CLASS OF 2019

Odyssey was truly the best six weeks of my life.  To spend all my time focused on the thing I’m most passionate about and surrounded by like-minded and inspirational people was just amazing.  Jeanne is by far the most helpful and knowledgeable writing teacher I’ve ever had, and she genuinely cares about all of her students and wants us to do well.  My writing process has been completely transformed at Odyssey, and the skills I’ve learned and the friends I’ve made will hopefully follow me for the rest of my life.

Odyssey transformed my writing.  I can now produce better writing on a more consistent basis.  I made friends whom I will be friends with forever.  I learned more than I could ever have imagined I would learn.  I loved it.  It’s hard to believe such an awesome writing workshop actually exists.  Lightbulbs went off in my head every day, sometimes even every fifteen minutes.

I’ve seen my writing and my peers’ writing transform so much in such a short amount of time! Jeanne is so intensely dedicated to helping us all grow, and her insight is always so helpful.  I am excited to go home and continue the growth I started here, and I’m more confident about my skills while having a clear sense of what I need to continue working on.

When I practice on my own, I can only improve the things I’m already good at.  At Odyssey, I became better at things I’m bad at.

Odyssey has revolutionized my writing.  Every day, I came to class excited and left astounded. Jeanne is a gift to the writing community and a first-class mentor to individuals.  I can’t overstate how wonderful this experience has been.  I will be forever proud to call myself an Odfellow.

Odyssey provides a thorough curriculum on genre writing that you put into immediate practice by writing and critiquing.  The experience is demanding, but the community of writers is wonderful, and Jeanne is insightful and supportive.  My writing has improved a lot while I’ve been here, and I feel equipped with the tools to continue this progress into the future.

Jeanne Cavelos has assembled an incredible breadth of material and synthesized it into a thought-provoking, challenging, revelatory, frequently hilarious boot camp for aspiring writers. The close readings, writing exercises, plotting techniques, vocabulary, and writing experience that Odyssey provided to its students is a gift to the entire field of speculative fiction.

Attending Odyssey was perhaps one of the best decisions I could have ever made for my writing career.  I learned a lot, made invaluable social connections, and will keep using the tools I have built at Odyssey for decades to come.

Odyssey was a wonderful experience. I was able to grow as a writer and truly focus on my writing.  Jeanne was patient and kind.  The critiques helped me see what could be improved in my own work.  I feel so blessed to have had the Odyssey experience!

Odyssey was a transformative experience, and I have learned so much from it.  I don’t know how Jeanne manages to stuff so much wisdom into six weeks!  She is a fantastic and supportive instructor, and I’m so glad I was able to come.

I believe in two things, writing and immersion, and you will not find a better combination than Odyssey.  I believe in other things too, but they seemed less relevant here.

Odyssey was the best thing I’ve ever done for my writing. It not only improved my current writing, it gave me a framework for continued improvement after I leave.  Jeanne (and Amy) are wonderful, the other students are brilliant, and the experience is unforgettable. It’s exhausting, but I miss it already!

Odyssey is incredible because Jeanne is incredible!  I cannot overemphasize how much care and energy she spends on her students.  She provides amazing feedback, and I got so, so much out of my private meetings with her.  Everything else about Odyssey is really good, but Jeanne is amazing.  I don’t know how she does it.

I came to Odyssey because I felt like I’d hit a wall.  Or maybe a plateau.  Some large, flat, stone surface I was either plastered against, unable to climb, or staggering over, directionless and increasingly exhausted.  I knew I was a decent writer–I was getting personal feedback in my rejections from agents and editors, compliments and words of encouragement.  But something about my writing was falling short, and I was failing to turn rejections into acceptances.  And for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why.  Then I came to Odyssey.  I had my weaknesses listed for me, printed out in an orderly fashion, presented to me, and then addressed.  I learned how to address those weaknesses, those patches of rock too smooth for me to climb up, that endless horizon I’d been bumbling along.  Jeanne has a gift for pinpointing areas that need improving and providing direction as to how to practice and, well, improve those areas.  At the end of Odyssey, I have an idea of where I’m going, what I can do to become a better writer and achieve the goals I have for my writing.  I’m off the plateau.  I’m scaling the wall.  If you’d like to do the same, come to Odyssey.