Odyssey 2009 Press Release

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

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Publicity Release

January 2009

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 8^th to July 17^th, 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 31^st, and the regular admission deadline is APRIL 8^th. 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 jcavelos@sff.net.

Alas And Alack!

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

I have no idea if anyone purveys this blog: but OpenOffice froze my system, so I finally ended up deleting it. With National Novel Writing Month around the proverbial corner, well, I want to take no chances.

That is, if I can tear myself away from World of Warcraft long enough.

Yes, I'm still studying their world-building. Whether or not you accept it as such, MMORPGs are also a form of literary entertainment.

What? I hear you say. Heresy! It's gaming, so how can it be literary?

Well, for one thing, it's clearly inspired, not merely by te influences of television, but alos from sources of literary merit. The essential plot(s) (multiple, non-interactive story lines) are also clearly thus inspired. Not to mention some fans have not only been inspired to write about their characters, perhaps on blogs, but also to draw comics. Yes, I love comics. ^_^ And hopefully, I wil have no argument as to the literary merit of the graphic form fo storytelling.

And this, friend, is the crux: WoW is essentially a form of graphic storytelling,even with the corny jokes pre-programmed into the characters.

Anyway, even with the expansion coming out this month, there is a lot of story involved. How much of this was pre-conceived and planned for, and how much improvised with each update? The world may never know.

Revisions, Decisions

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

I've been stuck enough tat I'm downloading OpenOffice ot try that for a change of venue. I have tried YWriter, which worked in the past, but seems hopeless now.

I need more coffee. Be right back.

#

Got my coffee. Okay. Now, I spent a lot of today thinking about the revisions, taking breaks here and thre to write a bit and to check my email and blogs. I really have not felt well, these past few months, and my daughter has not really been helping. I should buy a month's supply of stuff like hamburger, make a huge meat loaf, vut it apart and freeze it, and keep lots of canned veggies. Then all I need to worry about are perishables, and not food. Well, that, and breakfast cereal. Maybe tuna and Underwood(TM) Deviled Ham. I used to love that stuff. Get liver too, and have that once per week.

OpenOffice is stil ldownloading. I'll probably need to reboot, since some things are balking at me, baying like hounds at the moon. I already did a defrag. Maybe I'll do an analysis first, once the program;s done installing, to make sure I don't need to drfrag again.

Am I getting a bit paranoid? Probably.

Chuck was going to drive from Ohio and visit, but I talked him out of it. His friend wants his help setting up for the Bar Mitzvah, and his family wants to see him. He mgiht be making a trip to Boston in the Spring. That's a lot closer. Hades, I used to take the New London/Orient Point Ferry because it was a bit quicker then the train (shaved 2 hours off the trip). We have a bit of time to meet in person, no rushing into things headlong. Better to take the time to do things right, right? It also gives him time to check MapQuest for directions, now that we hae a bit ore time to put some thought into this. It's all the little stuff you don't think about at the time, that's the real killer.



Anyway, hopefully, OpenOffice will give me the altered perespective that I need, in order to get the revision of book one going in earnest (Poor Earnest).

AAUGH! Editing!

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

Yes, random link inserted.

I really, really wish I could print this out. Unfortunately, I cannot. I did a cut-and-paste for a later paragraph and moved it towards the beginning because it makes more sense, sice I added the elemet of the nightmare, and what Dragan fears.

Sometimes, editing seems to take a lot out of you, at least until you hit your stride. You think, Aaugh! What does this button do? Would that action fit better with this button? That's taking emotion as motivation and using it as a trigger, or button. I cannot help but think of Deedee in Dexter's Laboratory, singing "What does this button do?" Sometimes, these actions have catastrophic consequences, or at least Deedee's button-pushing does *she is OC, ie, obsessive-compulsive, about pushing buttins, you see). Now, at least we can hope that pushing this particular emotive/motivative button for Dragan has the consequence only for him, and not for the novel. :)

The edit has not yet hit its stride. Hopefully, I'll hit my right button soon...

Huzzah! Revisions Beginning!

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

Yes, I finally got around to beginning revisions on book one. I added a whole bunch of links on outlining to the library, and I've been slowly thinking about an outline for book one to get a better grip on the action and the like so that I can get started on at least an outline for book two. NaNoWriMo is around the proverbial corner. by a narrow margin.

The Muse Online 2008 Writers Conference

National Novel Writing Month site.
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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

JulNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month site.
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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

Growl. What I started writing somehow got lost. I know I saved the file. I have no idea what happened...