Next Workshop: June 8 through July 17, 2009.
Application Deadline: April 8, 2009.
A Message from Jeanne Cavelos, Director, on the 2009 Workshop:
Since its inception in 1996, Odyssey has quickly become one of the most highly respected workshops for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Top authors, editors and agents have served as guests at Odyssey, and 52% of graduates have gone on to be published.
The workshop, held annually on the campus of Saint Anselm College, combines an intensive learning and writing experience with in-depth feedback on students' manuscripts. Odyssey is for developing writers whose work is approaching publication quality and for published writers who want to improve their work. This is a serious, demanding program. I'm constantly told by graduates that they learned more at Odyssey than they learned in years of workshopping and creative writing classes. You should not apply unless you are ready to hear about the weaknesses in your writing and ready to work to overcome them.
Class meets for 4 hours in the morning, 5 days a week, and students use afternoons, evenings, and weekends to write, read each other's work, and complete other class assignments. College credit is available upon request.
Odyssey is the only program of its kind run by an editor. I was a senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell, where I won the World Fantasy Award for editing, and I serve as primary instructor at the workshop. Half of the class time is spent on lectures, writing exercises, and discussions. In my lectures, I provide an advanced, comprehensive curriculum, covering the elements of fiction writing in depth. To improve your writing, you need to understand the various tools and techniques writers can use to create a strong story. Many workshops, unfortunately, offer only brief, superficial lectures. We study some of the most beautiful and powerful writing in the field to gain understanding of what these tools can do when wielded with skill. I also discuss the common failings of developing writers and explain how to avoid those pitfalls.
The other half of our class time is spent workshopping student stories. In critiquing stories, I give the same unflinchingly honest, concrete, detailed feedback that I provided as a senior editor. My typewritten critiques tend to average around 1,000 words, and my handwritten line edits on manuscripts are extensive. Everyone in the class learns to become a top-notch critiquer, providing insightful feedback on your work. Workshopping sessions are designed to maximize their helpfulness. You will not be coddled, and you will not be attacked. You will learn how to improve your writing and gain insight into why a story might or might not sell to a publisher.
Since I've worked with many writers over the course of my career, I understand that each writer works differently, so I also work individually with students. Over the six weeks, I chart each student's progress in a series of private meetings, where we discuss personal strengths and weaknesses. We target those weaknesses one by one and work to conquer them. The workshop is limited to sixteen students so that each student can receive significant individual guidance.
Guest lecturers come in once a week, for about a 24-hour period, to add their own unique perspectives and give students feedback on their work. A writer-in-residence spends an entire week at the workshop, lecturing, critiquing, and meeting with students. Guests for the 2009 workshop will be finalized in November. Previous guests have included George R. R. Martin, Harlan Ellison, Jane Yolen, Dan Simmons, Ben Bova, Nancy Kress, and Robert J. Sawyer.
For more information, visit
www.odysseyworkshop.org
