What’s it like to learn with AWC?

Lesley was a fantastic presenter!! I did enjoy the videos. She was clearly experienced and very encouraging. She knows the market.

I enjoyed the enthusiasm coming through the videos! And the market information. De-mystifying this genre as to things like word count and target age group.

I have started writing my first chapter book! This course gave me confidence to give it a go, with some pitch deadlines coming up.

For aspiring writers in WA, away from the action of Sydney and Melbourne, these are excellent, accessible courses that are totally targeted for the specific genre. Keep up the amazing work!!

Just a great well-rounded course. The tutor was great - honest feedback and friendly :)

I enjoyed getting feedback and the classes as read by Valerie. Also submitting assignments.

It’s given me confidence that I could actually write a book. I have a totally fresh understanding of storytelling and the mechanics.

Do it; you’ll regret you didn’t sooner. Can’t wait to do more courses soon.

The online tutor was great. The use of her own personal experiences made the lessons more interesting and enjoyable. I enjoyed the use of excerpts from books to illustrate key points and examples of types of successful books.

AWC is an excellent source of information and a good starting point for any new writer or person considering becoming a writer. I really enjoyed the course. It has given me the courage to have a go.

Reading soo many success stories gives me more hope than I had. It has given me the confidence to pursue my passion for writing.

Reinvent Yourself is the perfect start for anyone who is interested in following their writing dreams. I found this mini yet extremely jam-packed course full of helpful tips. A bible that I shall return to for that push I'll need when doubt starts to creep in.

It was a privilege to come in contact with Bernadette through my Copywriting Course at AWC. All the feedback provided by Bernadette was a futher learning opportunity.

I took up a career which was totally unplanned and unexpected. Bernadette gave me lots of confidence.

I would definitely recommend AWC. Thank you, Bernadette, for the skill and confidence you gave me through this course.

Thank you so much. I was looking for a new direction and I think I found it! I was worried I would not be able to write, but I found ideas flowed easily.

The tutor was lovely. The feedback was detailed and helpful. I feel much more confident in my abilities and I think I found my new passion!

Just take the leap, you will not regret it! Thanks Zanni!

The tutor was superb! I enjoyed the feedback and Bernadette's delivery style - she is very relatable, you feel like she is in the room!

I feel confident that I have found my new profession.

Bernadette commented that Copywriting is the perfect "fusion of art and science" and she also said that it's a good trade for someone who has done "a bit of this and that - Jack of all trades" which really resonated with me and where I am currently at.

The AWC is the best in the industry. Thank you!

Bernadette was clear and concise. She was able to impart industry specific examples and personal anecdotes to make the course personable and informative.

I have now started my own freelance writing business and am learning how to construct a website in WordPress. My life has changed completely.

There's no Fluff and Bubble in these courses. The learning is targeted and you can also have fun as part of the process.

Thank you for the opportunity to complete this course and special thanks to Bernadette for her warmth and guidance. I have a whole new vocabulary that I am keen to use in practice. Who'd have thought I could have an in-depth conversation about SEO 5 weeks ago? I certainly didn't.

I loved this course! I learnt so much about what is essential for a crime and thriller novel, about how these genres differ from other genres (and also from each other). It was practical and helpful.

I loved LA Larkin! She is an excellent tutor. Very engaging and she really knows her stuff. Whenever we read out our writing or asked questions, she was always able to answer them and provide real insights that I personally found really helped my story. The feedback from Louisa and others in the course was extremely beneficial and complemented the lessons.

I was nervous about the writing exercises but I enjoyed them and it was great to push myself out of my comfort zone. I enjoyed when we were able to get questions answered by Louisa - she gave great insights even in the brief time we had to ask questions and I know everyone found that helpful. Even if there was a question asked by another author and their story was very different from mine, I found the advice that Louisa gave could be applied to my story. Example, if she said to someone 'think about this' or 'this is how this TP needs to connect and raise the stakes', then I could apply that same thinking to my story.

I have done other novel writing courses (elsewhere, not AWC) and all have benefited me. I have a good understanding of the key turning points and how to structure a novel. But what this course helped me with was the actual specifics of what is required in a crime novel. So it went beyond the turning points and showed us what are essentials of the genre, how to ramp up tension, how to connect our story points, how to build to a climax etc. As writers on our first books, we need to learn two things: how to write and structure a novel, and then the specific requirements of our genres. This course gave me great insight and reinvigorated my writing journey.

The other benefit is that we, the group, have decided to continue meeting now the course has finished. It is a really supportive group and I would never have met these fellow writers otherwise.

If you see a course you like the look of, definitely book in! You won't regret it. I'm so happy I did this course! And 10 gold stars to Louisa - she is an excellent tutor and her teaching and insights were really valuable.

I haven't written for some time and thought this would be a great course to get back into the creativity, structure and focus of writing. I was very glad to be reminded of scenes and summaries, PoV and tense. It really assisted with reconnecting to what I love about good storytelling.

The tutor's feedback was incisive and very helpful.

I really enjoyed the resources and how they connected to the audio giving meaningful examples of what the lecturer was telling us. I enjoyed reading my own feedback but also the feedback given to other students because that was also helpful for me.

If you want to write something others will want to read then do a course with the Australian Writers' Centre.

The tutor was an excellent communicator, sustained my interest, responsive and sensitive to the disparate skills of participants. Michelle was able to deconstruct the many complexities of editing and although there was such a lot of content I came away with several matters very clearly stamped in my brain.

So many areas that I was uncertain about or did not even know about; quotations, colons and semi colons, dangling modifiers, and more - the rules as explained by Michelle opened so many doors for me.

I love the tip about editing a rule at a time rather than trying to do everything at once (which is my practice). That was so illuminating for me.

The content is great. They give you a really valuable resource workbook, the tutor is an expert in her field and the price point is economical. This will be an excellent investment.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! I am so much happier. The previous writing courses I have done have been quite structured but at the AWC you give every writer room to breathe. I also find it really helpful doing these Fiction Essentials courses as I near the end of this draft. There is so much to fix up but I want to get some more tools in my kit before I take this to one of your longer novel courses. Great value for money too!

I really wanted to understand more about POV. I was about 70,000 words in to my novel in first person and was really interested in understanding the nuts and bolts of POV better. I was hoping I would come away with a better understanding as previous writing courses had not unravelled the mystery of POV as I had hoped.

I have switched from 1st to 3rd person POV and I feel like I have a stronger voice now. I am far more confident with POV. The depth and layers of each POV was really insightful.

Amazing resources, I guarantee you will enjoy it and learn something. Exceptional value for money.

It was the perfect course to help me get started on my crime and thriller novel. I had some ideas but had no clue how it was all meant to go. The course outline was thorough and the fact that the course was being conducted by L A Larkin was a massive draw card. You know you are getting quality when a best selling author is the teacher.

This course left me feeling so positive and happy about where my novel is headed. I have only just begun but this course gave me the skills to move on and look forward to potential publication.

Louisa was so personable and easygoing. I loved listening to her talk passionately about her craft. She was so positive with all participants. Louisa gave everyone time to express themselves and show ideas. Louisa was very generous with her positive feedback to me. I felt very excited when she said my story was something she would like to read.

I enjoyed everything. I loved meeting like-minded people from around the country and developing what will be strong connections. I loved learning about the structure and finally realising I have a direction.

I believe in myself and my ideas. I feel I am equipped with the skills to develop a great story that may one day be read by others.

I absolutely loved this course and will miss the weekly zoom meetings. I’m already deciding what my next 2 or 3 courses will be. I feel like I’ve found my place at the AWC.

I am currently completing the Novel Writing Essentials program, which I love, and I wanted to learn more about the crime/thriller genre specifically, as this is the genre I am writing in. I loved that L.A. Larkin, a sucessful, published author was taking the class, and knew it would be of high quality.

Louise is brilliant! She is knowledgeable, intelligent, funny, down to earth and presented the course material in a clear and concise way that just made sense. I feel like she has given me a pair of glasses - all the fuzzy ideas I had about structure, plot, complications, turning points, action scenes and so on are now clear and in focus. I just wish I had done this course sooner!

As well as Lousia being a brilliant host, and learning so much, it was fantastic to meet the other writers. Some of us have formed a writers group and we will continue to meet up every fortnight, which will be invaluable during this journey.

I have outlined my entire novel, written an opening which is so much better than the opening I already had, I know where and when my turning points need to occur, I know how to write my climax and it all felt effortless and enjoyable. I cannot recommend this course highly enough!

Every class had multiple 'aha!' moments for me! Lousia teaches in such a way it all just makes sense, and she delivers the material with a mix of humour, insight and real life examples. She has pinpointed exactly what new writers in this genre need to know, and conveys it beautifully.

If you are interested in writing in the Crime and Thriller genre, this course is a must. A huge thank you to Lousia for giving up her time to teach and inspire new writers. It has made a huge difference to my writing journey and I can't thank her enough.

I needed to revise the plot for both the mid-section and climax of my novel.

Louise Larkin was great with feedback; she made it useful and made you feel great at the same time! Loved her approach.

I enjoyed the interaction with my fellow crime/thriller writers.

I took quite a few ideas away from the course which are helping me complete my manuscript.

The tutor certainly knows her stuff and was good and fun to listen to.

I enjoyed interactions with other writers, the hints shared, and the tutor's methods and explanations

It helped me to focus more on what my manuscript was missing. I feel confident I can now do a final write through and complete it. Also linking up with other writers - we have now continued the group ourselves.

Highly recommend joining the AWC as there is just so much to learn and help you in your journey to be a writer. I have attended several courses and am looking for my next one. Really helps to keep me focused.

I'd started a manuscript and did Novel Writing Essentials and told myself if my classmates enjoyed my story I would continue. Everyone seemed to love it and this inspired me to push myself forward and continue.

The support of my classmates and tutor was especially helpful in knuckling down and writing my novel. Knowing someone was going to be reading my work made me accountable and that all spurred me on to finish, and then revise. I feel satisfied that I've finished, but a little sad that I have to fly away and finish the manuscript by myself.

The tutor introduced herself as an expert and explained the various things she'd done and her specialties. This gave her immediate respect; her knowledge of genre conventions and what NOT to do was particularly insightful. Her approach to feedback was very genuine; she told you all the things she liked before hitting you with what wasn't working, and what you needed to work on. I like the approach of finding the positives rather than just telling you what needs fixing.

I enjoyed my classmates' comments and assessments. It was such a diverse mix of age and background and everyone always seemed to have some little nugget of wisdom for me. Also, learning the bits people liked really helped me along, and of course what they disliked, because I have to go away and work on those areas. But it was in examining those areas that made me grow the most.

The final manuscript assessments nearly made me cry simply because I realised my story had made an impact on someone else. People were gaining all sorts of insights and growth from some of my storylines and characters in ways I'd never even imagined.

If you've always wanted to write a book, you need to give yourself a push and upskill yourself. There are techniques and processes you can learn to develop a craft which will get you to a full manuscript. In the past I felt I just wrote without a clear idea of how to do it and hoped I'd have an A-ha moment. The course showed me what I needed to change which I never could have done alone.

Once I could see my work slowly improve with each revision, the ideas started to flow on how I could improve my story. Learning what to exclude by virtue of my classmates' feedback also helped me grow and gave me a stronger awareness of what I needed to include.

I love that it gave me everything I need to be able to start feature writing right now. Super practical and really great content.

Sue was great; she obviously really knows her stuff! Her feedback on my work and of my classmates' work was really helpful and insightful.

I was nervous initially. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it. But that was everything to do with me and nothing to do with this course. And in the first week, all nervousness was gone.

The thing is, I think I can write, but previously I relied on my instincts to take the story where it needed to go. This course has given me the templates to structure an article properly, know how to do those sparkly transitions, write a hook, and the all important ending. But also, how to analyse a publication, interview people, and pitch my work to a publication. It feels like everything you need to know to get started in feature writing is in this five-week course.

Best five weeks you'll ever spend if you'd like to be a freelance feature writer one day. Everything in this course is aimed at getting you paid work.

I liked that it was 5 weeks and I could do it in my own time. It was also super helpful having access to the teacher and fellow classmates. One day I would really like to do feature writing on gardens and the gardening industry and this course seemed like a really practical way to get started with this dream.

My 10-year-old daughter recently completed Allison Tait’s Creative Writing Quest and absolutely loved it. The course was incredibly well put-together with Allison’s engaging weekly videoed modules, packed with practical advice and writing tools. Maggie enjoyed the journey and learnt a great deal about the craft of writing, which she was able apply to each weekly task. She then had the satisfaction of completing her story and receiving Allison’s personal feedback, which was detailed, constructive and encouraging. I thoroughly recommend this course, as it inspires kids to write in a relaxed and supportive environment, outside the school world. And with a fabulous author who really knows her stuff and is able to communicate it so well to kids.