Instructor:
Melissa Scott
Level:
Beginner/Intermediate
Live Class:
7 pm-8:30 pm EST
Thurs., March 5
Thurs., March 19
Thurs., April 2
Tuition:
$259.00
Course Description
Worldbuilding forms the strong foundation for fantastic fiction. In this course, Melissa Scott will discuss worldbuilding as a springboard for character and plot, and the mechanics of revealing that world to readers. She will cover methods for creating truly original worlds, as well as where and when to rely on the conventions of the genre.
This course will focus intensely on the task of worldbuilding. Melissa will discuss the qualities of a strong world and the techniques that help writers create strong worlds. She will identify the principles by which worlds work. She’ll explain the decisions you need to make, in the order you need to make them, to build a compelling, internally consistent world. You’ll explore examples of weak settings and strong ones. Melissa will explain how to identify contradictions in the world and how to decide whether to eliminate those contradictions or use them to create mystery and conflict in your world. She’ll discuss how to build your world in concert with other story elements, such as character and plot, and explain why making such connections is critical to the success of your story. You’ll learn how to incorporate your world into your story and how to find the right balance between world and story. A fascinating world will not be an asset to your story unless you’re able to gracefully include information about the world into the story. Melissa will explain methods for revealing your world that strengthen the story rather than weaken or distract from it. Melissa will also show how point of view can control the way the reader sees the world and offer additional opportunities to explain your world. You’ll learn the importance of research for worldbuilding and receive tips for worldbuilding research.
Students will study and discuss examples, perform exercises to practice techniques, and create a new world that incorporates all the concepts discussed.
The course is intended for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, and will cover issues relevant in middle grade, young adult, and adult fiction.
It will be most valuable for beginner/intermediate writers.
Students must be ready to hear about the weaknesses in their writing and work to strengthen them. Students must also be ready to give feedback to their classmates that is both truthful and helpful.
Our goal as a class is to provide a supportive yet challenging environment that will help students improve their writing.
Each student will have a private meeting with Melissa.
Assignments:
Students will have some homework assigned before the first meeting, and will also be assigned homework during the course.
The first assignment will have a due date of March 4, the day before our initial meeting.
Homework will be assigned on March 5 and March 19, with due dates, respectively, of March 11 and March 25. You will also be required to provide critiques of some of your classmates’ work, which will be due on March 18 and April 1. Any student who misses a deadline may be expelled from the class and will receive no refund.
All assignments should be in standard manuscript format and should be submitted as MS Word files or rich text files.
You should reserve a minimum of 5 hours each week to complete homework.
Assignments will include reading and analyzing assigned texts, critiquing, doing exercises to practice techniques, writing new material, analyzing your previously written material, and revising previously written material. Students will also be required to reply to online discussion questions during the course.
Melissa will return students’ homework with her feedback by the day before the next class session.
Students are expected to follow guidelines about assignments and class materials established in the Odyssey Online Student Handbook.
Attendance:
Since we will have only 3 class meetings, attendance at every class is necessary for students to get the most out of this course.
You are expected to attend all classes, except in cases of emergency. In such cases, you should notify the instructor.
Classes will be recorded and made available to students for a limited time.
Any student who misses more than one class may be expelled from the course and will receive no refund.
It is your responsibility to find out what happened in any classes you missed and to complete homework by the deadlines.
Students are expected to follow the policies about attendance and behavior set out in the Odyssey Online Student Handbook.
Texts:
Students will be required to complete several readings before the course begins. Additional readings may be required after the course begins.
Technical Requirements:
Technical requirements for all Odyssey Online Classes are covered on the Online Classes page.
Tentative Schedule:
March 5: First class meeting. Introduction and orientation. Discussion of major concepts. Worldbuilding principles, issues, and techniques. Using the world to advance plot and deepen character. Study and discussion of examples. Assignment of homework.
March 11: Homework is due.
March 18: Critiques are due. Homework is returned with Melissa’s feedback.
March 19: Second class meeting. Discussion of previous homework assignment. Discussion of more advanced concepts. Study and discussion of more examples, including examples of student work. Techniques to reveal your world within the story without bringing the story to a halt. Assignment of new homework. Some students will have private meetings with Melissa after class.
March 25: Homework is due.
March 30: Some students will have private meetings with Melissa between 7:00-8:30 PM EST.
April 1: Critiques are due. Homework is returned with Melissa’s feedback.
April 2: Third class meeting. Discussion of previous homework assignment. Researching your world, and when to stop. Where to go from here. Wrap-up. Some students will have private meetings with Melissa after class.
Instructor: Melissa Scott
Melissa Scott was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, and studied history at Harvard College, where she was involved with the now-defunct college-sanctioned SF ‘zine that spawned the Harvard/Radcliffe Science Fiction Association. She earned her PhD from Brandeis University in the comparative history program with a dissertation titled “The Victory of the Ancients: Tactics, Technology, and the Use of Classical Precedent.” She also sold her first novel, The Game Beyond, and quickly became a part-time graduate student and an—almost—full-time writer.
Over the next forty years, she published more than thirty original novels and a handful of short stories, most with queer themes and characters, as well as authorized tie-in work for Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Star Wars Rebels. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1986, and won Lambda Literary Awards for Trouble and Her Friends, Shadow Man, Point of Dreams (with long-time partner and collaborator, the late Lisa A. Barnett), and Death By Silver, written with Amy Griswold. She has also been shortlisted for the Otherwise (Tiptree) Award. She won Spectrum Awards for Death By Silver, Fairs’ Point, Shadow Man, and for the short story “The Rocky Side of the Sky.”
Her most recent solo novels were published in 2023, with The Master of Samar in the spring and Fallen at the end of the year. 2024 saw the reissue of the five books in the Points series (Point of Hopes, Point of Knives, Point of Dreams, Fairs’ Point, and Point of Sighs) by Queen of Swords Press, and a new novella, Point of Hearts, published in 2025.
She is also the new owner/publisher of Candlemark & Gleam, the well-respected small SF/F founded by Kate Sullivan and most recently run by Athena Andreadis. Candlemark & Gleam specializes in complex, layered stories, often with a mythic dimension—fiction that shapes the dark.