LIVE ONLINE WRITING CLASSES AND A NEW WEBINAR   
   FROM THE ODYSSEY WRITING WORKSHOPS   
      
      
   The Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust, widely known for its highly   
   praised, six-week, in-person workshop, is offering three intensive online   
   writing classes this winter as well as Odyssey's first webinar.     
      
   The online classes being offered are Three-Act Structure in Fantastic Fiction,   
   taught by Odyssey director and bestselling author Jeanne Cavelos; Getting the   
   Big Picture: The Key to Revising Your Novel, taught by award-winning author   
   Barbara Ashford; and    
   Point of View: The Intersection of Character and Plot, taught by award-winning   
   author David B. Coe. Application deadlines are in December.     
      
   Odyssey's online classes are unique among writing programs.  Sessions are held   
   live through web conferencing software, so students can have an active   
   learning process, asking questions and participating in discussions.   
   Challenging homework assignments    
   help students to incorporate new techniques into their writing process, and   
   in-depth feedback from the instructor and classmates guides students in   
   improving their work. Interactions between classes allow students and the   
   instructor to further explore    
   subject matter.  Each student also has a private meeting with the instructor   
   to ask questions and gain additional insight. With class size limited to 14,   
   each student receives personal attention in a supportive yet challenging,   
   energizing learning    
   environment.     
      
   While Odyssey's mission as a nonprofit is to help writers of fantasy, science   
   fiction, and horror improve their work, this winter's classes focus on skills   
   that would be very valuable for writers in any genre, and writers of all   
   genres are welcome to    
   apply.     
      
   Last year, forty-two committed writers from the US, Canada, the UK, New   
   Zealand, Australia, and Japan participated in Odyssey's three online courses.   
   One student commented, "I've taken several writing workshops, some with famous   
   writers, and while I    
   learned something from each one, I never imagined I could get so much out of a   
   workshop until I took Odyssey's online class.... It's given me much greater   
   control over my writing and taught me to let the reader experience a scene   
   instead of just hear    
   about it. Jeanne Cavelos is the best close reader I've ever seen, and she   
   treats all writing with respect. Take any course she teaches; you'll work   
   harder than you expected to and make major advances."   
      
   To ensure high quality, Odyssey offers only three online courses per year.   
   Instructors are among the very best in the field and fill each course with   
   hard-won insights and invaluable techniques.     
      
   In addition, in response to many requests, Odyssey is offering its first   
   webinar this winter:  Productivity for Writers, taught by author Alex Hughes.   
   The webinar format allows students maximum flexibility. They may attend live   
   and interact with the    
   instructor, or they may view the video recording at their convenience. The   
   registration deadline for attendance at the live webinar is January 25.   
   Writers may register at any time to view the recording.   
      
   Odyssey's winter 2016 offerings focus on key writing skills:     
      
   Three-Act Structure in Fantastic Fiction   
   Course Meets:  January 4 - February 2, 2016   
   Instructor:  Jeanne Cavelos   
   Application Deadline:  December 7, 2015   
   Level:  Advanced   
      
   Does your story or novel take too long to "get going"? Does it lack momentum,   
   suspense, and escalation? Do you feel you're making plot decisions randomly?   
   Are you missing crisis points of impact and emotion? Do readers say "ho hum"   
   or "hunh?" to your    
   climax? Key to strong plotting is understanding the act structure of your   
   story or novel and developing it to its greatest effect. While writing books   
   and blogs periodically discuss acts, few clearly define what truly comprises   
   an act or explain how    
   plotting in acts can create a more suspenseful, unpredictable, and emotionally   
   satisfying experience for the reader. With a strong act structure, your   
   protagonist will face challenges that will put him, and the reader, through an   
   experience they will    
   never forget. When this course was previously offered, students found it   
   extremely helpful. One student commented, "This class has changed the way I   
   write. Before, the words 'plot and structure' would make me recoil in anxiety   
   and frustration. Now, I see    
   plot and structure as exciting tools to help me create the kind of stories I   
   want to write."    
      
   Join Jeanne Cavelos, bestselling author and Odyssey director, recently   
   nominated for a World Fantasy Award for her teaching, as she explains how you   
   can strengthen and transform your work through plotting in acts.     
      
   Getting the Big Picture: The Key to Revising Your Novel   
   REVISED AND EXPANDED FOR 2016!   
   Course Meets:  January 5 - February 16, 2016   
   Instructor:  Barbara Ashford   
   Application Deadline:  December 9, 2015   
   Level:  Intermediate   
      
   One of our most popular instructors, Barbara Ashford, is offering a revised   
   and expanded version of her most highly rated class.    
      
   Finished the first draft of a novel? Still working on it? Struggling with   
   revisions? Getting the big picture can help bring your novel to life.    
      
   Writers often approach revisions as an opportunity to polish their manuscripts   
   rather than to take a hard look at the story itself. If your plot meanders and   
   your protagonist's goals are unclear, polishing your prose won't help.   
   Award-winning author    
   Barbara Ashford believes the most important skill required to transform a   
   promising novel into a published one is the ability to see the "big picture,"   
   to understand how the building blocks of a novel relate to each other, to   
   identify weaknesses, and to    
   make the necessary changes to strengthen the story.    
      
   Barbara will discuss the "big picture" elements at the foundation of every   
   novel: premise, promise, theme, world, character, and plot. The course will   
   explore ways to deepen the connection between these elements and create a more   
   unified and powerful    
   story, the key to lifting a novel out of the slush pile and onto an agent's   
   desk. A student who previously took the course said this: "I am in the   
   outlining stages of a novel. The Odyssey online class Getting the Big Picture   
   helped me focus in on the    
   true nature of my story, what lies at its heart. The class has given me the   
   tools to improve both plot and characters and tie the two more strongly into   
   the theme. These are the most useful class sessions I have ever attended."     
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)