What’s it like to learn with AWC?

I am currently editing a draft of a crime novel and hoped to find tips on what works best. I found it really helpful. Helped me hone many points in my draft novel.

Louisa was excellent. Friendly, presented the information in a clear and interesting way. Made for a really friendly environment for discussion and putting forward ideas.

I enjoyed learning about the important points of writing about crime. Listening to everyone's thoughts and ideas.

I have drafted a first novel and, as we had the discussions, I found ideas kept coming to me about how to improve the novel (which I am currently editing so it was great!) and I just jotted down the ideas as we went and am making the changes now.

Loved the course and hope to do more in future. Many thanks to AWC and Louisa.

Louisa Larkin is just fabulous and I thoroughly enjoyed this course. Louisa was informative, supportive and gave constructive feedback. The course covered areas I would never have thought of in terms of approach and how to craft your writing.

The interactive Zoom sessions were the best. Due to an unexpected workload (and ridiculous deadlines), I was only able to join 2 of these but found the online videos also very helpful. I also enjoyed the interaction with the other participants.

I feel like I have gained so much knowledge from this course in terms of how to approach my writing, plan it, structure, character development, etc. I feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment as I am only at the beginning, but I also feel that this course has provided me with a solid foundation to begin.

I have already recommended the AWC to several friends. I have told them about the variety of writing courses on offer and also told them about this Crime and Thriller writing course and how much I was learning from it - this was after week 1.

I am so glad I found your website and the programs you offer.

I wanted to learn how to develop my limited thriller/suspense writing skills and my fiction writing skills because I had only written a non-fiction self-help book. The course description showed it to be very hands on, which, from previous writing courses I have done, was essential.

Louisa is a highly skilled writer and excellent trainer. She was positive, generous and complimentary in all her feedback. She provided helpful examples of alternative options, suggested books relevant to specific genres and questions. She always found positives in what was read out or discussed, and offered variations as well. Her enthusiasm and interest were infectious throughout the group it seemed to me.

The wonderful combination of providing information in an interesting and accessible way, the many examples of different types of crime writing, the additional information provided including links to videos of real crimes. Louisa was very generous in her range and depth of information, so that the attendees would have information about their writing focus. She answered all questions in detailed but easily understandable ways.

Having read dozens of 'how to write' books and attended courses previously, I found that after this course I am more confident and much better informed to write in the crime genre. I am excited now to finish my short stories and publish them.

Increasing my knowledge and confidence about writing fiction was the most precious outcome. And having my eyes opened to the numerous ways of going about the different aspects of writing. The positive feedback and discussion between group members, either in break-out rooms or as a group was great.

I learned how to go about planning and shaping a book. How to include bricks of details, pace stories, include plot twists, create interesting characters, and much more. I am more confident about my ability to write and how to go about it.

Having a highly skilled presenter who is also a brilliant and successful writer is paramount. I'm so glad I did this course. Thank you, Louisa, and AWC.

Louisa was wonderful. Very generous with her time, advice and feedback. She was encouraging and helpful and encouraged respectful and positive feedback from across the group.

The format and approach and the genre-specific nature of the content was great. Louisa was wonderful and I really appreciated her generosity in sharing her real-world experiences and her encouragement.

A great opportunity to understand the bones of a great crime fiction novel. Thank you to Louisa and my fellow participants!

Louisa planted so many seeds within me. From all her questions and the homework set, I was able to fill some of the missing pieces of ideas that were loosely floating in my mind. She helped gel things together for me. Her teaching approach was supportive, patient and engaging - just what I needed.

I received 'aha' moments each week from LA Larkin. The small exercises prompted me and identified missing links with my ideas. A simple exercise question by LA Larkin "What if..." triggered a range of ideas.

I am so happy with L.A. Larkin! She is a fantastic writer and teacher and I learnt so much from her! She provided amazing feedback and encouraged us in every writing activity! I also really loved the homework!

The writing activities that we participated in really helped motivate us to strengthen our writing and then share aloud our ideas and offer each other feedback. It helped me to improve my writing and narrative structure and encouraged me to pursue writing as a future career.

Fantastic course with an amazing and inspiring teacher! Lovely classmates with brilliant ideas! I will certainly miss everyone!

Thank you so much, L.A. Larkin! You are an amazing teacher and I really enjoyed this course!

I was a little anxious as I had never used Zoom before but the course was wonderful and I had a lot of opportunities to interact with my classmates.

L. A. Larkin provided a friendly and supportive learning environment.

I enjoyed getting to speak with my tutor and classmates in real-time and getting to know more about my classmates' work in breakout rooms.

I now understand the core differences between a detective novel and a thriller. At the start of the course I was struggling with a detective story; turns out I was hitting a wall because I was trying to write a thriller.

The story structure and narrative tension is something I struggle a lot with, but the way my tutor explained it, the second act finally made sense.

It's a wonderful course and a must if you're going into crime and thriller writing, regardless of level.

It was an overall wonderful course and I'm so glad I took it!

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 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.

Louise Larkin was fantastic. So knowledgeable and obviously experienced in the genre. She was great at giving constructive feedback to ideas and very clear in the way she set out the information.

I enjoyed hearing other people's story ideas and being inspired by the different ways in which they wrote. I loved the breakout room and the availability to ask questions at any point.

Having already written 65k words and being completely confused and stuck, it took me back to the basics so that I could find my story again. My new understanding of structure and pace will help, I'm sure, to rewrite a much better story.

I had let the plot drive the story without thinking much about character and that was my biggest mistake starting out. I am so happy to have figured out this problem and be able to move forward with characters that I actually love writing.

Louise was fabulous! She rocked the balance between technical mastery and personal experience. I enjoyed the personal insights Louise shared.

I have a nearly completed manuscript and was looking for technical guidance specifically on writing thrillers, particularly around plotting, structure and pacing to help me polish the manuscript and ready it for the pitch phase.

I found the course's content really insightful, and the technical tips really, really made me think!

I realised some of the incremental edits I needed to make to my manuscript to give it more polish and take it to the next level.

The AWC is a fabulous, inspiring centre for anyone interested in understanding writing crime or thrillers and taking your manuscript through to publication.

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 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.