasker is phenomenal.

On New Year’s Day, I was wasting time on Twitter when I came across a tweet from AWC that offered a discounted price on the Reinvent Yourself course. I decided to give it a try, and absolutely loved it. So, I read up on the courses offered by the AWC, and enrolled in Creative Writing Stage 1.

The course material was a revelation, and our tutor was fabulous. I was so impressed. Angela was excellent. She is clearly an accomplished author, and her feedback was always insightful and helpful.

I felt accepted, and not in the least intimidated. And the lectures were fun!

I am so motivated to keep writing. This is such an alien feeling to me as by the time I left my last job, I used to joke to colleagues that I hated writing, and that I never wanted to do it again. The course has reminded me how fulfilling, and how much fun, writing can be!

Reading Handout 1.1. opened my eyes to the amazing potential there is as a creative writer. It sounds silly, but I realised that no one else dictates the edges of the people and worlds I create - just me. There is so much freedom in that.

If you want to experience the freedom creative writing offers you, but haven't got a clear idea about where to start or how to go about it, I strongly recommend you enrol in one of the AWC courses. You'll be supported and encouraged at every stage, and you will be provided with some excellent materials.

I just wanted to say thank you. It has been a real joy to access a new week's worth of materials every Monday.

The insights gained from feedback and workshopping has taken my work to another level, and was an excellent way of learning to identify some things I missed, and what to watch out for in the future; what worked and what didn't.

I learnt a lot of additional titbits - introducing characters in a way that readers will remember them, developing anchors for them.

Obtaining the courage to develop my own writing style, although I am a newbie, and not one based on any perceived standards or expectations.

The program of learning, writing, feedback and workshopping is spot on. Never underestimate the immense value of workshopping and feedback. This form of obtaining beta readers is far superior to tapping into your own networks in many ways.

Cathie was awesome. Always constructive and supportive.

There were many aha moments. In particular, I found the handouts very helpful, especially the descriptions of filter and filler words, tense, show not tell and concrete words. I stuck them on my wall and referred to them often.

You are the only one who can write your novel, but if you want to write it better enrol in the Write Your Novel course. The advice and support of your tutor and other aspiring writers is invaluable.

I was looking for informed advice on what to consider when tossing up whether to take a dive into the world of writing and editing. Valerie explained the different types of writing in a way a novice like me could easily digest. This has made it easier for me to consider which avenue I wish to explore.

From this course, I've narrowed down what interests me. Though this may change over time, the course explained that giving something a go, only to find out it isn't what you want, is not a waste of time.

The course format suited me perfectly. I could read/listen whenever I made time.

I'll be exploring the areas of writing that appeal to me to see which one really floats my boat.

I'm already recommending AWC :-) The flexibility, range and presentation of courses is appealing to all levels of experience.

I wanted a basic level course where I didn't feel like I had to produce any works - I just wanted to listen and absorb before I committed to an interactive course. I actually didn't know what to expect but I loved it.

I enjoyed the true-life stories of how people became writers. So inspiring! So many people who believed they couldn't write suddenly found that they actually could. Perhaps I can too. I learnt to believe in myself.

It inspired me to enrol in the Creative Writing Stage 1 course. I've been thinking about it for 12 months but kept putting it on the back burner. I've done it and start in a few days!!!!!!

Even if you're not ready to do a course, listen to the podcasts - they will give you the inspiration to look further into the Australian Writers' Centre and what they have to offer.

Stephen gave excellent feedback, including oral and written which broadened it out. He gave considered comments and often did extra research in an area if he needed to (e.g. historical facts). He was always very encouraging but not afraid to say something major if needed. If he was held up with his feedback, he made it known that was the case.

I've learnt a number of things which will improve my writing, such as fleshing out characters more, for example. The feedback from all participants was invaluable, enjoyable and a positive experience. I respect their opinions because I know that their own writing is of a high standard, so the feedback is well-grounded.

It's a great organisation, which caters particularly to Australian writers but not excluding others. The course was of a high standard, and they add extra interest by having webinars/zoom sessions, fun competitions and extra blogs/emails to help keep your motivation up.

Learning all the tips, hints and so on of how to bring a character's POV to life was a lot more involved than I had imagined and I loved getting into the nitty gritty of how to do it properly.

One thing that has stuck with me is the comment which came up several times about how there is no real right or wrong way, but what is right for you and the book you are writing in regards to first person, third person limited or omniscient.

Just do it. It really will pay off in the long run. No matter how much you think you know, if you want to do well you will make the effort to learn more.