Odyssey Workshop recorded lecture from Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman

Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman delivered a lecture at the Odyssey Workshop in 2008 and discussed the differences between writing a short story and writing a novel.

In this podcast, Delia and Ellen explore how the opening of a novel differs from the opening of a short story. What must the beginning of a novel do, what can it do, and how much space does it have to do these things? Ellen and Delia list the elements that should usually be established in the opening chapter. They also explain that many novelists don’t know the right opening for their novel until they reach the end. Thus, it’s very important to keep pushing ahead, rather than to get bogged down rewriting the opening chapters. Ellen and Delia discuss the difficulties of getting through a first draft and offer valuable advice on how to make it to the end. They also explore some of the things that short stories can’t do and novels can.

Listen to the podcast on the Odyssey Workshop website.