{"id":15807,"date":"2020-12-15T14:49:41","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T14:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/odysseyworkshop.org\/newsite\/wordpress\/?page_id=15807"},"modified":"2026-05-29T00:39:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T00:39:39","slug":"class-of-2003","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.odysseyworkshop.org\/class-pages\/class-of-2003\/","title":{"rendered":"CLASS OF 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1551238839456{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”Odyssey Class of 2003″ font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Actor%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

“A High-Octane Triumph of the Human Spirit”<\/strong><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”16103″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Back Row:<\/strong> Michail Velichansky, Alec Hutson, Natalia Lincoln, John Bowker, Hannah Strom-Martin, Roger Bagwell, Jessica Thomas, Wes Alderson, Sarah Totton, Ron Sering
\nMiddle Row<\/strong>: Laurie Marhoefer
\nFront Row<\/strong>: Paco Ruiz, Philip Arena, Kim Gillett, Jeanne Cavelos
\nNot Pictured<\/strong>: Diana Price<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row gap=”5″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1599510526550{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551289727346{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16111″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Wes Alderson” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Odyssey is the flower garden from which the best future writers of science fiction and fantasy will sprout, prosper, and achieve full bloom.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551290044842{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16108″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Philip Arena” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

If you’re looking to be anointed, go elsewhere. If you’re willing to tear it all down and start over, you will be happy you did.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row gap=”5″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1599510541683{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551289727346{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16109″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Roger Bagwell” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Absolutely improved my writing and sent me in the right direction.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551290044842{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16106″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Natalia Lincoln” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Jeanne Cavelos is an amazing, tireless critiquer and lecturer who really put the whole craft together for me. Her incisive and clear commentary illuminated the darker areas of my knowledge—I feel that she has helped me take my writing ahead by several years in the six weeks of the workshop. I would highly recommend Odyssey to any genre writer who wants to break out of the promising’ category into the ‘published’ category.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row gap=”5″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1599510541683{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551289727346{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Laurie Marhoefer” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Before I came to Odyssey, I thought I knew what I was doing. I didn’t. Run, do not walk, to Jeanne’s workshop. Jeanne’s knowledge of the craft of writing is extensive, and her attention to student work is enormous—she writes two to three single-spaced pages on every story. Having an experienced editor’s eye on your work for six weeks is invaluable.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551290044842{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Diana Price” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Not only did Jeanne Cavelos give me the tools to improve my craft, but the entire Odyssey experience renewed my commitment to—and enjoyment of—the art of writing, itself.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row gap=”5″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1599510541683{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551289727346{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16107″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Paco Ruiz” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

I liked this so much that I think I’m going to copy it somewhere. Only a notch below having your personal devil whispering in your ear about what you need to improve your writing. I came in wondering whether (and half wishing that) this was going to be my writing’s death, and I leave with the disturbing knowledge that the writing muse is going to keep on walking my house’s corridors every night, forever and ever. I’m cursed. My only unfulfilled wish is not having been given an opportunity to bond with Jeanne’s iguana.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551290044842{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16110″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Ron Sering” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

I came in here thinking I knew how to write, but it soon became clear that I had a lot to learn. Jeanne’s canny knowledge of the fiction process and her editor’s eye were extremely educational. Now I have the whole tool set. What I do with it is up to me.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row gap=”5″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1599510541683{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551289727346{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16104″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Jessica Thomas” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Come to Odyssey and you will sweat and bleed and cry and rip yourself inside out. But you will meet people here who share your passion and your pain, who strive as earnestly as you strive, and with whom you will no longer need to journey toward that elusive goal alone.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551290044842{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16105″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Michail Velichansky” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Intense, frustrating, agonizing—this is not a vacation. This is not a fun time. This is years of struggle crammed into six weeks, and it shows. When you leave, you will have gone through the fire: charred, barely standing, and a better writer.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row gap=”5″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1599510526550{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551289727346{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16148″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”John Bowker” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551290044842{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16154″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Kim Gillett” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row gap=”5″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1599510526550{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551289727346{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16146″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Alec Hutson” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551290044842{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16147″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Hannah Strom-Martin” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row gap=”5″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1599510526550{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1551290044842{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16149″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Sarah Totton” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1551290670831{margin-top: 20px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Memorable Quotes from the Class of 2003″ font_container=”tag:h4|font_size:30|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Arimo%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1608241396784{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row gap=”10″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1551239496334{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #71cff7 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551239407282{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_column_text]”They sounded like they were from Jersey or something.”
\n—Sarah Totton<\/p>\n

“A duck is too goofy for a vampire story.”
\n—Hannah Strom-Martin<\/p>\n

“I think the number 24 lacked motivation.”
\n—Jeanne Cavelos<\/p>\n

“You can make your prose less voluptuous.”
\n—Ron Sering<\/p>\n

“My experience of lesbians is very limited.”
\n—Paco Ruiz<\/p>\n

“Jordan can’t describe anything without the words steel, ice, fire, and honey.”
\n—Philip Arena<\/p>\n

“I found myself filling in details from my own central props department.”
\n—Natalia Lincoln<\/p>\n

“I think ‘Three-Bump’ is more of a girl’s name.”
\n—Kim Gillett<\/p>\n

“What about his anatomy said dark power seat in the north?”
\n—Philip Arena<\/p>\n

“This is kind of like The Breakfast Club except we’re all Anthony Michael Hall.”
\n—Diana Price<\/p>\n

“Keep the funk level as high as you can.”
\n—Roger Bagwell<\/p>\n

“A modular pseudonovel collection.”
\n—Wes Alderson<\/p>\n

“Reptillian passion center…”
\n—Jeanne Cavelos<\/p>\n

“Faulknerian man-children.”
\n—Alec Hutson<\/p>\n

“I really didn’t like Jantin, mostly because he sweated a lot.”
\n—Paco Ruiz[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1551239417694{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_column_text]”And now we form the Circle of Carnage…”
\n—Diana Price<\/p>\n

“Seem like he was running around too much without taking the time to be an asshole.”
\n—Hannah Strom-Martin<\/p>\n

“I didn’t get the flower’s motivation.”
\n—Paco Ruiz<\/p>\n

“It still has the same problem, though, Mike. Flowers can’t talk!”
\n—Philip Arena<\/p>\n

“You can get away with whatever you can get away with.”
\n—John Crowley<\/p>\n

“The tension is forced.”
\n—Philip Arena<\/p>\n

“Being in Asia really burns out your weirdness filter.”
\n—John Bowker<\/p>\n

“That’s the most creative use of a cucumber I’ve ever seen.”
\n—Hannah Strom-Martin<\/p>\n

“I kept thinking this was like if Raymond Chandler had been a science geek.”
\n—Diana Price<\/p>\n

“You seem to have comma issues.”
\n—Laurie Marhoefer<\/p>\n

“My verb is feeble.”
\n—Jeanne Cavelos<\/p>\n

“I want you to crack my chest open and rip out my heart.”
\n—Sarah Totton<\/p>\n

“Mike is cancelled.”
\n—Philip Arena<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to stink up your story, but . . .”
\n—Roland J. Green<\/p>\n

“People are always wearing ears on their belts in fantasy.”
\n—Hannah Strom-Martin[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1608600821162-0d2fdfdb-e233-8″ include=”16134,16113,16123,16126,16112,16127,16121,16124,16115,16120,16144,16114,16139,16137,16131,16138,16125,16118,16119,16140,16142,16136,16143,16122,16133,16135,16141,16130,16128,16129,16132,16116,16117″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1551238839456{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”Odyssey Class of 2003″ font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Actor%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_column_text] “A High-Octane Triumph of the Human Spirit” [\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”16103″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text] Back Row: Michail Velichansky, Alec Hutson, Natalia Lincoln, John Bowker, Hannah Strom-Martin, Roger Bagwell, Jessica Thomas, Wes Alderson, Sarah Totton, Ron Sering Middle Row: Laurie Marhoefer Front Row: Paco […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":12661,"menu_order":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15807","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t