What’s it like to learn with AWC?

I enrolled in this course on a whim. Children's novels? Hadn't read any for years. Then I watched a doco on Harry Potter and all the great books I'd read with my son when he was little came flooding back. Children's novels? Yessss!! Was I mad? I'd just finished Freelance Writing 1 and here I was thinking of doing something completely different! So I think I enrolled the night before it started :)

Pamela was absolutely brilliant. So spot on with her comments, always very positive but also constructive with lots of take-aways. I lapped up not only her comments on my work but also for other students - she gave out so much information that underpinned what writing children's novels is all about. I feel I have a solid basis to go forth and write my novel!

The feedback from Pamela was incredibly helpful, but the structure of the course and its content is very spot on, practical and vitally important in order to write a children's novel that can be read, understood and enjoyed by children.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The tutor was lovely and very knowledgeable of the writing process.

I enjoyed creating new pieces of writing for submission.

This course answers all the questions you have about how and what to write for a middle grade audience, what that audience is and how to capture them.

I've always wanted to write for children but felt I needed to gain a better understanding of how writing for this age group differed from writing for adults. Your course curriculum appeared to address all my questions.

As a full-time student, I hesitated over the cost but after completing the first module I realised it was money well spent. Carla was a fantastic facilitator.

The Writing Children's Novels course exceeded my expectations. Each module was carefully thought out and helped us develop our characters and build our story world. The audio lectures were informative and easy to understand. Their short duration meant I could listen to them in between other commitments.

Carla was amazing! She answered all our questions, provided additional writing tips and gave us thoughtful constructive criticism. She was also approachable and had a lovely gentle manner.

I really enjoyed this course - Carla was fantastic and the audio lessons were a great idea. I would highly recommend the AWC courses to other writers.

Carla was a wonderful tutor, full of enthusiasm for everyone's story ideas and always giving positive, constructive, and encouraging feedback. Carla really encouraged me to continue on with an idea I was able to develop in the course and, as a result, that story idea is now my current writing project. Thanks, Carla, for your guidance throughout the course!

I always looked forward to the Monday feedback sessions because I found them so encouraging, positive, and constructive. I was always left feeling motivated to continue working on the story idea in my head.

Sign up! These courses are a great way to get you started with your writing, give you direction and encouragement and, best of all, truly make you believe that being a writer is a real possibility.

I have done other courses with AWC so I knew the content and delivery would be informative and professional. Junior fiction is where my love for reading and writing really blossomed as a child and, inspired by feedback from previous course graduates, I decided it's time to return to the novel I began writing over 15 years ago.

Carla is a very approachable and knowledgeable tutor. She delivered the feedback in a friendly and encouraging way, and provided many valuable insights across all the assignments. She was prompt in posting the video feedback each week and quick to reply to questions in the course chat. Really enjoyed her delivery (and reading her book too).

I most enjoyed the assignments and feedback. Each assignment was an opportunity to stretch myself creatively, and hone old and new skills. Having them due each week worked really well in encouraging consistency and also building some momentum as the course progressed. The feedback was a valuable way to learn and I enjoyed listening to comments about my classmates' work as much as my own.

Thank you to everyone who works to put your courses together, from the content creation to providing the chat rooms and assignment feedback. I appreciate the valuable information you offer, and the safe, respectful and positive learning spaces you provide.

Every course I've done with AWC has been insightful and professionally delivered. The tutors are industry professionals who are friendly, approachable and offer constructive feedback in a positive and encouraging way. You get value for money every time and you won't regret it!

I thought Carla was an excellent tutor and communicator, with a lovely, warm personality which came through in her assignment feedback videos. She was always encouraging, and her comments and suggestions were insightful and helpful.

I enjoyed being part of a writing group, which I've never done before. It was great to read the stories others were writing - so many different ways of approaching the assignments. Would love to read some of the finished work.

It's worth doing one of AWC's courses - go for it!

Love Carla's feedback and the assignments were not too taxing or laborious. Carla's method of feedback was really helpful. I took notes as she talked and learned way more than I thought I would. A++!

I enjoyed learning fresh ideas and developing my writing for a younger audience, which I'd never done before.

I'd say it's worth it, not too difficult and absolutely makes a difference!

Thank you! So much. Really rewarding.

I was really impressed with the structure, assignments and feedback. I also liked the collaborative nature of the activities and the feedback the participants gave each other.

Carla was really helpful and her comments on each writer's assignments were also useful in a general sense, for all of us.

Good courses, practical, supportive tutors.

Carla Fitzgerald was an excellent tutor. She gave excellent feedback. Very constructive.

I enjoyed everything! The audio, the notes, the assignments were well-thought out. Interacting with Carla and the attendees.

Thanks so much! I'll let you know when my book/s are published. :)

The video feedback from Carla has been brilliant. It allows you to hear everyone's comments, rather than being insular, and this assists with things (positive and less so) I may not have experienced yet. The feedback was kind, direct, individual and advice has been useful.

If you're interested in writing. Do it. If you want to write well, learn from tutors with "street cred" in a supportive environment, and alongside likeminded emerging writers. Then do it with AWC.

Listening to all of the feedback and the lessons gave an amazing insight into the depth of your knowledge of story and the industry.

The tutor was exceptional. The experience and generosity of Pamela was wonderful.

It's great value for money and I would advise anyone who is thinking about doing an AWC course to just go for it! You will not be disappointed.

The AWC is an amazing hardworking community of writers that are incredibly welcoming. I would encourage anyone to try one of their courses...I think this one has been my favourite so far!

A heartfelt thank you to Pamela and all at the AWC, keep doing what you're doing, you are making a positive difference to people's lives.

I thought the course delivery was fantastic. I particularly liked that the audio was split into 15-minute sessions. I found the way the modules focused on the primary parts of content right on the money.

I found Pamela to be skilled, experienced and knowledgeable.

Listening to the audio lessons was a really nice way to learn. Being able to go back and re-listen will be valuable over the next 12 months.

I found this course to be incredibly worthwhile. I have learnt practical concepts about writing and writing for children which I can practice to build my skills. The course fit into my busy work / family / writing life because it was flexible and accessible. I loved it!

Pamela has a fabulous depth of knowledge in the area and shares it in a very encouraging way. Her feedback on all the students' submissions was incredibly helpful.

I enjoyed reading all the students' assignments and discovering the huge possibility there is still out there for writing great stories.

AWC offers great courses and an excellent range to suit just what it is you want to learn. Very professional and in touch with current industry practices. Good value and a great balance of challenging and achievable.

I have been working on a couple of manuscripts for children's novels for a long period of time now. One I have self-published and now taken off the market with the goal to get it properly published. I have done a few courses with the AWC, all of which have added to my skill set. I wanted to make sure I was on the right track and discover more about what it takes to create a polished manuscript both publishers and agents would like and readers of this age will love. I also wanted to repolish my writing skills as I had a bit of an absence from writing.

I was nervous about studying a writing course again as I feared I would be rehashing previous content I had learned. However, I found that every module was completely different, and valuable information, making reference to previous learning.

I found Suzanne extremely helpful and thorough with her guidance throughout the course. I really enjoyed the feedback given, not just for my assignments but for all the assignments. Reading other students' works and then connecting the feedback given helped to strengthen my knowledge and understanding of the course content and enhance my writing. The feedback I was given helped confirm where my strengths were in my style but also the areas of improvement I need to further strengthen my overall work.

I found myself engaged with all modules of the unit. The character development particularly impacted me. Although I had experienced some of this before, seeing the importance of it in middle-grade novels has changed my mindset and focus on my writing.

AWC courses always teach you something new and broaden your understanding of how much work you must put into a manuscript and researching publishers, competitions, building a pitch etc to give you the best chance of being successful in becoming published.

Suzanne's feedback was helpful and insightful. I enjoyed the audio lessons and assignments.

I found it extremely valuable in boosting my understanding on what's required in a children's novel.

I enjoyed the course material, audios, and feedback on assignments, and comments by other students on each other's work...in fact I enjoyed it all.

I really liked the way Suzanne presented the feedback. She was very encouraging. I also liked that she pointed out where students were going wrong.

At first I felt shy about posting my work for the other students to read, as it had been a long time since I had written anything creative. But I was pleasantly surprised. I learned a lot reading the other students' work and hearing the critiques that Suzanne gave them. I also enjoyed reading other people's comments on my own assignments and on those of others.

The major learning for me was that writing a novel is a craft that one can learn, and that you don't have to be born with a special talent.

Doing the course is so much better than trying to learn the craft from a book. If you really want to write for children, then the course is a fun way to learn about the various techniques of good novel writing, as well as about things that may not be found in a book.

I liked that it was positive feedback and delivered in a kind way. Putting out your writing when you're not confident in it can be extremely nerve wracking so having positive and yet constructive feedback returned was a nice little confidence boost. It makes me want to keep trying. I saw a few comments in the chat that were encouraging too and I appreciated that.

I really enjoyed the assignments. They didn't feel overwhelming or unachievable and forced me to think about different aspects I wouldn't have considered before. Also the audio lessons were easy to listen to and I enjoyed the option not to have to listen to all the modules at once. Having it delivered in "bite size" pieces made it all so much easier to digest and I feel like I really was able to absorb so much more that way.

If you're thinking about trying your hand at writing but don't know where to start, this is a good place to learn some basics. It's a positive environment and encouraging and you'll come out of it feeling inspired instead of overwhelmed.

Thank you for a really fun few weeks. I hope I can save my pennies and do some more courses because I've learned a lot!

Loved loved loved the course!

Suzanne was honest, and helpful in giving feedback. I really enjoyed listening to the audio feedback each week - it was especially helpful hearing the feedback for what I had written - the good bits and the helpful pointers as well as the feedback given to others on the work they had done.

The actual coursework was fantastic - it taught me things that I didn't know. I came into the course having a broad understanding of what writing for children was like, but each week I learnt more of the nuances of character development, plot and structure. There were so many ah-hah moments and I feel quite inspired to write now, knowing that I have a greater understanding of the craft of writing for children.

Just do it - realistically, there will never be a 'right time' so whenever you enrol has to be the right time.

It was easy to understand and listen to the tutor. They sounded like they knew what they were doing and gave positive, constructive feedback, not just negative. I feel I've learnt a lot from the feedback given by the tutor.

The tutor didn't deliver the audio in a way that sounded like they were reading off a script. They injected humour into the talks and supplied examples. I liked how easy it was to listen in and learn.

Hearing the feedback from my first assignment was an awesome moment. I had no confidence that my character would be received well but hearing someone else voice what I had been trying to convey about the character was a big learning moment for me.

Strongly recommend. AWC tutors are friendly and know their stuff. If you're serious about writing, it's worth it.