What’s it like to learn with AWC?

There is much more detail than I expected. It introduced so many ideas about structure.

I look forward to this course impacting my short story writing. I believe that structure will help me to proceed with a story which I am writing. I was aware that there were missing developments and inadequacies and did not know what to do about them.

The AWC have developed very useful, detailed, practical and stimulating modules in writing fiction and the text for children's picture books (the two courses which I have completed).

The guidance, with video demonstrations, around research was great. I already have a strong background in academic research but learning about the amazing world of information available through state and national libraries and Trove was great.

It's self-paced, easy to understand and very practical for fiction writers. Affordable, a great investment in time and money.

A huge awakening of avenues available for finding contemporary source materials for historical periods covered in the novels I'm writing.

Charlotte was fantastic. She was supportive and kind and gave helpful feedback on assignments.

The weekly assignments were most helpful and engaging for me.

I feel more confident in refining my ideas, editing drafts, and feel more knowledgeable about the process of submission and publishing.

If writing is something you want to pursue further, I would recommend doing an AWC course to further develop your skills and confidence.

I finished this course in one week, I was so immersed in it, and I was very inspired to start work on my own writing. I also planned out more AWC courses to complete over the next 12 months.

I enjoyed discovering new books I hadn't read, and hearing Kate's opinions and love for books and writers I was really familiar with. I also enjoyed Kate's way of deep diving into each of my favourite genres, and linking them together with literary tools.

It has reminded me that I need to be actively learning instead of passively learning. Kate was able to make me feel like we were in a tutorial, which is much more personal and active than a lecture. I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts and lectures that dump information into my brain and memory. Kate's delivery allowed me to feel in dialogue with her, and it kept my brain active in response, and applied her ideas directly to my writing.

It will allow you time and space to remember that vitality in life is about learning new ideas, and changing your mind so you can realise a new goal.

I enjoyed delving into what is important to young adults and the things which may be happening to them at this stage of life, how their relationships with others and themselves change and think of them growing into adulthood. I enjoyed cementing these things in my own characters, especially working backwards from their growth to make sure I have the plot elements needed for them to change.

The course allowed me to create my characters through an authentic YA lens. To deepen their personalities.

This course made it easy to start writing consistently.

I wrote so much content during this course. Just knowing I had to do something each day got me to sit down and start. Words flowed from there.

I wanted to know more about these genres, which I have not experimented with at all in my own writing. I made a point of watching the introductory webinar with Kate and was so impressed I enrolled straight away.

Kate clearly gains much of her writing inspiration from art works. She brings her own deep research to the art and artists, films and directors, as she does to developing her own books. I loved this pairing of the art works with each genre. It brought out an emotional response in me that gave her lessons more meaning, and also made me stop the recording, study the artwork and think about why Kate would choose that particular image. Then return to the course with new concentration.

I enjoyed the readings by both Valerie, then reinforced by Kate, so that we were given two different voices reading the excerpts. I really enjoyed Kate's sharing her deep, visceral responses to many of the passages, including the non-fiction passages by the authors. It's an approach I used (or rather, couldn't help but use) in teaching at school, to give permission to the students to likewise be moved by literature.

So much to think about and look for in every book I read now. I can even see how many of the language features can equally apply to effective non-fiction writing.

I'd previously thought of romance fiction as fairy floss, but now realise it is a genuine examination of the search for love and for one's intellectual equal in that love partnership (thus the witty banter), as well as showing the necessary transformative journey involved in finding that love.

AWC has a big variety of courses. By all means try the less expensive, more focused courses. But also pay the extra money for the high-quality courses that really interest you. Worth it for the very helpful structured approach with lots of gems as well as the basics.

I was attracted to this course by the content - my favourite genres of books, explored and taught by Kate Forsyth - a legend of Australian fictional writing, who brings so much joy, enthusiasm, love and passion for the craft of writing, creating books that readers will love, and inspiring would-be writers to put that pen to paper.

I enjoyed Kate's real life examples from diverse range of books and authors, and easy to understand explanations of what makes good writing, and how to take the reader on a journey that they will enjoy. I also loved the inclusion of artwork and introduction to artists and female stories that have been hidden from history or forgotten.

Do it! Take any course with Kate Forsyth and you will learn so much, feel inspired to write, and learn something new about history and art and the craft of writing.

I was looking for an online course that I could do at my pace as well as at any time of day. I read the online reviews and the Writers Centre had only positive feedback from participants. The course looked to cover everything for a first time writer based on the course outline.

Charlotte was great at providing us all really positive and constructive feedback.

I enjoyed learning how the whole book industry works, as I didn't realise the enormous amount of people involved in getting a picture book to publishing stage.

I'm really excited to go to the next step and learn more about the writing process including kids chapter books and even novels.

If you are at all interested in writing, the Australian Writers' Centre has an amazing array of courses to suit everyone no matter what they intend to focus on.

I have had feedback from critique partners and others that I do too much telling and not enough showing. Unfortunately, most of them were not able to explain the difference to me in practical terms. Also, I have read many short-listed and winning short stories where I felt there was lots of telling, not much showing, and these pieces were still the best of the entrants. I was getting very confused, so when I saw this seminar, I enrolled.

I almost cried when I downloaded the page headed 'What do tell and show mean'. I finally have some concrete explanations. I hope to now reduce the amount of telling and create lots of showing.

That was it. Having the explanation on the page in simple terms.

I have spent most of my adult life doing corporate writing, and now that I am retired and wanting to write fiction, I am finding that my pieces often lack 'soul' for want of a better word. Before I started this seminar, I imagined worldbuilding as a being an aside to the story and characters. Now I understand that worldbuilding is an integral part of the whole.

I always enjoy learning from Pamela. She explains concepts clearly, has an interesting delivery style and the format suits me i.e. online and at home.

I now realise that I must put in much more effort into the worldbuilding than I first thought. It also opens up other experiences for the characters that I may not have otherwise explored. The surrounding environment is part of the lived experience of the characters. They are not just statues dumped into a space.

AWC courses are comprehensive, they offer a variety of delivery methods that suit our varied lifestyles and everyone will learn something new.

The recorded sessions were surprisingly engaging. The duration of each module recording made it easy to complete each session within the week.

I enjoyed the weekly writing task and most importantly the feedback which was gentle and kind but also constructive.

I've discovered that writing really is a creative pursuit (writing is not just for work reports etc). I've discovered through the exercises in this course that I can write a scene in many different ways and get completely absorbed in the process.

It was a good length with good content. I found Bernadette interesting and educational to watch.

Really glad I chose this course, thank you!

Blend of short punchy audio, short punchy worksheets and short punchy activities.

Do it!

Charlotte gave constructive feedback. She was always positive but not afraid to make suggestions or recommendations, and that is such valuable feedback.

I really enjoyed applying what was taught in the assignments. I feel more confident with what I am writing.

The course was very well structured and very practical. It was wonderful having feedback from our online tutor.

Alex is very knowledgeable and approachable. Her feedback was always extremely useful. It was great having her perspective as both a writer and an editor.

I enjoyed writing the profile the most. It was nice to get to know one of the other students and to write a story about them.

I feel confident to start pitching stories to different publications.

AWC courses are wonderful and provide a great blend of practical and theoretical guidance.

I really enjoyed the tutor's feedback. It was supportive but also constructive and offered insight into things we did well and areas we could improve on.

I really liked the workshop component and being able to develop a critical eye.

It really helped me through a roadblock of my writing, being able to get a story structure that others thought worked well and also for me to start getting words on the page with a regular writing routine.

AWC has a great range of courses for people at all stages of writing in all types of genres. If you're looking to develop your writing skills and also connect with others, I would definitely start there.

I was attracted to this course because I specialise in Profile Writing in my work and the tutor is a brilliant Profile Writer whom I admire very much.

This course was a real treat. Thank you for offering it.

I had been writing a novel since Jan 2024. It was pretty stop-start. I had just gotten back into writing and felt like I was doing a terrible job. So I signed up, to learn more and hopefully keep writing. Just learning that what I was feeling was NORMAL was a game changer. Straight away I let go of this thought about writing garbage and was able to just write.

The tutor was great, considerate and constructive. I plan to go and listen to her feedback to others, especially the structural outline to pick up more tips and tricks.

If you're interested in writing a novel or are currently writing a novel do it.

I though Bernadette was an incredible course leader. She was warm and encouraging and really presented the material in a way that made it a joy to learn! I though the structure and pacing was fantastic and that overall Bernadette did an amazing job at teaching this course. I definitely finished it feeling like this is a career I could move into (which is not something I felt confident with prior to the course). Mark was an amazing tutor as well! I really loved how encouraging and positive he was with all of his feedback, even the constructive criticism was given in such a personable way. It really encouraged me to continue pushing myself with the weekly assignments to experiment with all of the different writing strategies we had learnt in class.

I really enjoyed the teaching style of both Bernadette and Mark. Getting to learn from such friendly, personable and knowledgeable teachers really made it a wonderful experience. I also really appreciated the structure of the course and the fact that we had weekly assignments to solidify our knowledge. I have attempted to do courses in the past that were 100% self-paced and they have been an absolute disaster, I usually last about a week or two before forgetting about it or procrastinating or getting bored. The fact that a new module unlocked at the start of each week and we had an assignment due at the end of each week was really key (I think) in making this such a successful course. It was also nice getting to see everyone else's work and hear the feedback on that too, I think that really helped the learning experience overall.

I thought it was a really well-structured, organised and executed course :)

It's changed the way that I think about structuring my whole writing process, from planning and researching, to THE BRIEF!!, to the use of headline formulas to catch readers attentions, to being clear about the intention of the piece, to how I would go about getting work (the scariest bit in my opinion), to using AI in the right way. My writing background is more from the journalism/feature writing world, so this was my introduction to the world of "writing to sell" and I think it will be incredibly useful for my future career and life.

It doesn't matter if you have zero experience, it doesn't matter if you think you can't write - you can, and this course will show you how!