By Vikki Marmaras For the past few years I have immersed myself in the world of children’s literature. I started writing when my eldest son was born, at a time when I was looking for a change but didn’t want to commit to long term study. Naively, I thought writing
Living on a farm and juggling her responsibilities as a busy mother, Fleur Ferris always wanted to write books. And since completing the five-week online course in Writing Children’s Novels at the Australian Writers’ Centre, Fleur has landed a book deal, scored an agent and become an award-winning published author, with her
Short stories are the perfect reading solution for our time-poor era. With an average word count of 2000-7000 words, a short story encapsulates everything readers love about storytelling – compelling characters, conflict, setting, theme and plot – in a compact form that packs a wallop. This means that, for writers,
Alli was worried that she hadn’t written prose for over a decade, having been focused on screenplays. She decided to follow the novel writing path at the Australian Writers’ Centre, starting with Creative Writing Stage 1, then moving on to Novel Writing Essentials and capping it off with Write Your Novel.
“I wanted guidance, I wanted to learn and grow and be better so I could hone my craft and write a beautiful book to do justice to the story of my grandparents. The AWC had a range of courses, it was accessible and didn’t cost a fortune. I figured it was a good place to start.”
Readers of romance novels have certain expectations and success in the genre means meeting those expectations – one of which is the Happy Ever After, or HEA as it’s known. But there’s a lot of ground to cover in a relationship from the first meeting to the HEA, and romance
Crime writing in Australia is having a big moment, and the best crime novels are the ones that keep readers guessing right to the very end. My new novel The First Summer of Callie McGee is a middle-grade mystery novel set in a seaside village on the south coast of
The Ned Kelly Awards shortlist has been announced and we are so thrilled to see AWC graduate Kerryn Mayne on the list! Here are the details from the Australian Crime Writers Association website: We are proud to report that Aussie crime writing continues to grow in strength and identity, as
“Writing news stories is very different to writing a children’s book!” Chenée told us. “I knew if I tried to find all of the information myself, I’d end up falling down the ‘Google rabbit hole’ and I’d waste even more time – yet another excuse to stop me from actually writing the book!”
Instead, she dove into the course Writing Children’s Novels and, as she says, hasn’t looked back. Chenée’s debut book, One Wrong Turn, is out now with Fremantle Press.
As an author who speaks regularly in schools, I get to talk to keen writers of all ages. Over the years, I’ve found myself answering the same questions over and over, and giving out the same advice, whether to those students I visit or, as my boys became teens, to
Anna Spargo-Ryan is known for her beautiful way with words. Her novels The Paper House and The Gulf received critical acclaim, while her memoir A Kind Of Magic, released in October 2022, was shortlisted for the Nonfiction Book Award in the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards.
After the birth of her first child, Heidi Walkinshaw knew she wanted to try a new career, so she enrolled in a psychology degree. However, it didn’t quite scratch her creative itch, so she turned to the Australian Writers’ Centre.
“After procrastinating for a little while, I took the plunge and enrolled in the Writing Picture Books course with Cathie Tasker and suddenly all those notebooks of ideas that I had been scribbling in for years made sense,” Heidi told us.
The 23rd Davitt Awards shortlist has been announced and we are so excited to see AWC graduates Dinuka McKenzie, Fleur Ferris and Louise Bassett on the list! Here are the details from the Sisters in Crime website: Crime alert: Sisters in Crime has announced its shortlist for its 23rd Davitt Awards for the best crime and
The world is divided into two types of people – those who pore over the acknowledgements page at the end of a book and those who don’t even glance at it. If you’re an aspiring author, whether of fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry, I recommend you join the first
Carolyn Swindell was working in a “high heels and business suit job” in corporate responsibility when she decided to enrol in her first AWC course.
“The biggest thing about the courses is the permission you give yourself to be a writer by investing in yourself,” Carolyn told us. “I had been shy about admitting this ambition, but going along and sitting with other aspiring writers and learning the craft and the business was such a boost to my motivation and my skill level.”
Carolyn put that motivation and skill to good use, with her debut novel, We Only Want What’s Best, out now with Affirm Press.
We are so thrilled for AWC graduate Zewlan Moor who is celebrating the launch of her debut picture book Nothing Alike on 19 August. Zewlan never imagined that she would be a published author one day until she started listening to the ‘So You Want to Be a Writer’ podcast.
When you’re writing a suspense or thriller novel, you want to make sure you keep your readers hooked and compelled to turn every page. But sustaining that level of devotion from a reader means that every word needs to count. And you need to ensure that your plot, characters and
Penguin Random House Australia has just revealed the shortlist for the 2023 Write It Fellowship. We are so excited that six out of the 11 shortlisted writers are AWC graduates! Here are the details from Penguin Random House’s website: We are thrilled to announce the shortlist for Write It, a
Attention Australian crime and mystery writers! The 30th Scarlet Stiletto Awards are now open. Here are the details from the Sisters in Crime website: Sisters in Crime’s Scarlet Stiletto Awards for best short crime and mystery stories turn 30 this year and are offering a record $12,720 in prizes. The
Megan White loved to write during high school and university, but always in a wishful way. It was only after taking the course Creative Writing Stage 1 that she realised she could take her love of fiction further.
“Creative Writing Stage 1 taught me how to write a scene which instantly changed the way I looked at writing,” Megan told us. “Having a little knowledge in craft meant I could begin to take writing a little more seriously. It meant that becoming a writer felt more attainable as something you could learn and practice and less about being a natural prodigy.”
Deciding to write picture books was literally a lightbulb moment for media and communications manager Claire Thompson. Each time she put her newborn baby in the carseat, the interior lights flashed on, so Claire and her four-year-old invented a story about a magic baby. She immediately realised she wanted to write a children’s book and enrolled in the course Writing Picture Books a few days later.
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