The first time I had the idea to write a novel was 10 years ago.
That’s when I first started writing my manuscript. That’s right – 10 years ago.
Needless to say, I didn’t get very far. I crippled myself with fear, I gave myself a million excuses not to do it and had a clear-cut case of imposter syndrome.
In my heart of hearts I ‘knew’ that if I even tried to write a novel I wouldn’t finish. And if I did finish, people would read it and realise that I wasn’t a writer. I wasn’t good enough. That’s imposter syndrome.
So why am I now happily pounding away at the keyboard and completing my first manuscript?
It is without a doubt thanks to the Australian Writers’ Centre (AWC).
I have now completed three different online courses with the AWC and they have been instrumental in my confidence, skill and progress.
Here’s what I thought of each course, how they helped me:
Online Delivery – 5 weeks
This was the first course that I completed with AWC and I would recommend it as the perfectly place to start for anyone, professional writer or total amateur, to build a strong foundation of fiction-writing skills. It's wonderful online writing course to create foundational skills.
Key areas that the course covers included:
1. Creating compelling characters – this was such a powerful lesson in building depth in characters and the art of making a full back story, even though you won’t necessarily share every detail of it with your reader.
2. Finding your narrative voice – there are some big decisions that you need to make before you start writing, including what person you’re going to write in i.e. first person, third person or omniscient narrator. Understanding Point of View and how to change between two different POVs.
3. How to create gripping scenes – understanding the different elements of a scene and how to construct one that compels the readers to keep reading.
4. Building stories with form, structure and plot – learn how to plan a structure and avoid the pitfalls of your stories unravelling.
One of the most valuable parts of this course is that you get to practice the writing skills you learn. A wonderful online writing course that steps your skills up to the next level and helps you get a comprehensive plan for your manuscript together.
Online Delivery – 8 weeks
The entire aim of this course is to write the first 20,000 words of your novel. Because just sitting down and creating the habit of writing and getting 20,000 words under your belt is a huge achievement.
Why 20,000 words? Did you know that most amateur writers hit the 10,000 word mark and then find the honeymoon period over. That’s when the ‘habit’ part kicks in. Trust me when I say everyone hates their novel at some point (for me, I hated it at many points).
It’s learning the skills and tricks required to get over the bumps.
In addition to working through the backstory and motivations of your characters in depth, understand how to bring dialogue to life and being accountable to your word count, this course also covers:
· Your elevator pitch – how to best describe your book idea
· Increasing your understanding of the market – a publisher’s wish list
I love that this online writing course gave me strong accountability and allows you to make your opening chapters solid.
Online Delivery
6 months or 12 months options
This is where we really get down to business. The objective of this course is to write your first draft.
Here’s how it works:
· There are weekly theory classes to strengthen your understanding and writing skills
· You have multiple opportunities to submit chunks of your manuscript and receive feedback not only from the other writers in your group, but also your tutor.
· At the end of the course, you submit your full manuscript for feedback from your group and the climax and resolution for feedback from your tutor.
This online writing course was transformative for me.
The thing I liked most about it was, again, the accountability and understanding what my strengths and weaknesses as a writer were. I would often get similar feedback from the others reading certain passages that they loved or an area that they had questions about that I knew I had to revisit.
One of the things that surprised me most about this course was how much reading others’ work and providing feedback also helped craft my voice and my manuscript.
This is an absolutely invaluable experience for writers of any level who’d like to write a novel, finish that manuscript and tick that box!
Instead of my final word on how amazing the Australian Writers’ Centre courses are, how about my final action! I just registered for their brand new Cut, Shape and Polish course that focuses on editing your first draft!
If anyone has any more specific questions, I’d be more than happy to chat through my experience. Please don’t hesitate to shoot me a message at kim@kimpinkwriter.com.au
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