What’s it like to learn with AWC?

I wanted the skills to be able to write my story ideas and to find online feedback for what I'm doing.

The tutor was positive and affirming. I enjoyed the exercises and reading what other people did with them.

I now have a scaffold in which to write and organise my work. I was afraid that all my back-story research was wasting time from the actual writing but now I see it was all a part of it. It has made me a bit awed at the amount of work to do, but excited also to see how far I can push these characters and ideas.

The AWC will open your eyes up to so many possibilities in how to write. Very supportive and lots of courses to choose from.

I wanted to make sure my story was off to a good start and that it was something people would be interested to read.

I had taken a long break from writing and was not sure if I was ready to jump into a course like this, or if I needed to give myself time to get back into a routine first.

Angela was incredibly helpful and generous with her comments and the resources she shared with the group. Her feedback was always insightful and she always asked questions which got me and my classmates to think a bit more deeply about our work - once I get through to my next draft there will be a lot to incorporate and hopefully make my story better!

I loved reading everyone else's amazing submissions and getting to read things that I would not normally read - we had such great writers in our group! Receiving feedback on my own work was scary but it helped me to see what people liked about my novel and where there were opportunities to improve.

I'm inspired to keep going and get to The End. I now have a routine and a weekly word count goal and I have proven to myself that I can do it - no more excuses!

I think after I submitted my first piece and read the comments from my classmates and tutors, I had a moment of "Oh, they liked it! I should keep going!" and that has spurred me on to keep writing and get to the end.

I have done a couple of courses through AWC now and I have always found them to be very inspiring with great course material and wonderful, helpful tutors. My advice would be if you want to get your story off to a good start and learn some fundamentals of writing along the way, then Novel Writing Essentials is perfect for you.

I am still building the confidence to get started, so this course was a great introduction and gave me a lot of useful information to help me on the road to writing.

I enjoyed the handouts and exercises which reinforced the learning in the audios.

The AWC has a great range of courses to suit all needs. Most importantly, the courses are quite in-depth which some other courses are not.

I enjoyed Valerie Khoo's positive and inspiring delivery. Useful info on how to set up a freelance writing business in Australia.

AWC benefits both beginner and experienced writers. What you learn from seasoned professionals will help you to make the right decisions about your writing. Experienced writers can learn about new trends and opportunities that would broaden their scope.

After enjoying all 42 of Bernadette's "So you want to be a copywriter" podcasts (some of which I've listened to several times), I wanted to set myself up for success with the Copywriting Essentials course.

I've never come across such a sensational online tutor. Bernadette has a winning personality, a great sense of humour, makes everything easy to understand and does it all with a smile. Bernadette's feedback is genuinely aimed at wanting to help all the course participants be successful.

The course has encouraged me to want to learn more about copywriting and creative writing as a source of income. Along with all the podcasts, it's made me realise that I can earn a great income from something I love doing and that I can choose who I want to work with.

I learnt lots that I did not even consider. I enjoyed the measured pace and examples and how to avoid the pitfalls.

I'm now more aware of what I am writing about in my blog and its implications to those people I mention

AWC has great online courses that you can do at your own pace with loads of interesting information. They also have a great weekly email and excellent podcasts.

I enjoyed the self-paced nature of the course, the examples and the insights from authors. It's made me even more determined to write and given me the confidence to just do it.

I think writing non-fiction is far more formulaic than I realised. The course breaks the 'formula' into bite-sized categories or elements that somehow make the whole seem more achievable.

AWC courses are a worthwhile investment in you and your passion for writing; they are comprehensive, practical, and affordable.

I knew I needed some expert advice/teaching on planning, and was very excited at the chance to learn from the wonderful Kate Forsyth! So much information, but presented so clearly and with plenty of opportunities to ask questions. A true masterclass!

Kate is so knowledgeable, approachable and friendly and so generous in the sharing of her own methods and processes.

I enjoyed the breadth of what was offered; so much research and knowledge summarised and refined into two sessions, so students benefitted from years of work and experience without having to spend those years ourselves before we could get started.

I had always struggled with the idea of planning a story as it felt a bit constrictive and contrived; but having hit roadblocks with my story I realised that my organic, free-range writing style was not the only way, and in fact could not get me all the way to a finished, rich and well-constructed novel. But I couldn't work out where to start with how to plan!

I learned that the plan can be just as inspired as the story itself, and that knowing where the story was headed could actually make the writing process more exciting, not less.

Whatever the style, genre or purpose of your writing, no matter what issues you face, the AWC has a course to make your writing better, devised and facilitated by experts who want to see you succeed.

Angela gives great feedback and always finds extra information that is helpful. Her advice is practical and straight-forward. Brilliant.

I enjoyed the weekly lessons and learning additional skills about writing. I picked up a lot of things to look out for in my own writing by reading others and this will be helpful.

Novel Writing Essentials is the perfect follow on from Creative Writing Stage 1 and will take your writing to the next level.

Thanks very much! I've enjoyed this course and it's given me the confidence to write a lot more short stories and enter competitions over the past year - I won one and have been listed in others!

It is an incredible course to do, especially amidst a busy life schedule. Answered all the questions of a first time writer.

Don't think about it, just do it.

This is a useful course. It's clear, succinct, and covers a fair bit of ground with a range of content approaches and samples of how they are used in different contexts. Supplementary materials provide useful insights into the SME and big business markets.

I enjoyed the templates and different types of samples. Appreciate the bonus materials too. Clear presentation and easy to complete are big plusses.

I am considering a novel set in a previous time and I wanted some hints and tips.

The course covered a lot of content; there was no stone left unturned. I feel I have all the tools to assist me on my way.

Freelance writing is something I have always been interested in and I decided it would be a great idea to broaden my knowledge on the subject. I happened to google freelance writing Australia and came across the Australian Writers' Centre.

I could not wait to join the class and learn everything they had to teach me. I am a beginner and I hope to take away what I have learnt and grow over time.

I felt that feedback given was very helpful and will help me grow to be a better freelance writer.

The whole thing was new to me, and the enjoyable part was just learning the different aspects that I had no idea just how much was involved. People take for granted that all the interviews, articles etc. are there but don't know behind the scenes of what one has to go through in order to get there.

Oh wow, I have learnt so much, but everything to me seems like an 'aha' moment. When you're new to a world you've never experienced, you take it all in.

I have said to my friends if this is something you want to partake in, I strongly recommend that you do the course as it has taught me so much.

Thank you for teaching me and for having me as a student.

I wanted to learn more and also wanted the discipline that taking a course would impose on my writing. Angela's reputation and abilities as a tutor were a deciding factor also.

The comments and information from Angela Slatter were really helpful. The feedback not only from the tutor but from others on the course was a lot more helpful than I realised it would be before the course began. I haven't done a course with feedback like that before and had no idea how useful it would be.

I have been very disciplined about my writing and have really progressed my novel over the weeks. The feedback has helped me expand my thinking about plot, characters and structure especially and has been really great.

Angela Slatter talked about how she splits her novel into four sections and uses that to guide her writing. Structure is something I have (and still) struggle with. I found by splitting the book into four and using the main structure points as waypoints then writing the chapters that led from a to b to c to d it helped enormously to not only get the work done, but to have a much clearer path on how to get it done. It's helped my writing enormously.

Great courses. Great teachers. You might think the courses are expensive but they're worth every penny. You get what you pay for.

The whole thing was a really enjoyable experience and I'm glad I did it.

It was a great refresher and updated some of my old conventional practices. The tutor was a very clear communicator and made the course interesting while moving through efficiently.

I enjoyed the clarification of some concepts such as active and passive voice and commonly misused words.

It was an accessible and practical course. It has made me think more about my writing style and I'm keen to sharpen my writing from now on.

I want to learn to write romance. I was particularly drawn to this course because I wanted to learn how to write romantic elements in my cosy murder mystery as a sub-plot, and it has really helped me to do that.

I enjoyed all of this course and I'll be coming back to re-learn as I keep writing forward. I think I really enjoyed the exercises that solidify the learnings, and the interviews with successful romance writers too. I also enjoyed the depth of knowledge provided, as well as the questions asked that got me thinking deeply about my characters, their pasts and how that affects them in the present, and I especially appreciated learning the difference between what is romance and what are romantic elements. That definition was enormously helpful.

My understanding of romance is clearer than it has ever been. I've started using the handouts to learn about my cosy murder mystery characters who are also love interests. I've plotted my story and included romantic elements so I don't forget them as I write forward. This has been the first time I've ever felt like I'll actually be able to write a story with romantic elements that work.

I think the best aha moment was the realisation that I can do this. With the knowledge and guidance of AWC in my writer's toolbox, I feel equipped to make my dream of writing commercial/publishable romance fiction come true.

This course was brilliant! It provides clarity on what is and is not romance, and exactly how to write a story that includes romantic elements as well as how to write a romance that meets a romance reader's expectations. If you want to write romance and you're not sure where to start, do this course!

Michelle was very good and clearly explained each of the sections in the course. Updating old knowledge to current conventions was valuable.

It has made me mindful of my writing and I'm looking forward to putting into practice the editing skills that I learned.

It covers a lot of valuable information in two sessions, which was time well spent.

This is a great foundation for fiction writers. It was easy to understand and was delivered in short and to the point videos.

As a reformed comma splice offender, I will no longer abuse the comma key on my laptop. Prepare full stop, ellipses and em dash: you're up!

The course offers a solid foundation of punctuation and grammar for fiction writers across all genres.

Bernadette was very professional, engaging and encouraging. She always had a wonderful ability of reassuring good work while providing feedback to further improve your work.

I enjoyed the assignments. They were a great way to practice and reinforce what was being learnt.

I've developed more confidence in my writing. I also feel like I have a safety-net now - if I'm stuck, I can refer back to what I learnt and the different tools provided which is so helpful.

The course gives you real, usable and transferable tools for writing.

Thank you!