While a cool idea, unique world, or suspenseful plot may grab the reader’s interest, the story’s protagonist is often the key to making the reader love your story. A strong protagonist can move the reader to tears and stay with him for the rest of his life. A protagonist who Read more
Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for a former actor, singer, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk–a former flower child and baby boomer who figures that in 1956 Elvis, dinosaurs and horror probably saved his life. He will be a guest lecturer at the Odyssey Writing Workshop this summer. Read more
There’s only a few more days to apply for this summer’s Odyssey Writing Workshop! If you’re serious about improving your writing, Odyssey provides a great opportunity to work with Jeanne Cavelos, former senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell and winner of the World Fantasy Award. Jeanne will critique your work Read more
In their guest lecture at Odyssey 2008, Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman discussed the many differences between writing a novel and writing a short story. In this podcast, Delia and Ellen explore how the opening of a novel differs from the opening of a short story. What must the beginning Read more
We run a pretty tight shop here at Odyssey via WordPress, which means you get the same type of post on the same week of each month. However, some months are a little longer than others, and when that happens, we’ll post some writing advice from the director of Odyssey, Read more
Recent/Upcoming Publications Novels Luisa Prieto, class of 2002Cooking with ErgotPublished by: Aspen Mountain PressRelease Date: Available Now!Luisa’s website: http://www.luisaprieto.com/ Short Stories Erica Hildebrand, class of 2007“In the Seeonee Hills”Anthology: Queer Wolf AnthologyPublished by: Queered FictionErica’s website: http://rogue-psion.livejournal.com/ Larry Hodges, class of 2006“Defeating Death”Published by: Weird TalesLarry’s website: http://www.larryhodges.org Larry Hodges, Read more
Short-story writers are often told that if they don’t grab the attention of an editor immediately with a hot hook in the opening sentence or opening paragraph, the editor will reject the story. Similarly, novelists are told that they must captivate the bookstore browser with their first page, or the Read more
Interview by Shara Saunsaucie White Patricia Bray will be a guest lecturer at the Odyssey Writing Workshop this summer. She is the author of a dozen novels, including Devlin’s Luck, which won the 2003 Compton Crook Award for the best first novel in the field of science fiction or fantasy. Read more
Congratulations! Congratulations to David J. Schwartz, class of 1996, for his 2008 Nebula nomination. Published by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of Random House, Superpowers is Schwartz’s debut novel, and this is his first nomination in the Novel category. David J. Schwartz’s short fiction has appeared in numerous markets, including Read more
Congratulations! Congratulations to Krista Hoeppner Leahy, class of 2007, for her third place finish in the 4th quarter of the 25th annual Writers of the Future Contest! Krista’s story “The Dizzy Bridge” will be available in the 25th volume of the L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future anthology, Read more