Odyssey Writing Workshops

“Expenses banking/paypal fees 918 research/education tools 275 gifts 468 advertising promotion 2,201 cell phone 632 office supplies 880 memberships 335 workshop supplies & exp 2,085 travel 4,069 insurance 954 it services 732 reimb of wksp supplies 1,206 filing fees 481 total 15,236”

“Inventories for sale or use 1,660 1,571 intangible assets 173 173 total 1,833 1,744”

“Unsecured notes and loans payable 1,243 477”

“To provide education, feedback, educational resources, and instructional support to writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror to help them improve their work.”

“Odyssey writing workshop: held june 5-july 14, 2017, on the campus of st. Anselm college in manchester, nh. The odyssey workshop provides intense, focused instruction to 15 writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror each summer. The 6-week workshop combines an advanced curriculum with thorough, in-depth feedback on student manuscripts, with classes 5 days/week, for 4 1/2 hours/day. The workshop is widely considered one of the best in the world for writers of the fantastic, and 59% of graduates have gone on to be professionally published. Guest lecturers at the 2017 workshop included acclaimed authors david brin, e. C. Ambrose, alex jablokov, j. A. White, gemma files, and michael j. Sullivan; agents mark gottlieb and robin sullivan; and editor/publisher scott h. Andrews. Writers applied from all over the world. Writers from the us, canada, and france were admitted. Four of them received scholarships. Students wrote and worked on assignments 8-12 hours/day outside of class, tried new writing techniques, and made major improvements in their writing. Two students rated the workshop "good-; 13 rated it "excellent." one student said, "odyssey has been a life-changing step in my writing journey. I am a college professor (teaching for 17 years) and i seriously think jeanne cavelos is one of the best educators i have ever met. The curriculum is demanding, comprehensive, and eye-opening--it is so worth it to take the 6 weeks to attend odyssey." (grants: 7,500)(expenses: 90,016)”

“The never-ending odyssey writing workshop (tneo): held july 21-29, 2017, on the campus of st. Anselm college in manchester, nh. Tneo provides advanced, graduate-level instruction to writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror who have successfully completed the odyssey writing workshop. Over 8 days, tneo combines lectures; workshopping of participants' manuscripts; writing exercises; plotting, brainstorming & problem-solving sessions; read-alouds; writing sessions; and literary discussions. At this, our 20th tneo, 17 writers attended from 12 different odyssey classes. They provided thorough, in-depth feedback on each other's work and gave insightful, advanced lectures. They learned about the strengths and weaknesses in their own writing and worked to improve. Many of the stories and novels critiqued at tneo go on to be professionally published. Activities generally run from 9 am to 9 pm each day. Participants volunteer to perform various functions. All participants rated the program "excellent" for the second year in a row. All participants said they would recommend tneo to other odyssey graduates. One participant said, "tneo is an amazing (somewhat sleepless) blur, which you enter with a troubled manuscript and exit with a coherent plot and character arcs, and confidence that you can fix the things that are keeping your story from being as good as you know it can be. It's emotionally safe to bring the stuff you know needs work. People put aside egos to work and to help each other. The positive atmosphere and kindness makes the week one of my favorite of the year." (grants 0)(expenses: 14,591)”

“Odyssey online courses: worldbuilding in fantasy and science fiction (held online 1/19/17-2/16/17), one brick at a time: crafting compelling scenes (held online 1/3/18-1/31/18, tuition collected in 2017), saying the unsayable: building meaning and resonance through subtext (held online 1/4/18-2/1/18, tuition collected in 2017), and standing out: creating short stories with that crucial spark (held online 1/11/18-2/8/18, tuition collected in 2017). Odyssey holds three online courses each winter. Each online course provides intense instruction focused on a single aspect of fiction writing for 14 authors of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The courses provide a live class experience using web conferencing software, and guidance and feedback in between classes through emails, an online discussion group, and individual online conferences. Courses are offered for a variety of skill levels, from beginners to successful professionals. Lectures are thorough and detailed, assignments are challenging, and feedback is in-depth. New york times bestselling author patricia c. Wrede taught worldbuilding. She has published twenty-four novels for audiences ranging from middle grade to young adult to adult. She is also the author of the invaluable "fantasy worldbuilding questions checklist- and "science fiction worldbuilding questions checklist." award-winning author, highly praised teacher, and odyssey writing workshop graduate barbara ashford taught one brick at a time. Donna glee williams, who has led hundreds of seminars, taught saying the unsayable. She is an editor, creative coach, and author who earned her mfa and phd from louisiana state university. Scott h. Andrews, who taught standing out, is a writer, teacher, and editor-in-chief and publisher of the five-time hugo award finalist and world fantasy award-winning online fantasy magazine beneath ceaseless skies. In these four courses, odyssey gave a total of 56 writers from around the world the chance to learn new techniques and take their writing to the next level. We had students from the us, canada, france, australia, and new zealand, including odyssey workshop graduates, published writers, and talented newcomers. They were enthusiastic and committed to doing their best on the assignments, even when halfway around the globe. They made exciting improvements to their writing. Worldbuilding was designed for beginner to intermediate writers; one brick at a time was for intermediate writers; saying the unsayable and standing out were for intermediate to advanced writers. Of the students who filled out evaluations, 10 rated worldbuilding "excellent- and 2 "good-; 10 rated one brick "excellent," 2 "good-; 10 rated saying the unsayable "excellent-; 10 rated standing out "excellent," 2 "good." each course had 3 class meetings of 90 minutes each. One student said, "this was my first odyssey online class, and i was nervous it wouldn't be as useful or in-depth as i was hoping. The class definitely blew away my expectations it was fascinating, rigorous, and i had to work hard to keep up with the homework assignments, which was exactly what i wanted. I learned so much from applying the lesson material in the assignments and analyzing other students' writing in the critiques. Feedback from ms. Wrede, the queen of worldbuilding, herself was the icing on top. I had a great experience and would recommend odyssey online to anyone serious about improving their writing." (grants: 0)(expenses: 8,173)”

“Odyssey critique service: offered year-round by mail. The odyssey critique service provides authors of fantasy, science fiction, and horror with educational feedback on their writing. Authors can submit manuscripts ranging in length from 20,000-150,000 words and receive in-depth, instructional, professional-level critiques. Critiques are provided by 5 odyssey writing workshop graduates who have become successful, professional writers. Two are award-winning authors and another is a new york times bestseller. Critiques average over 8,300 words (16 single-spaced pages) and also include significant line edits and marginal notes on the manuscript. In 2017, 17 manuscripts were critiqued. All authors were extremely satisfied with the feedback they received and found it very helpful. One author said, "although wonderful colleagues in my own town provide adequate critiquing, the core problem is that we all possess about the same level of expertise. Additionally, i have no trusted first reader who can throw light on problems with a story. That's particularly so with more subtle difficulties, which over the length of a long novel can cripple a book. That's why lane robins's critique felt as refreshing as a cascade of cold water. Her wider knowledge about the pitfalls lurking in the specific style of fantasy i am attempting was immensely valuable. She asked the questions i ought to have asked myself, but didn't think to. Finally, she issued a ringing call to arms to follow up my darker scenes and really dive into them, because doing anything else shortchanges the reader. I love my characters. I don't like to see them hurt but of course they must be hurt, because watching someone we care about struggle and succeed is why we read speculative fiction. Sometimes we need a person who will tap us on the shoulder and firmly remind us of such a basic truth." (grants 0)(expenses: 7,137) odyssey coaching: offered via phone, google+, facetime, or skype. Odyssey added coaching to its offerings in 2017 to provide tools and support to writers who are feeling blocked or held back in their writing. Coaching is provided by odyssey graduate sherry peters, who has been working with writers since 2012, helping them break through their writer's block, increase their productivity, and achieve their writing goals though one- on-one coaching and workshops based on her books silencing your inner saboteur and blueprint for writing success. Anyone interested can book a complementary 60-minute session. Several different coaching packages are available, in which sherry meets with the author. Seven authors signed up for coaching in 2017. All authors were very satisfied with their experience. One said, " sherry helped me break out of the doldrums in my writing and rediscover the joy of putting down words and crafting story. I didn't need a lot of help with accountability, but anyone who is seeking that kind of support would find a powerful ally in sherry. She is direct and unafraid to ask the challenging questions, while also being supportive, kind and very approachable." (grants: 0)(expenses: 963) odyssey podcasts: offered free on our web site. Guest lectures at the odyssey writing workshop are recorded. With the lecturers' permission, 10- to 15-minute excerpts from those audio recordings are posted online to provide free education to writers of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and other genres. A volunteer selects and edits the excerpts, and another volunteer posts the podcasts on our site and on itunes. The director secures permission and approval from guests and writes text for the site. Eight podcasts were posted in 2017. It's hard to know how many people are listening, since they can listen in different ways, but the podcasts have at least 300 listeners and possibly several thousand. Many people have emailed their thanks to us for providing this free resource. (grants: 0)(expenses: 423) odyssey webinars: recordings offered on demand through a secure web site. Cr”

“Odyssey coaching: sometimes talented writers give up. Sometimes they're overwhelmed by discouragement and doubt. Sometimes they prioritize everything before writing, leaving themselves no time to write. Sometimes they let distractions erode their writing time away. Sometimes they lose their passion or become blocked. It can feel like a little death, seeing a good writer stop writing. To help such writers, odyssey launched coaching services in january 2017. Odyssey workshop graduate sherry peters has helped many writers, and she agreed to offer coaching through odyssey. Sherry focuses on issues like productivity, accountability, writer's block, and self-doubt. She talks through these problems with the author and helps the author create coping mechanisms and set up other mechanisms to encourage productivity. Since these are common problems writers struggle with, this is a valuable resource for odyssey to offer and well within our mission. Seven authors signed up for coaching in 2017, and all felt the experience was very helpful.”