For Horror Writers: 2013 Odyssey Writing Workshop

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Hello,

If you write horror (or fantasy and science fiction as well), you might be interested in
the Odyssey Writing Workshop. The 2013 workshop will be held from June 10 to
July 19 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Odyssey provides
a great opportunity to improve your skills and receive feedback from editors
and authors. More information can be found in the press release below, or on
the workshop website www.odysseyworkshop.org.

Publicity Release
November 2012
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 jcav...@sff.net.