Posts by graduates of Your Personal Odyssey, the six-week Odyssey Writing Workshop, and Odyssey Online
Ask readers what makes a good story good and they are likely to say “the characters.” But how does a writer create characters that are engaging, believable, and distinct? And how does a writer bring such characters to life on the page? We asked Odyssey graduates: How do you get into Read more
A story’s point of view (POV) affects the entire story, from how much information the author can divulge to how a reader empathizes with the protagonist. Choosing a point of view is one of the most fundamental choices an author can make. We asked Odyssey graduates: Have you tried experimenting with Read more
During the six-week Odyssey Writing Workshop, students write six original short stories, making successful idea generation imperative. To get a better idea of the methods used by experienced writers, we asked Odyssey graduates: Do you keep an “idea bank” for future stories? How does that work? Do you organize your Read more
The Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop has been called an MFA in six weeks and a stepladder to professional publication. Fifty-three percent of Odyssey graduates go on to get their work published. But what, in particular, drives writers to apply to the program? And how do their expectations for the workshop compare to Read more
Choosing the right setting can enhance a story, and describing that setting vividly can make the story sing. A strong setting can add to plot, atmosphere and characterization. To get a better idea of how to develop a setting, we asked Odyssey graduates, How do you visualize your story’s setting? Do you model Read more
It’s no secret that most people who set out to write a book never finish. But what about those writers who keep working year after year, penning one book and then another, or one short story and then another, with little to show for it? What keeps them going? Odyssey graduates represent every Read more
For many writers a theme is a nebulous concept, a concept best left to academia where one can write a term paper on the color of autumn leaves appearing on page 397 of a 500-page novel. But for others, a consciously selected theme guides their entire work. To wit, we pose these related questions Read more
It often takes writers several years of serious writing before they get a sense of the relationship between their initial ideas and the final products. Which idea is appropriate for a flash fiction story? Which idea requires a longer story? Which idea should become a novel? Even after years, some Read more
One of the hardest parts of being a writer is dealing with rejection. Many writers send out their shiny new story, receive one rejection, and put the story into the drawer, forever. Others make it to three or four rejections, and then it’s into the drawer with the story, forever. Read more
About a year ago, Peter Simonson committed himself to developing his writing. Getting accepted to Odyssey was a first accomplishment. Now he is working on a few different short stories and hoping to start submitting his work early next year. He enjoys writing fantasy and science fiction that play with Read more