Odyssey Writing Workshop 2009
Susan
If you write science fiction, fantasy, or horror, you might be
interested in the Odyssey Writing Workshop. The 2009 workshop will be
held from June 8 to July17 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. The director, Jeanne
Cavelos, is always happy to answer questions and discuss the
workshop. You can email her at jcav...@sff.net.
Hope to see you there.
Cheers,
Susan Sielinski
Odyssey Administrator
susansi...@yahoo.com
www.odysseyworkshop.org
Publicity Release
December 2008
ODYSSEY WRITING WORKSHOP
ANNOUNCES SUMMER 2009 SESSION
About Odyssey
Since its inception in 1996, Odyssey has earned a place as one of the
most respected workshops in the science fiction, fantasy, 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 an intensive
learning and writing experience with 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, and
Dan Simmons. Fifty-three 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 unique, lovely setting and state-of-the art
facilities for Odyssey students. College credit is available upon
request.
Jeanne Cavelos, Odyssey's director, founder, 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. Being a writer/editor makes Cavelos uniquely suited to
provide students with constructive and professional critiques of their
work. "I give the same unflinchingly honest, concrete, detailed
feedback that I provided as a senior editor," Cavelos said. Her
typewritten critiques average around 1,000 words, and her handwritten
line edits on manuscripts are extensive. In addition, she guides
students through the six weeks, gaining in-depth knowledge of their
work, providing detailed assessments of their strengths and weaknesses
in private meetings, and helping them target their weaknesses one by
one.
Odyssey class time is split between workshopping sessions and
lectures. An advanced, comprehensive curriculum covers the elements
of fiction writing in depth. Students learn the tools and techniques
necessary to strengthen their writing.
The workshop runs from June 8th to July 17th, 2009. 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 admission application deadline is
JANUARY 31st, and the regular admission deadline is APRIL 8th.
Tuition is $1900, and housing is $700 for a double room and $1400 for
a single.
Meet Our 2009 Writer-in-Residence
Odyssey's 2009 writer-in-residence is Carrie Vaughn, New York Times
bestselling author and Odyssey 1998 graduate. Carrie is the author of
the phenomenally popular "Kitty" novels, about a werewolf who hosts a
talk radio show. The first novel, Kitty and the Midnight Hour has
over a hundred thousand copies in print. Books five and six of the
series, Dead Man's Hand and Kitty Raises Hell, will appear in 2009.
Carrie's short stories have appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Weird
Tales, George R. R. Martin's Wild Cards series, and other
anthologies. She has a Master's degree in English Literature from the
University of Colorado at Boulder and has been a lifelong science
fiction fan and reader.
Other Guest Lecturers
Odyssey is pleased to welcome its 2009 guest lecturers: bestselling
author Jeffrey A. Carver; award-winning authors Melissa Scott,
Patricia Bray, and Jack Ketchum, and Editor-in-Chief of the Ace and
Roc science fiction/fantasy imprints, Ginjer Buchanan.
Odyssey Graduates
If you're reading science fiction, fantasy, and horror, you're reading
the work of Odyssey graduates. If you've read recent issues of some
of the top fiction magazines in the field--Realms of Fantasy,
Asimov's, Analog, Weird Tales, Fantasy Magazine, Intergalactic
Medicine Show--you've read stories by Odyssey graduates Theodora Goss,
David Barr Kirtley, Eric James Stone, Clayton Kroh, Larry Hodges,
Matthew S. Rotundo, James Maxey, Carrie Vaughn, Carl Frederick, and
Andrea Kail.
If you've been to the bookstore lately, you've seen books by Odyssey
graduates, including Superpowers by David J. Schwartz, published by
Random House; Dragonforge by James Maxey, published by Solaris Books;
Maledicte by Lane Robins, published by Del Rey; Bloodstone by Barbara
Campbell, published by DAW; Red Dragon Codex by R. D. Henham,
published by Mirrorstone Books; The Mirror by Natalia Lincoln,
published by Space & Time Books; The Eunuch's Heir by Elaine Isaak,
published by HarperCollins; and Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie
Vaughn, published by Warner.
Comments from the Class of 2008
"I sold three novels before I came to Odyssey. I just wish I had gone
to Odyssey before I wrote them--they would have been better books.
Odyssey freakin' rocks!"
--J. Justin Gustainis, author of Evil Ways
"You will never be more eager to work yourself to the bone. Nor will
you have as much reward for doing it. The six weeks at Odyssey have
done more for my writing career than my bachelor's degree in creative
writing. I only wish I'd known about it sooner."
--Breanna Wojcik
Other Odyssey Resources and Services
The Odyssey website www.odysseyworkshop.org offers free podcasts,
writing and publishing tips, a class syllabus, and more information
about how to apply. An overview of the Odyssey Critique Service is
also available on the website at http://www.sff.net/odyssey/crit.html.
This service provides authors with professional-level feedback on
their writing, done with the thoroughness and depth for which Odyssey
is known.
Those interested in applying to the workshop should visit the website,
phone/fax (603) 673-6234, or e-mail jcav...@sff.net.