While books on the writing craft can be immensely useful, workshops are a different kind of experience. I’ve sat through many of them myself, and I’ve found the most effective ones both (1) present new techniques on a particular aspect and (2) help me apply those techniques to my own work-in-progress in the moment. My workshops are usually one hour long, and they target a single, specific topic and include real-life examples, with revisions. There is a complete slide deck for each, and they all have take-home worksheets to help you apply the techniques to your own work afterward.
Contact Karen for more information.
Karen’s Workshops
“What is the Why?”: Building a Backstory for Nuanced Characters and Authentic Conflict
Crafting Secondary Characters: Beyond Friends, Foils, and Foes
Can I Hook You on My Book? Effective Query Letters to Agents
Finding True Unique Voices for Your Characters
Finding Your People: Developing Your Community of Practice as an Author
Praise for Karen’s Workshops
“With extraordinary and original content, clear delivery and obvious skill, Odden demonstrates the master storyteller is also a master instructor.”
-Sisters in Crime Grand Canyon Writers
“Karen’s presentation kept my pen scribbling notes, and my mind scrambling to attach the personality types and functions to my own cast of characters. … A subplot I had been fumbling around with suddenly took on shape and emotional significance after listening to her presentation.” -Kathryn Helstrom, Vice President, Tulsa NightWriters
“Karen is an amazing teacher. She takes complex concepts and breaks them down so they are easy to understand. I enjoyed this class [on backstory] so much the first time Karen presented it that I signed up and took it again. It was even better the second time. Taking this class changed the way I approach my writing.” -Diana Georgelos
“I truly found this to be one of the best query workshops I’ve taken. Karen Odden’s workshop, “Can I Hook You on My Book,” is the perfect choice for anyone contemplating querying agents. She breaks the process down into easy steps, and her examples of bad and good query letters are excellent. Don’t send your query until you take this course!” -Jeanne Lyet Gassman, author of Blood of a Stone
Karen has a wealth of knowledge about story structure, character development, and the publishing industry. Her critique and targeted feedback of the first 20 pages of my manuscript was invaluable and helped me figure out a better place to start my story, refine the main character arc, and define the story question. Karen asked helpful questions that gave me the space to dig deeper into my main characters while considering my own goals for the novel. I would recommend working with Karen on any aspect of your manuscript. She is a delightfully warm human and a joy to work with! -April Jernberg, Women’s Fiction Writing Association
About Karen
Karen Odden received her Ph.D. in English from New York University in 2001, writing her dissertation on Victorian literature. Subsequently, she taught at UW-Milwaukee and edited for the academic journal Victorian Literature and Culture. When she finally turned to writing fiction, she set all her novels in her beloved 1870s London. Her first mystery, A Lady in the Smoke, was a USA Today bestseller. Her fourth, Down a Dark River, was an Oprah Daily pick; and the sequel, Under a Veiled Moon was nominated for the Lefty, Agatha, and Anthony Awards for Best Historical Mystery. Her sixth novel, An Artful Dodge, about an all-women thieving gang in 1879 London, is forthcoming from Soho Crime in June 2026.
Since 2019, Karen has offered over 40 writing workshops for libraries, professional groups, and conferences, and she has received awards and grants for her work to promote literacy and support the writing community. Karen serves on the national board of Sisters in Crime, reviews books for Publishers Weekly, and divides her time between Arizona and Utah, where she loves to hike while plotting crimes. Read More