Author: Australian Writers' Centre Team

Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

5 ways to keep your reader guessing in a crime novel

Crime writing in Australia is having a big moment, and the best crime novels are the ones that keep readers guessing right to the very end. My new novel The First Summer of Callie McGee is a middle-grade mystery novel set in a seaside village on the south coast of

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Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Ned Kelly Awards shortlist nominations announced

The Ned Kelly Awards shortlist has been announced and we are so thrilled to see AWC graduate Kerryn Mayne on the list! Here are the details from the Australian Crime Writers Association website: We are proud to report that Aussie crime writing continues to grow in strength and identity, as

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Competitions and Opportunities
Australian Writers' Centre Team

COMP CLOSED: ‘After She Wrote Him’ by Sulari Gentill

Creating realistic characters is one of the fundamentals of writing. But what if the characters actually came alive? Sulari Gentill’s novel After She Wrote Him will make you question truth and fiction and we have three copies to give away. Here’s the blurb: Madeleine d’Leon doesn’t know where Edward came

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Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Chenée Marrapodi goes from hobby writer to published children’s author

“Writing news stories is very different to writing a children’s book!” Chenée told us. “I knew if I tried to find all of the information myself, I’d end up falling down the ‘Google rabbit hole’ and I’d waste even more time – yet another excuse to stop me from actually writing the book!”

Instead, she dove into the course Writing Children’s Novels and, as she says, hasn’t looked back. Chenée’s debut book, One Wrong Turn, is out now with Fremantle Press.

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Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Anna Spargo-Ryan on writing beautiful sentences

Anna Spargo-Ryan is known for her beautiful way with words. Her novels The Paper House and The Gulf received critical acclaim, while her memoir A Kind Of Magic, released in October 2022, was shortlisted for the Nonfiction Book Award in the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards.

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Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Heidi Walkinshaw’s new career as a picture book author and copywriter

After the birth of her first child, Heidi Walkinshaw knew she wanted to try a new career, so she enrolled in a psychology degree. However, it didn’t quite scratch her creative itch, so she turned to the Australian Writers’ Centre.

“After procrastinating for a little while, I took the plunge and enrolled in the Writing Picture Books course with Cathie Tasker and suddenly all those notebooks of ideas that I had been scribbling in for years made sense,” Heidi told us.

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Furious Fiction
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Furious Fiction: July 2023 Story Showcase

Welcome to July’s Furious Fiction story showcase – a monthly chance to shout out our community’s creativity and the opportunity to have YOUR OWN story featured or acknowledged. And this month it was all about connecting with your inner child – here were the criteria: Each story had to include

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Build your profile and promote your book
Australian Writers' Centre Team

How to build your author platform before your book is published

It’s one of the number one questions that emerging authors ask: “How do I build an author platform before my book is published?” Followed closely by: “And why do I need to?” Before I dive into this, I need to say this upfront: Always focus on writing the book first.

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Our famous Q&As!
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Q&A: How did ‘Barbie’ and ‘Ken’ get their names?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we have toy stories.. Q:

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Competitions and Opportunities
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Davitt Awards shortlist nominations announced

The 23rd Davitt Awards shortlist has been announced and we are so excited to see AWC graduates Dinuka McKenzie, Fleur Ferris and Louise Bassett on the list! Here are the details from the Sisters in Crime website: Crime alert: Sisters in Crime has announced its shortlist for its 23rd Davitt Awards for the best crime and

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Competitions and Opportunities
Australian Writers' Centre Team

COMP CLOSED: ‘The Escapades of Tribulation Johnson’ by Karen Brooks

This week’s giveaway features powerful and courageous women who rebel against the rules of society. We’re giving away three copies of The Escapades of Tribulation Johnson by Karen Brooks. Here’s the blurb: It’s 1679 and into the tumult, politics and colour of Restoration London and its lively theatre scene comes

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Fiction writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

How to write your book’s acknowledgements page

The world is divided into two types of people – those who pore over the acknowledgements page at the end of a book and those who don’t even glance at it. If you’re an aspiring author, whether of fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry, I recommend you join the first

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Our famous Q&As!
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Q&A: The origin of “in your wheelhouse”

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we are behind the wheel..

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Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Carolyn Swindell’s brilliant novel ‘We Only Want What’s Best’

Carolyn Swindell was working in a “high heels and business suit job” in corporate responsibility when she decided to enrol in her first AWC course.

“The biggest thing about the courses is the permission you give yourself to be a writer by investing in yourself,” Carolyn told us. “I had been shy about admitting this ambition, but going along and sitting with other aspiring writers and learning the craft and the business was such a boost to my motivation and my skill level.”

Carolyn put that motivation and skill to good use, with her debut novel, We Only Want What’s Best, out now with Affirm Press.

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