quote:**ODYSSEY WRITING WORKSHOP ANNOUNCES ITS 18th SUMMER SESSION**
About Odyssey Since its founding in 1996, Odyssey has become one of the most respected workshops in the fantasy, science fiction, and horror writing community. Odyssey is for developing writers whose work is approaching publication quality and for published writers who want to improve their work. The six-week workshop combines advanced lectures, exercises, extensive writing, and in-depth feedback on student manuscripts. Top authors, editors, and agents have served as guest lecturers, including George R. R. Martin, Harlan Ellison, Jane Yolen, Terry Brooks, Robert J. Sawyer, Ben Bova, Nancy Kress, Elizabeth Hand, Jeff VanderMeer, Donald Maass, Sheila Williams, Shawna McCarthy, Carrie Vaughn, and Dan Simmons. Fifty-eight percent of Odyssey graduates go on to professional publication.
The program is held every summer on Saint Anselm College's beautiful campus in Manchester, NH. Saint Anselm is one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the country, dedicated to excellence in education, and its campus provides a peaceful setting and state-of-the-art facilities for Odyssey students. College credit is available upon request.
Jeanne Cavelos, Odyssey's director and primary instructor, is a best-selling author and a former senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing, where she won the World Fantasy Award for her work. As an editor, Cavelos gained a reputation for discovering and nurturing new writers. She provides students with detailed, concrete, constructive critiques of their work. Cavelos said, "I've worked with many different writers, and I know that each writer thinks and works differently. We limit attendance at Odyssey to sixteen, so I can become deeply familiar with the work of each student and provide assessments of strengths and weaknesses. I work individually with each student, helping each to find the best writing process for him, suggesting specific tools to target weaknesses, and charting progress over the six weeks." Her critiques average over 1,200 words, and her handwritten line edits on manuscripts are extensive.
Odyssey class time is split between workshopping sessions and lectures. An advanced, comprehensive curriculum covers the elements of fiction writing in depth. While feedback reveals the weaknesses in students' manuscripts, lectures teach the tools and techniques necessary to strengthen them.
The workshop runs from June 10 to July 19, 2013. Class meets for four hours in the morning, five days a week. Students spend about eight hours more per day writing and critiquing each other's work. Prospective students, aged eighteen and up, apply from all over the world. The early action application deadline is JANUARY 31, and the regular admission deadline is APRIL 8. Tuition is $1,920, and housing is $790 for a double room in a campus apartment and $1,580 for a single room.
This year, Odyssey graduate Sara King is sponsoring the Parasite Publications Character Awards to provide financial assistance to three character-based writers wishing to attend. The Parasite Publications Character Awards, three scholarships in the amounts of $1,920 (full tuition), $500, and $300, will be awarded to the three members of the incoming class who are deemed extraordinarily strong character writers, creating powerful, emotional characters that grab the reader and don't let go.
Meet Our 2013 Writer-in-Residence
Odyssey's 2013 writer-in-residence, Nancy Holder, is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of adult, young adult, middle grade, and early reader work, both fiction and nonfiction. She has sold approximately 80 novels and 200 short stories, comic books, and essays in various genres. She has taught creative writing classes at the University of California at San Diego, the Maui Writers Retreat and Conference, and other conferences and colleges, and has been on the faculty of the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing for seven years.
Other Guest Lecturers
Lecturers for the 2013 workshop include some of the best teachers in the field: award-winning authors Holly Black, Patricia Bray, Adam-Troy Castro, and Jack Ketchum; and the two-time Hugo Award-winning editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, Sheila Williams.
Odyssey Graduates
Graduates of the Odyssey Writing Workshop have been published in the top fiction magazines and by the top book publishers in the field. Their stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog, Asimov's, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Lightspeed, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, and Clarkesworld. Some of the recent novels published by Odyssey graduates are Kitty Steals the Show by Carrie Vaughn, published by Tor Books; Lies & Omens: A Shadows Inquiries Novel by Lyn Benedict, published by Ace Books; Spellcrossed by Barbara Ashford, published by DAW; Silver by Rhiannon Held, published by Tor Books; and Clean: A Mindspace Investigations Novel by Alex Hughes, published by Roc Books.
Comments from the Class of 2012
"I learned more in six weeks at Odyssey than I did in three years in an MFA program." – Jessie Robie
"Jeanne is the most thorough and hard-working instructor I've ever met. Odyssey has changed me as a writer. I can't imagine a finer education or experience." – James Khan
"I was afraid Odyssey would change my writing and take away what made it mine and unique, but I was so wrong. At Odyssey, I developed a sense of control over those gut feelings I used to have—when I sensed something was off but just could not figure out what it was. . . . Odyssey is like a writer paradise. You might not want to change when you get here, but you will. Later, you won't want to leave, but when you do, you leave with a purpose." – Jessica May Lin
Other Odyssey Resources and Services
The Odyssey Web site, www.odysseyworkshop.org, offers many resources for writers, including online classes, a critique service, free podcasts, writing and publishing tips, and a monthly blog. Those interested in applying to the workshop should visit the Web site, phone (603) 673-6234, or e-mail jcavelos@sff.net.
Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :
Wish I could do this. My job is just a little too needed at the moment. (And they wouldn't let me disappear for 6 weeks.)
Posted by MattLeo (Member # 9331) on :
Too rich for me, but if anyone's going let me know and we can get together for lunch.
Posted by Grumpy old guy (Member # 9922) on :
I can't swim that far, and the water would be too cold anyway.
Phil.
Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :
Intriguing. The scholarship offering is enticing. Strong character development? One of my strengths, that and setting, which are one and the same to me in terms of settings have character, characters reflect their settings. A challenge, the gauntlet thrown down on the field of honor. Alas, the time frame conflicts with another obligation. Maybe next year. C'est la vie d'esctitur.
Posted by History (Member # 9213) on :
Manchester, NH is but a little over an hour's drive from my home. I read about Odyssey last summer and have put it on my wish-list for when I go part-time or can retire in a few years (G-d willing). At present, I simply cannot leave my practice for six weeks, particularly in the summer when everyone wishes time off. It seems both a wonderful opportunity and challenge.
Posted by MAP (Member # 8631) on :
Wow, way to expensive for me especailly when you add in airfare. Even if it wasn't, I could never leave my kids for that long.
Maybe when they are older, and I'm somehow richer.
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