Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop 2026

APPLICATIONS OPEN
Early Action Deadline 2/20

Have you ever wished that you could attend your own private writing workshop that would teach you exactly what you need to know, at the right pace for you, and respond to your questions, problems, and needs in extensive one-on-one sessions?

That’s what Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop is. It’s an online, one-on-one intensive workshop experience. Students taking Your Personal Odyssey receive the top-quality learning experience Odyssey is known for, but that experience is customized to be responsive to how each writer works and what each writer needs.

YPO allows students to take the lead in their education, working at their own speed and choosing which topics they want to study, in which order, so they can target their weaknesses, maximize their writing strengths, and more effectively write the stories and novels they want to write.

In our first four years of offering Your Personal Odyssey, all students who filled out evaluations rated the workshop “excellent.”

For the first several years of Your Personal Odyssey, I was the sole instructor guiding each student on their unique journey. For Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop 2026, I’m excited to announce that we’re adding two more instructors, Carrie Vaughn and Lane Robins. Carrie is a New York Times bestselling author who graduated from the Odyssey Writing Workshop in 1998. She has served as a guest lecturer and guest critiquer for Your Personal Odyssey and has been a writer-in-residence at Odyssey. Lane attended the Odyssey Writing Workshop in 1999 and has gone on to build a successful career writing a wide range of fantasy and science fiction. She’s been providing invaluable feedback and guidance to writers through the Odyssey Critique Service and Odyssey Consultations. Both Carrie and Lane share my passion for helping writers improve and are extremely effective at doing so. Writers they’ve worked with have praised their knowledge, advice, and ability to help writers build their skills and strengthen their work. I’m thrilled to be able to offer students the opportunity to learn from them.

Your Personal Odyssey is a one-on-one experience. You will not be part of a class or cohort. You will not meet with other students. You’ll receive in-depth, one-on-one mentoring from your instructor, and several one-on-one meetings with guest critiquers. You will be following the unique path that is most helpful for you, that teaches you the skills you need to improve the most.

The renowned Odyssey lectures are broken into modules on different topics. To complete a module, a student watches the lecture recordings; does readings, journal entries, and critiques; works with the instructor to create and complete an individualized assignment; and writes a story or novel excerpt. Penetrating, detailed feedback by the instructor and guest critiquers is provided, and the instructor interacts one-on-one with students in a deep mentoring experience averaging over 30 hours.

In its first four years, Your Personal Odyssey has succeeded beyond all expectations. The flexibility of the program makes it a possibility for a wider range of writers, so we are able to help a more diverse group of writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror across the globe.

YPO also allows the program to be shaped to meet each writer’s needs. For example, one student had problems bringing emotion into her stories. We identified several reasons for this—the protagonist and events were held at a distance due to POV, voice, or exposition; the protagonist wasn’t strongly struggling to achieve a goal; helpers kept things from getting too bad and thus flattened emotional changes; and only a couple techniques were used to convey emotion. We attacked these one at a time, and she made progress with each submission, getting closer to her protagonist and events; making that protagonist struggle more intensely toward a goal; taking away the help; and using a greater variety of techniques to convey emotion. In her final submission, she put all of this together in a powerful story that generated strong, complex emotions, a great testament to all her new skills. 

Here are a couple comments from graduates of Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop:

“Odyssey was a fantastic and transformative experience. Before the workshop, I knew there were issues in my writing, but I didn’t know exactly what they were or how to fix them. Jeanne worked tirelessly to pinpoint my weaknesses and provide me with an arsenal of techniques that I am confident I’ll be using for many years to come. I not only came out of the workshop with a better sense of how to write stronger stories, but also a clear direction for what I want my writing career to be, and specific ways to achieve it. I wholeheartedly recommend Odyssey to anyone who is looking to improve their craft and take their writing to the next level.“

Ryan Cole

“All my ‘good’ writing before Odyssey was a happy accident. A bit of talent, timing, and luck helped me to score my first sale pre-workshop, but I still felt lost. I knew the kind of story I wanted to write but lacked the skill to do so. I applied for Odyssey hoping to learn the craft of storytelling on a structural level, and the workshop absolutely provided that opportunity. It’s like doing an entire MFA in six weeks! Exhausting. Painful, at times. But so worth it. The best writing workshop I’ve ever attended by far.”

Shay Kauwe

Students can choose how long they want to complete Your Personal Odyssey. Those who want to fit their learning into six weeks can apply for the first session, starting June 1. Those who feel they could learn and improve more with an experience spread over more time can apply for the second session, starting August 10 and lasting twelve weeks; or the third session, starting November 23 and lasting eighteen weeks. Working at a sustainable pace should also help students continue their progress after they complete their Odyssey.

For Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop 2026, we’ll be accepting 10-12 writers total in the 3 sessions, 2-6 in each session, to ensure that each writer receives an intensive, personalized, one-on-one online workshop experience.

The early action deadline for all 3 sessions is February 20, and the regular application deadline for all 3 sessions is April 10.

Eight scholarships are available, so if you need financial aid, the chances are good!

Find out all the details here, including our awesome lineup of guest lecturers and guest critiquers: https://www.odysseyworkshop.org/about-the-workshop/.

PLEASE HELP ODYSSEY BUILD WRITERS’ SKILLS

Odyssey depends on the support of donors to continue each year. Please consider making a donation so Odyssey can continue to offer writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror programs that both challenge and support them, leading to exciting improvements in their writing. When students tell me that their experience has been “inspiring” and “transformative,” I know that Odyssey offers something special and needs to continue. But it can only continue with your help. Please contribute so Odyssey can help more writers build their skills and move closer to realizing their dreams.

You can donate online here: https://www.odysseyworkshop.org/support-us/.

Hope 2026 is a great writing year for you!

Jeanne Cavelos, Director
jcavelos@odysseyworkshop.org