What’s it like to learn with AWC?

Bernadette is lovely to learn from. She has a lot of industry experience and has great insight into how a piece works and what makes it better.

I enjoyed the group discussions and feedback. I feel better able to give and accept feedback. Write my work and take criticism fairly.

I definitely would recommend AWC as a place to learn. You can find a course for whatever stage of writing you are at.

I feel less precious about having to carve out a special time for my writing. It has shown me that I CAN write anywhere at any time if I make up my mind to do so. And I feel far more relaxed when I am writing.

Yes, I can do this! It's "just" writing, not climbing Mt Everest!

It's a very professional organization - very good at what they do!

The Write Your Novel 12-month course was worth every cent. I started the course with 50k of unpolished words, a vomit draft now that I look back on it. My aim was to add 30k more words, but instead, the course challenged and inspired me to punch up my writing at both the structure and line level. I ended up throwing away 40k of dreadful cliches, and adding 70k much better new words.

I needed the external accountability of regular submissions and other people's eyes on my work, in order to finish it. The tutor (Cathie Tasker) feedback on my excerpts was incredibly useful, but I learned just as much reading her feedback on other people's work, and giving feedback myself. Having three other people read my entire finished novel was added inspiration to complete it by the deadline.

The 12-month course gave me a bit of breathing space, but it's still a mountain of work to finish a novel. It was made much more fun by the friends made along the way. Everyone should write their first novel in this course. Can't recommend it highly enough.

My book is so much better. I am much more confident. I feel like a real writer.

I've always been interested in copywriting and wanted to do some formal learning, so I had a look at the course outline and loved the full scope of things I'd be learning and was very keen to get on board!

Mark was great! He was always so positive and encouraging and I loved the video feedback. The assignments were lots of fun and helped us apply what we learned specifically from each module.

It has given me confidence in my copywriting ability, which will allow me to push myself to apply it more in my current role as well as the possibility of doing some freelance copywriting.

Do it! It's great fun, you'll learn heaps, and it's easy to manage each module at your own pace each week.

I thoroughly enjoyed Vivienne's manner and her ideas and suggestions when providing feedback. She would suggest how something could be improved and off everything she picked up, I would think, 'Oh, of course!' I really appreciated her knowledge and ability to tune into each person's assignment, whatever their ideas.

I enjoyed the pace and the timing of the assignments, the amount of content and the time required to complete the modules, definitely the feedback, and the knowledge and confidence I've gained.

I didn't realise how many gaps I had in my knowledge of English grammar and punctuation until I did this course! Having gone to school at a time when grammar was not specifically taught, I learnt to write intuitively, without really knowing what it was I was doing grammatically. Now I feel I have the understanding to write with more confidence and have more control over my storytelling.

Feedback was great, and the tutor was always willing to respond to any questions. I enjoyed the fact that it was structured but still some freedom around the lectures etc.

I tend to have some difficulty around reading my own work and seeing the required edits but this has helped me in gaining ideas for editing. And it has shown me that I can proceed with a career in freelance writing.

The courses offered by AWC are practical and understandable; there is no 'in-the-clouds thinking or learnings' but lessons that you can implement at any time.

I feel like I understand more the principles of picture book writing and I'm now writing more in this style.

I think I had several aha moments, but the one I remember the most was the content about the Rule of 3 principles.

I would say that Australian Writers' Centre courses provide a practical, thorough and supportive experience in learning or refining your knowledge and skills in any type of writing. There's lots of courses on offer and I plan to do more over time.

I really loved this course! My tutor was excellent! The feedback was really helpful.

I learned a lot about planning techniques. I was really happy when I figured out the outline for my story.

I would say that this course is an excellent way to learn how to write an awesome story, and be able to appreciate other stories even more.

I loved this course!!!

I enjoyed Pamela's method of explaining the differences between showing and telling and especially the Head, Heart and Body requirements of an emotional moment to bring out the characters' feelings.

Definitely recommended to inexperienced writers as there are so many little gems of information contained within.

Loved it.

I thought the recorded lessons were useful and liked the breakdown of the webinars. Great work from the tutor online, with concise and valuable information.

I feel I can break into a world of writing that I believed was for trained journalists.

These courses are achievable and can help you gain confidence.

I enjoyed Pamela's thorough explanations - and answers to questions. She was informative and reassuring, and she offered a timely reminder about the joy to be had/there for the taking in the process of writing dual timelines.

It has inspired me to keep going, reminding me that it is FUN to write in dual timelines 😅

The AWC has an abundance of highly informative and easy-to-digest content for writers looking for guidance or inspiration to continue with their writing.

Pamela is very encouraging throughout the seminar. I felt she's like a private tutor in person in a real classroom. The handouts and slides are useful to listen and take notes to enhance learning / retention of ideas.

Complete all the FOCUS ON series by Pamela to give you a boost of confidence in your writing journey. I am amazed how much learning can be fast-tracked in these bite size modules lesson plans. Thank you!

Pamela had lots of very good, practical tips, especially around elements like pacing. Even though she emphasised the fact there was no "formula" or "rules" to dual timelines, she showed some good graphs demonstrating important structure considerations.

I feel much more equipped to move forward with my manuscript.

I'm writing a dual timeline book (I've just started my second actually!)

I enjoyed soaking in Pamela's fabulous knowledge about writing dual timeline books. It helped me get back into the third draft of my first book, so the timing was perfect.

I've been doing AWC courses for a few years now and am always recommending them to my writer friends as I always get so much out of them. This was my first Focus On seminar and I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I love that we get handouts and slides.

Pamela has a great way of presenting complex material in a very methodical and understandable way. I learnt a lot about something I knew little about.

Do it; it's such a great help for using in writing practice.

I was trying to find a way to improve my writing skills and my mother came across this course so I thought it would be helpful to see if I could learn anything from it.

The feedback was very useful, and the tutor pointed out some issues in my story plot that I otherwise would not have noticed.

The course taught me interesting things that can improve my writing.

The AWC is extremely helpful if you want to improve your writing and that its definitely worth your time.

I've always enjoyed novels with this premise and thought it would be interesting to attempt to write one. This reasonably priced seminar gave me lots of strategies to consider writing a novel in this format more seriously.

I've only written short stories previously so I was quite imitated by the idea of writing 50000+ words for a novel. I now feel inspired after the seminar.

Pamela basically broke down the requirements to write a novel using dual timelines in a way I found easy to understand and which I hope to be able to employ in my writing.

This Focus On seminar - Dual Timelines - is excellent in highlighting the pros and cons of writing in this format and if you're considering this (as I am) it delivers all the information needed to get you started.

I found the presentation by Pamela very engaging, so helpful with her advice, and finally, encouraging the students to keep testing our methods.

I have been pointed in a different direction, something that might work better for my story.

I would really encourage friends and colleagues to join the AWC, to receive such great professional help and encouragement.

Many thanks.

There was a lot packed into this, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The best thing is that Pamela does a deep dive in detail using examples and tools to develop it in your manuscript. I am a visual person who needs to see things. Compare it to something in real life, or another book or a movie helps. Lots of excellent advice on tense and pacing and voice. I found these fascinating and loved the diagrams, which I definitely will use. Pamela is a reassuring, confident presenter. She's also a wonderful writer! Love Poppy Montgomery. Pam knows her stuff. I could listen to her all day.

It clarified to me that my novel is heading down the right path, developing in a way that could most possibly be suited to dual timeline. I hope so! Only time will tell.

Go for it! You'll learn so much.