APPLICATIONS OPEN
Early Action Deadline 2/16
Have you ever wished that you could attend your own private writing workshop that would teach you exactly what you need to know, at the right pace for you, and respond to your questions, problems, and needs in extensive one-on-one sessions?
That’s what Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop is. It’s an online, one-on-one intensive workshop experience. Students taking Your Personal Odyssey receive the top-quality learning experience Odyssey is known for, but that experience is customized to be responsive to how each writer works and what each writer needs.
YPO allows students to take the lead in their education, working at their own speed and choosing which topics they want to study, in which order, so they can target their weaknesses, maximize their writing strengths, and more effectively write the stories and novels they want to write.
In a recent article at Reactor (formerly Tor.com) on the lack of inclusivity in workshops, Odyssey was described as a leader in “building more author-centric and supportive approaches” with the introduction of Your Personal Odyssey (https://reactormag.com/the-ghost-of-workshops-past-how-communism-conservatism-and-the-cold-war-still-mold-our-paths-into-sff-writing/).
Your Personal Odyssey is a one-on-one experience. You will not be part of a class or cohort. You will not meet with other students. You’ll receive in-depth, one-on-one mentoring from me, and several one-on-one meetings with guest critiquers. You will be following the unique path that is most helpful for you, that teaches you the skills you need to improve the most.
The renowned Odyssey lectures are broken into modules on different topics. To complete a module, a student watches the lecture recordings; does readings, journal entries, and critiques; works with me to create and complete an individualized assignment; and writes a story or novel excerpt. Penetrating, detailed feedback by myself and guest critiquers is provided, and I interact one-on-one with students in a deep mentoring experience. During Your Personal Odyssey, I interact with each student for over 30 hours.
In 2022 and 2023, Your Personal Odyssey has succeeded beyond all expectations. The flexibility of the program makes it a possibility for a wider range of writers, so we are able to help a more diverse group of writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror across the globe.
Each student’s journey is unique, fascinating, and exhilarating. One student struggled to incorporate details of her world and setting in her work. We explored opportunities for worldbuilding and description in several of her submissions, and discussed how pacing considerations could help her find more locations for these details. She dedicated several of her individual assignments to this, rewriting scenes with a focus on adding descriptions of physical settings, exposition about elements and concepts in the secondary world, and descriptions to reveal character. She did a special study of the opening chapters of Fonda Lee’s Jade City to analyze how the novel introduces the world, settings, and characters, and had some great insights, including how raising questions and then answering them can pull readers through expository passages. Then she used what she had learned to revise segments of her novella, and she made massive improvement in slowing the pace, allowing readers to be immersed in the situation, conveying exposition and description in an involving way, and bringing readers closer to the protagonist.
I wish I could share all of these amazing journeys. Here are a few more. One writer had a strong focus on the internal lives of her characters but weak plot; we worked on balancing the internal and the external, and it was exciting to see how much stronger her work became. A summer 2023 student focused on developing his maximalist style, wanting each sentence to sparkle, leading to amazing results; another student stopped forcing puppet-like characters into unlikely decisions to serve pre-determined plots and instead learned to develop rich characters and emotional plots together; another succeeded in discovering a process that allowed her huge backlog of ideas trapped in “development hell” to finally escape and be realized as short stories.
Here are a couple comments from graduates of Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop:
“It blows my mind to think about how much I’ve grown in six weeks. I’m not the same writer I was a month and a half ago. I’m brimming with new concepts and techniques, and I can’t wait to see where it all takes me. Jeanne was an insightful and sensitive mentor during my Odyssey. YPO didn’t just change the writing, it changed the writer. I’m so grateful to have been a part of this program.”
Sam Pisciotta
“Six months of Your Personal Odyssey taught me more about writing than the prior six years. And those years were no snooze: a degree in creative writing, Clarion West, and multiple pro sales–but at the end of it all I still lacked control. Odyssey promised me a toolbox of craft techniques, then handed me the keys to the whole hardware store.
Tania Fordwalker
“A trifecta of perfectly-balanced teaching approaches–instruction, exercises, mentorship–makes this workshop exceptional: you’re offered a range of approaches to tackle every aspect of the craft, immediately challenged to try them all out to see which ones suit you, then given personal guidance targeting your problem areas. It’s hard work, but joyous, too. Jeanne’s incisive critiques were the best I’ve ever had. In more than one meeting she got so invested in figuring out story problems with me that she missed dinner. She cared about my work as though it was her own.
“Odyssey improved my writing beyond what I ever thought was possible. It’s an essential learning experience, and an unforgettable life experience.”
Students can choose how long they want to complete Your Personal Odyssey. Those who want to fit their learning into six weeks can apply for the first session, starting June 3. Those who feel they could learn and improve more with an experience spread over more time can apply for the second session, starting August 12 and lasting twelve weeks; or the third session, starting November 25 and lasting eighteen weeks. Working at a sustainable pace should also help students continue their progress after they complete their Odyssey.
For Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop 2024, we’ll be accepting 10-12 writers total in the 3 sessions, 3-4 in each session, to ensure that each writer receives an intensive, personalized, one-on-one online workshop experience.
The early action deadline for all 3 sessions is February 16, and the regular application deadline for all 3 sessions is March 27.
Six scholarships are available, so if you need financial aid, the chances are good!
Find out all the details here, including our awesome lineup of guest lecturers and guest critiquers: https://www.odysseyworkshop.org/about-the-workshop/.
PLEASE HELP ODYSSEY BUILD WRITERS’ SKILLS
Odyssey depends on the support of donors to continue each year. Please consider making a donation so Odyssey can continue to offer writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror programs that both challenge and support them, leading to exciting improvements in their writing. When students tell me that their experience has been “inspiring” and “transformative,” I know that Odyssey offers something special and needs to continue. But it can only continue with your help. Please contribute so Odyssey can help more writers build their skills and move closer to realizing their dreams.
You can donate online here: https://www.odysseyworkshop.org/support-us/.
Wishing you good writing progress in 2024.
Jeanne Cavelos, Director
jcavelos@odysseyworkshop.org
Odyssey Writing Workshop Blog 