Take Your Fiction Writing to the Next Level with an Odyssey Online Class!

Receive individual attention and in-depth feedback

with an Odyssey Online class!

Bestselling, award-winning instructors.

Only 3 classes per year.  Only 14 students per class.

Application deadline 12/5.  Don’t miss out!

Odyssey has been a pioneer in holding live online classes since 2010.  Live class meetings allow a virtual classroom experience, with students participating in discussions, asking questions, and learning from an instructor responsive to students’ concerns.  Between class meetings, students interact with each other and the instructor in an online group, complete assignments, and give and receive feedback.  Each student also has a one-on-one meeting with the instructor.

Graduates of Odyssey Online regularly praise the depth and value of the content provided in the courses; the challenging, skill-building assignments; and the in-depth critiques from instructors.

While Odyssey’s nonprofit mission is to help writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, writers of any genre of fiction are welcome to apply.  Courses will also cover issues relevant to writers of adult, young adult, and middle grade fiction.

Odyssey’s classes will provide you with valuable tools and techniques that can help you make major improvements to your writing.  Become the writer you’ve always known you could be!

Classes:

The Heart of the Matter:  Bringing Emotional Resonance to Your Storytelling
Course Meets: January 9 – February 6, 2024
Instructor: Award-winning novelist Barbara Ashford
Level:  Intermediate

The best stories take readers on a journey that satisfies their hearts as well as their minds. But just having your characters cry or laugh will never get readers to share the emotions behind those actions. Effective storytelling is about creating drama on the page that arouses a variety of emotions in the reader: curiosity, anticipation, anxiety, surprise. It requires careful crafting from conception to execution to achieve that. This course will take you from “setting the stage”–understanding the heart of the story you are telling–to “getting it on the page”–exploring techniques that will not only show the emotions of your characters but evoke the intended emotional response from your readers.

Award-winning novelist Barbara Ashford will discuss ways to infuse drama and emotion into every aspect of storytelling–from setting and description to character development and plot events–and create greater emotional resonance by weaving these building blocks of story together.  Barbara is an incredible resource for writers. Her students regularly praise the depth of her knowledge, the useful tools and techniques she provides, her friendly manner, and her insightful critiques.

“Barbara is supportive, knowledgeable, and kind. She has given me new tools to identify story problems and find innovative ways to fix them. The homework assignments challenged me and pushed me into new thinking; I’m no longer dreading the work of revision, but am excited to dig into it!”

–Jessica Plumbley

Right Voice for the Right Story:  Discover the Variety of Voices Inside You and How to Use Them
Course Meets: January 16 – February 13, 2024
Instructor: Jason Ridler, historian and novelist
Level:  Intermediate

We crave stories that create a distinct effect in the mind of the reader. The vehicle for such stories is voice, that quality of prose that makes each story feel like an experience more than fiction. So how do we find the best voice for each of our stories? How do we forge it on the page? In Right Voice for the Right Story, we’ll examine elements of voice that, when wielded together, can make our story more compelling than if we drafted in our usual ways.

To do so, this course will focus on:

• Subject Matter: Discover the subject matter you really care about and build from a place of deep interest to make your voice emerge.
• Emotion: Learn how to use a “controlling emotion” to inform your prose and narrative choices, especially when describing the world of the story or character to the reader. You’ll choose the best tone, point of view, and character to tell a particular story, then create the compelling voice of the narrator or point of view character, and write scenes that have characters engage the world with emotional depth.
• Form: Traditional narrative is useful, but some stories get stuck in that structure. You can sometimes harness the best voice for the story by utilizing unconventional form.

Right Voice for the Right Story will provide the tools and tactics you need to make stories whose voices sing above their range and echo in the mind of the reader long after they are read.

“I was looking for a course to really help me level-up my writing. Something beyond the usual how-to books and YouTube tutorials. Odyssey Online gave me what I needed in spades: the instructor was knowledgeable and helpful; the assignments were designed to help me grasp the material; there was just enough challenge to encourage growth; and, best of all, it’s clear how I can apply my new knowledge to improve my new writing.”

–Nathanel Green

Writer’s Toolkit: Taking Your Story from Idea to Manuscript
Course Meets: January 18 – February 15, 2024
Instructor: Bestselling author Gregory Ashe
Level:  Beginner to Intermediate

Are you struggling to finish drafts? At a loss for how to start? Do you find yourself muddling through the middle? Bottom line: do you have a great idea (or part of an idea), and you need the tools to turn it into a story?

The right toolkit can help with all these issues.

This course covers a range of tips, tricks, hacks, and (of course) tools for storytellers. Students will learn techniques to identify and develop story ideas, to develop those stories into full drafts, and to revise their work for publication. The course will start by discussing the promises genre fiction makes to readers and how to generate ideas with the end in mind of delivering on those promises.  Students will practice prewriting strategies that allow them to expand on their ideas by brainstorming and constructing characters, plots, premises, settings, and more.  Next, students will learn tips and tools for turning their prewriting into a fleshed-out draft with the building blocks of fiction—such as goals, obstacles, story questions, story turns, plot points, and more.  Finally, the course will cover techniques for self-revision, working with editors and beta readers, setting and maintaining realistic project schedules, and sustaining their creativity as they work toward publication.

Greg is a bestselling author and an outstanding instructor with unique insights to share. He’ll help you fill your toolbox so you are equipped to handle a wide variety of writing challenges.

“Odyssey knows how to deliver instruction, and their online course on Scene and Sequel with Gregory Ashe took my writing to another level. I had read about Scene and Sequel in several sources, but it wasn’t until Greg broke down the process and helped me practice the techniques that this became a tool I now own. Odyssey courses are organized and well moderated. I always feel like I’m in safe and responsible hands. The workload is demanding but certainly not overwhelming. This was my second online course through Odyssey, and each one has given me greater confidence as a writer.”

–Sam Pisciotta

Is Odyssey for you?

If you’re willing to work hard, hear about the weaknesses in your writing, move outside your comfort zone, and try new techniques, then Odyssey Online is for you.

Odyssey also offers many resources for writers, including a podcast, a blog, an online monthly discussion salon, a critique service, coaching, consultations, and Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop, an intensive, one-on-one online workshop, customized for you.

Become the writer you’ve always known you could be!

APPLY ONLINE

Questions? Email: jcavelos@odysseyworkshop.org