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At the 2011 Odyssey Writing Workshop, Elizabeth Bear lectured on plot structures. This podcast is part 2 of 2. Podcast #53 is part 1. In this excerpt from her lecture, Elizabeth talks about different structural shapes and offers examples of each. Circular or spiral plots, also known as iterative plots, are often used in literary novels or ballads. An episodic or picaresque story may be constructed from a series of closed loops or links. An epic plot intertwines multiple thematic and character arcs. Whatever the shape, the plot must create and exploit tension. Two primary attributes of character drive story: want and need. In most successful stories, those are in tension with each other. This template can describe many stories, when you fill in the blanks: _____ is a story about _____, who must _____ and is opposed by _____. We will know that _____ has succeeded when _____. The protagonist is in a situation with a problem that only he can solve. The conflict/plot arises out of this, and as we see the consequences of the want versus the need, theme is generated. Another way to generate theme is to create characters who are analogous to the protagonist, who have a similar point of growth to make or fail to make. This allows the story to explore different possible paths and see which ones are successful. Elizabeth also explains how to break these familiar structures. The better you know these structures, the more you can take them apart and experiment.

Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year. She's the author of over a dozen novels and seventy short stories, recipient of two Hugos, the John W. Campbell, and the Sturgeon Award. In her spare time, she enjoys falling off of rocks and cooking needlessly complicated food. She's previously taught at Clarion West and Viable Paradise.

She lives in Connecticut with a Presumptuous Cat and a Giant Ridiculous Dog.

The text of this recording is copyright 2011 by Elizabeth Bear. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.

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Elizabeth Bear served as a guest lecturer at the 2011 Odyssey Writing Workshop, lecturing on plot structures. In this podcast, which is part 1 of 2, Elizabeth discusses formulaic plot structures and how to deconstruct them. She begins with Aristotelian structure, which contains an inciting incident, rising action, climax, and denouement. Aristotelian structure also often uses unity of time and place. Elizabethan structure involves five acts and a number of key elements: inciting incident, rising action, reversal, more rising action, another reversal, major crisis at end Act 3, climax/catharsis, and denouement. Elizabeth explores the requirements of some of these parts, and how to form an emotional connection with the reader. She also explains how to use Anagnorisis, the moment of recognition; Katabasis, the descent or crash; and Catharsis, the moment when the reader and character have an emotional resolution or transformation. Elizabeth describes plot as a chainsaw with a series of little hooks that pull the reader through story. Hooks are little mysteries or questions raised in the reader's mind that later pay off or are resolved in some interesting way. The author must beware not to create too many unresolved things, since these must be carried by the reader in his backpack, and if that backpack gets too heavy, the reader will give up. But a few hooks should be active at any one time. They get the reader curious about something, and then the story satisfies his curiosity. Offering a satisfying resolution to a hook on each page can keep the reader reading.

Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year. She's the author of over a dozen novels and seventy short stories, recipient of two Hugos, the John W. Campbell, and the Sturgeon Award. In her spare time, she enjoys falling off of rocks and cooking needlessly complicated food. She's previously taught at Clarion West and Viable Paradise.

She lives in Connecticut with a Presumptuous Cat and a Giant Ridiculous Dog.

The text of this recording is copyright 2011 by Elizabeth Bear. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.

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Sheila Williams was a guest lecturer at Odyssey 2005, where she lectured on the short fiction market and what editors are looking for. In this excerpt, Sheila explains how many manuscripts are submitted to her at Asimov's each month and how many she buys. A large percentage of those submissions acquired for publication are from established authors, since they are most likely to have written a good story. New authors need to get her attention quickly, on the first page, in the first sentence. Sheila describes her process of sorting, reading, and responding to submissions. Two-thirds of submissions go to her assistant, while one-third are read by her. Some authors receive form rejections; some get brief but personal letters. A few receive requests for revisions. Sheila explains what an author can do to make his submission stand out, and why some responses may come more quickly than others. Sheila also offers valuable advice on how to interact with an editor.

Sheila Williams is the executive editor of Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction and Fact. She started working at Asimov's in June 1982 and began working on Analog in 1998. She is also the co-founder of the Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (formerly the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing). In addition, she coordinates the websites for Asimov's. She won the Hugo Award for Best Short Form Editor in 2011.

Her latest anthology is Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: 30th Anniversary Anthology (Tachyon, 2007). She has edited or co-edited over twenty other anthologies, including A Women's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and about Women, co-edited with Connie Willis (Warner Aspect).

Williams received her bachelor's degree from Elmira College in Elmira, New York, and her master's from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. During her junior year she studied at the London School of Economics. She lives in New York City with her husband, David Bruce, and her two beautiful daughters, Irene and Juliet.

The text of this recording is copyright 2005 by Sheila Williams. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.

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A guest lecturer at Odyssey 2011, Theodora Goss spoke about Finding Your Voices. In this excerpt, Dora explains that you should consider, early in the writing process, whose perspective you want to speak from. Once you know that, you should explore what that point of view would sound like. That is the voice. Fantastic fiction allows writers the possibility of speaking from many different perspectives. Dora leads students in an exercise, then covers some of the most important aspects of voices. When developing a voice, try to imbue it with density. If a voice is dense, each sentence performs at least two functions. Dora stresses the importance of sentences that multitask. Generally speaking, professional authors write sentences that are more dense. Can each sentence do more work? Another important quality of voice is authenticity. If your story is set in a historical period, the voice needs to sound like it's from that period. Many writers have trouble with this, so Dora advises you develop settings and characters that will allow you to create your own authentic voices rather than imitating someone else or writing someone you're not. The last important quality necessary in a voice is authority. The reader should feel comfortable with the voice and trust you. If the reader doesn't trust the voice, he is thrown out of the story. He must believe in the voice just as he believes in the world and the characters. Even the smallest elements--sentences or words or punctuation marks--can throw the reader out. To create an authoritative voice, you must know your tools well.

Theodora Goss was born in Hungary and spent her childhood in various European countries before her family moved to the United States.

Although she grew up on the classics of English literature, her writing has been influenced by an Eastern European literary tradition in which the boundaries between realism and the fantastic are often ambiguous.

She is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop (2000). Her publications include the short story collection In the Forest of Forgetting (2006); Interfictions (2007), a short story anthology coedited with Delia Sherman; and Voices from Fairyland (2008), a poetry anthology with critical essays and a selection of her own poems. Her works have been finalists for the Nebula, Crawford, and Mythopoeic Awards, on the Tiptree Honor List, and have won the World Fantasy and Rhysling Awards. Visit her website at www.theodoragoss.com.

The text of this recording is copyright 2011 by Theodora Goss. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.

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As a guest lecturer at Odyssey 2011, Elaine Isaak spoke about description. This podcast is part 2 of 2. You can find part 1 in Podcast #49. In this excerpt, Elaine explains that the purpose of description is revelation. Specifically, description can work in five main ways: to reveal character, to reveal the perspective of the narrator, to reveal history or culture, to foreshadow plot, and to suggest theme. She expands upon each of these and provides examples. Elaine then leads listeners through an exercise that follows up on the inventory covered in Podcast #49. Elaine discusses the importance of prewriting for successful description. A big part of this involves creating an inventory, not only of world but of character. Another key part involves visualization: taking the time to figure out what the world and characters are like and then choosing the most important details to include.

Much to the dismay of her relatives, Elaine Isaak withdrew from art school to pursue her own ends in business and writing. She founded Curious Characters in 1997, designing original stuffed animals and small-scale light-hearted sculptures. She attended the Odyssey Writing Workshop the same year. Elaine is the author of The Singer's Crown (Eos, 2005), and sequels The Eunuch's Heir (Eos, 2006), and The Bastard Queen (Swimming Kangaroo, 2010). Her new dark historical fantasy series will be starting in 2012 with DAW books under a pseudonym (shhh!). Elaine writes traditional fantasy in a mythic and historic vein, harrowing tales of complex human relationships in the realms of fantasy. Magic may offer the choice of transcendence--or tragedy--and the quest never leaves you untouched. Above all else, know this: you do not want to be her hero. She has written how-to articles for The Writer magazine, and authored the Lady Blade fantasy writing column at AlienSkin magazine for three years. Her speaking engagements have included local chapters of Romance Writers of America as well as other writing groups, the World Science Fiction and World Fantasy Conventions.

The text of this recording is copyright 2011 by Elaine Isaak. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.

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Elaine Isaak was a guest lecturer at Odyssey 2011, where she lectured on description and worked with students on their manuscripts. In this podcast, which is part 1 of 2, Elaine discusses how important description is to bring the reader into your fictional world and make the reader trust the world. Often, a key to making the reader believe in your world is making the reader believe in your main character. If the character feels real, then the world will also. Elaine talks about the series of choices involved in creating a world, and how to come up with the strongest details. World-building can work in two ways. First, it can go from the specific to the general. A small, specific object can reveal many larger characteristics about the world. Elaine illustrates this point by giving each student a penny and asking the class to consider what that penny reveals about the world that created it. Second, world-building can go from the general to the specific. If you know the type of system you want to create, then create the objects that the character will interact with to imply that type of system. Elaine suggests that you start with an inventory of what the reader needs to know to understand the world, and she explains how to create such an inventory. What are the most exciting and unique facts? What does the reader need to know to understand the plot or characters? What are the differences between our world and your story world? Elaine stresses the importance of using all five senses and identifying revealing details. To find appropriate details, you need to think about what life would be like in this other world and how those in the world would think. Elaine also explains how you can tell whether a detail is a good one to include or a bad one.

Elaine Isaak withdrew from art school to pursue her own ends in business and writing. She founded Curious Characters in 1997, designing original stuffed animals and small-scale light-hearted sculptures. She attended the Odyssey Writing Workshop the same year. Elaine is the author of The Singer's Crown (Eos, 2005), and sequels The Eunuch's Heir (Eos, 2006), and The Bastard Queen (Swimming Kangaroo, 2010). Her new dark historical fantasy series will be starting in 2012 with DAW books under a pseudonym (shhh!). Elaine writes traditional fantasy in a mythic and historic vein, harrowing tales of complex human relationships in the realms of fantasy. Magic may offer the choice of transcendence--or tragedy--and the quest never leaves you untouched. Above all else, know this: you do not want to be her hero. She has written how-to articles for The Writer magazine, and authored the Lady Blade fantasy writing column at AlienSkin magazine for three years. Her speaking engagements have included local chapters of Romance Writers of America as well as other writing groups, the World Science Fiction and World Fantasy Conventions.

The text of this recording is copyright 2011 by Elaine Isaak. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.

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Bob Mayer was a guest at Odyssey 2004, where he worked with students and lectured on the original idea. In this excerpt, Bob explains what he means by the original idea. It is the first idea you had for your novel or story. You should excite people with your idea--it should send a shiver down someone's spine. Idea is different from story, which includes plot, setting, and characters. Many different stories can be written with the same underlying idea. Bob stresses the importance of the idea throughout the writing process. You should write down your idea, tape it to your desk, and look at it every morning. If you get stuck halfway through manuscript, it's often because you've forgotten your original idea. The idea is the one thing that can't change as you write, the foundation. The idea starts your creative process, keeps you focused, and forms the core of your pitch to sell book. The original idea may end up as a small part of the final product, but it is still important. Every idea has been done; you can learn a lot by acknowledging that, finding someone else who wrote a novel based on that idea, and dissecting that book. How are you developing this idea differently than everyone else has developed it? Do you have a different character or setting? A different point of view? Bob gives examples of stories that share the same underlying idea. You need to understand yourself to figure out how to develop the idea in your own unique way.

Bob Mayer is the best-selling author of over forty books. He grew up in New York City, graduated from West Point and spent twenty years on active and reserve duty in the Infantry and Green Berets. He has been an Infantry Recon platoon leader, a Special Forces A-Team Leader, and a writer/instructor at the JFK Special Warfare Center & School at Fort Bragg. He is also a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

Bob writes under his own name and four pen names. His books have hit the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, USA Today and other best-seller lists. He has been published in many genres, including thriller, science fiction, suspense, romance and non-fiction. He has appeared on PBS, NPR and the Discovery Channel and in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated and Army Times among other publications as an expert consultant. He has sold millions of books around the world.

He's spoken before and worked with over 1,000 groups and organizations, ranging from SWAT teams, the University of Georgia, IT teams in Silicon Valley, the CIA, Fortune 500 companies, numerous small businesses, Romance Writers of America, and the Maui Writers Conference.

Bob began writing when living in Asia in the late 1980s while studying martial arts. It took hundreds of rejections and several manuscripts before he got his first book deal. Bob has incorporated all he has learned in The Novel Writer's Toolkit.

The text of this recording is copyright 2004 by Bob Mayer. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.

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James Morrow was a guest lecturer at Odyssey 2005. In this podcast, Jim describes his model-in-progress for fiction, the Calypso Wheel, which is based on the color wheel. The color wheel tells us about the visible spectrum, what happens when we combine pigments, and how complementary colors, situated opposite each other on the wheel, relate to each other. Similarly, the Calypso Wheel tells us about the elements of fiction, what happens when we combine elements, and how complementary elements relate to each other. As writers, Jim advises that we think about the full spectrum, all the hues available on our pallets. The elements on the Calypso Wheel are concept, world, story, theme, character, and plot. Many beginners focus solely on one side of the wheel, on character, story, and concept. Including the other side—world, plot, and theme—allows fiction to enter the realm of art. These elements tend to emerge as we are writing. Through a series of examples, Jim explains the difference between story and plot, which are complementary, and says that if a writer is struggling with plot, he probably doesn't have a clear story. Concept and theme are also complementary. Jim explains exactly what theme is and how it can emerge out of concept. Character and world are also complementary. Through this fascinating theory, Jim gives writers a new way to approach and develop their work.

James Morrow is best known for his magnum opus, the Godhead Trilogy. The first installment, Towing Jehovah, winner of the World Fantasy Award, recounts the efforts of a supertanker captain to entomb the corpse of God in an Arctic glacier. The sequel, Blameless in Abaddon, tells of a small-town judge who prosecutes the Corpus Dei before the World Court. In The Eternal Footman, God's skull goes into geosynchronous orbit above Times Square, causing a plague of despair.

Jim's more recent efforts include The Last Witchfinder, praised by Janet Maslin of the New York Times for fusing "storytelling, showmanship and provocative book-club bait . . . into one inventive feat"; The Philosopher's Apprentice, which NPR called "an ingenious riff on Frankenstein"; and a stand-alone novella, Shambling Towards Hiroshima, winner of the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.

Among Jim's early novels are The Wine of Violence, The Continent of Lies, This Is the Way the World Ends, and Only Begotten Daughter, winner of the World Fantasy Award. His short fiction is collected in Bible Stories for Adults, which includes the Nebula Award-winning fable, "The Deluge," and The Cat's Pajamas and Other Stories. His 1991 novella City of Truth also received a Nebula Award.

Born in Philadelphia in 1947, Jim spent his adolescent years making short 8mm fantasy films with his friends, including adaptations of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." His affection for satiric and philosophical fiction comes largely from the novels he studied in his high school World Literature course. He currently lives in State College, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Kathy, his son, Christopher, and two rescue dogs: Harley, a beagle mix, and Molly, an Australian shepherd.

He devotes his time to his family, his Lionel electric trains, his DVD collection of guilty-pleasure Hollywood epics, and his novel-in-progress, Galapagos Regained, a postmodern historical epic about the coming of the Darwinian worldview.

The text of this recording is copyright 2005 by James Morrow. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.

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Michael A. Arnzen was a guest lecturer at Odyssey 2010, where he lectured on "Sensory Immersion: Making Your Reader Squirm." In this podcast, Mike discusses the intertwining effects of imagery, mood, and atmosphere, and illustrates his points with numerous examples. Imagery is the collection of sensory details you provide the reader. Through these details, you appeal to the reader's "sensorium," the part of his brain that interprets sensory input, and provide a vicarious experience. You must translate fictional experiences into sensory information for the reader, so you show rather than tell. This allows the reader to participate actively in the creation of drama. Mood and atmosphere can be established by the words you choose to convey these sensory details. Words are like music playing in the reader's mind; their sound and rhythm contribute to the mood. Consider the sounds and rhythms, and the psychological impact of the words on the reader. What is the mood you're trying to set? A strong mood and atmosphere can increase the reader's response and make him enjoy the work more.

Michael Arnzen has been publishing outrageous horror fiction, SF, poetry, literary criticism, instructional essays on writing, and offbeat humor since 1989. Across his career, Arnzen has won four Bram Stoker Awards, an International Horror Guild Award, and several "Year's Best Horror Story" accolades and reprints. His novels include Play Dead and Grave Markings. The best of his short stories and poems are collected in Proverbs for Monsters, which won the Bram Stoker Award in 2007. Always the experimentalist, his writing has appeared on Palm Pilots and postcards, short art films ("Exquisite Corpse") and creepy online animation. His novel Play Dead even inspired a deck of custom-designed playing cards.

When he's not writing, Arnzen teaches suspense and horror writing fulltime in the MFA degree program in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University, near Pittsburgh, PA. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Oregon, where he studied "the uncanny" in popular culture, as well as an M.A. in English from the University of Idaho, where he wrote his second novel. Arnzen sits on the editorial board for two literary journals associated with genre fiction (Paradoxa and Dissections) and has edited college literary magazines and more.

Arnzen's podcast on "Making the Reader Squirm" is from Odyssey 2011. An excerpt from his "Humor in Fantasy" lecture from Odyssey 2007 is also still available as Podcast #12. Look for his new how-to book, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, in print this Spring.

The text of this recording is copyright 2010 by Michael A. Arnzen. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.

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Elizabeth Hand was a guest lecturer at Odyssey 2010, where she spoke about Creating Unsympathetic Characters. In this podcast, Liz describes the power of making an unsympathetic character the protagonist of a novel and gives many examples from a wide variety of genres. Whether such a character is the protagonist or the antagonist, the author needs to make him realistic. Many antagonists in fantasy are superficial--not believable and not well developed. Giving the character real-world emotions and a believable background can imbue him with depth and authority. Inciting events in the character's past may explain his monstrosity without excusing it. That can give the story power. If the character is transformed in some way during the story, that can add to the power. Liz also explores which point of view one should use to create such a character. Third person gives us a distance from the unsympathetic character. He is not us, not in our heads. First person can drag us into a dark place and make us complicit with the character. The character then forces us to see things and imagine things we normally wouldn't. For readers, this can be exhilarating or cathartic. Point of view can reveal what the character wants and how he justifies his actions to himself. His desire is the engine that drives him, the obsession that permeates or poisons all his actions.

Writer and critic Elizabeth Hand is the author of numerous novels, including Illyria (2010) and Generation Loss (2007), winner of the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award for best work of psychological suspense, and three story collections. Her fiction has received three World Fantasy Awards, two Nebulas, two International Horror Guild Awards, as well as the James M. Tiptree Jr. and Mythopoeic Society Awards, and in 2001 she was a recipient of an Individual Artist's Fellowship in Literature from the Maine Arts Commission/NEA. Since 1988, she has been a regular contributor to the Washington Post Book World, and her reviews and essays have appeared in a number of other publications, including Salon, DownEast Magazine, Fantasy & Science Fiction (where she is a columnist) and the Village Voice Literary Supplement.

Radiant Days, a YA novel about poet Arthur Rimbaud, will be published by Viking in 2012; Available Dark, a sequel to Generation Loss, will also appear in 2012, from St. Martin's Press.

Glimmering, her prescient 1997 novel about a perfect storm of global climate change, terrorism, and environmental collapse, will be reprinted by Underland Press later this year. She has also written numerous novelizations and a popular series of Star Wars juveniles.

She has two children, Callie and Tristan, and lives on the coast of Maine.

The text of this recording is copyright 2010 by Elizabeth Hand. The sound recording is copyright 2011 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.