Reminder: Only four days left to apply!
Since its inception in 1996, the Odyssey Writing Workshop has become one of the most highly respected workshops for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror in the world. Top authors, editors, and agents have served as guest instructors at Odyssey. Fifty-nine percent of graduates have gone on to be professionally published. Among Odyssey's graduates are New York Times bestsellers, Amazon bestsellers, and award winners. The workshop, held annually on the campus of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH, runs for six weeks and combines an intensive, advanced curriculum with in-depth feedback on students' manuscripts. College credit is available upon request. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop was held online. We've made the difficult decision to hold the workshop online again in 2021. See odysseyworkshop.org for more details about how the online workshop will be facilitated this year.
Odyssey is for developing writers whose work is approaching publication quality and for published writers who want to improve their work. Those who attend must be ready to put aside all their other concerns and make a single-minded effort to improve their writing. 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 over 4.5 hours, 5 days a week, and students use afternoons, evenings, and weekends to write, critique each other's work, and complete other class assignments. Students spend at least 8 hours on "homework each weekday and 12 hours per day on the weekend. You should come prepared to write new material, either short stories or novel chapters. After the first two weeks, you will no longer be able to submit anything that was written before the workshop began, unless you have radically revised it since arriving at Odyssey. The only way to improve is to write new material that incorporates what you have learned.
Odyssey is the only program of its kind run by an editor (Jeanne Cavelos, formerly of Bantam Doubleday Dell). Half of our class time is spent on lectures, writing exercises, and discussions. 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.
The other half of our class time is spent workshopping student stories. 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.
Guest lecturers participate once a week, for about a 24-hour period, to add their own unique insights and perspectives, and to give students feedback on their work. Lecturers for the 2021 workshop include some of the best teachers in the field:
*Bestselling author David Farland
*Bestselling author Meagan Spooner
*Bestselling author Gregory Ashe
*Award-winning author Melissa Scott
*Award-winning author P. Djèlí Clark
*Award-winning author and editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sheree Renee Thomas
*Bestselling author David Brin and award-winning editor/publisher Scott H. Andrews of Beneath Ceaseless Skies Magazine will also participate as drop-in guests, answering questions and having private conferences with some students.
Odyssey provides a supportive yet challenging, energizing environment for authors. Attending the workshop is a great way to focus on your writing, giving it the time and attention it needs. If you'd like to spend six weeks hanging out and partying with people who love fantasy, science fiction, and horror, please don't apply to Odyssey. It's not for you.
If you'd like to dedicate all your energy for six weeks on improving your writing, and collapse with exhaustion on the last day, I hope you'll apply. Odyssey is for you. Apply at our website, odysseyworkshop.org , by April 1st.
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