Online Creative
Writing Tutoring

Take your writing to the next level with creative writing experts across the professional literary world.

 

Maybe you’re a high school teen writer trying to get published. Maybe you’re looking to submit to high school writing contests. Maybe you’re JUST looking to get out of your comfort zone.

During weekly Google Meet or Zoom sessions, you will receive detailed, personalized feedback on specific writing pieces, as well as on general writing habits and ambitions. You will embark on a customized path of assignments, readings, and prompts toward exponential creative growth.

You may also solicit advice on specific or general publication, award, or editorial pursuits during sessions. This may include: identifying suitable publications, preparing submissions, organizing high school writing contest submissions, and more.

Scroll down to learn more about the type of work we do with some of today’s most promising student poets and prose writers—and remember that how you want to structure your sessions is ultimately up to you! We can’t wait to see how we can supercharge your writing journey during a free consultation!

The Ellipsis Approach

Our approach to creative writing instruction begins with identity and moves through craft, close reading, cultural or historical anthropology, and revision.

Once we have identified areas of improvement and corrected writing habits through close review of your existing work, we focus on generating new pieces through personalized prompts, reading discussion, and nuanced integration of literary craft.

Once we have established a foundation of creative generation, we will explore what you want to say as a writer. The answer will become the foundation to the portfolio manuscript you will work toward in the following months and years.

Personalized Feedback

At the core of each session is the promise of personalized, customized feedback on new and exciting student work. We take pride in our ability to usher and inspire refinement in creative drafts.

Analytical Discussion

Every assigned reading interrogates writing habits, unpacks newly introduced writing practices, and encourages craft-based writing customs. Craft discussions deepen integration of craft in newly generated pieces.

Strategic Contest Preparation

Every high school writing contest in 2024 has a unique set of guidelines and unique tastes. We’re here to offer more than a decade of experience working with students who secure top-tier recognition and thrive.

Literary Initiative Advising

Whether your goal is to contribute to an existing literary publication or initiative or try your hand at forming your own literary endeavor, we’ll help make sure you’re working strategically and constructively.

Actualized Publication Strategy

While working with students offered top-tier recognition in prestigious writing contests, we’ve also amassed a decade of experience advising students who wish to publish their work.

Writing Goal Accountability

Above all, we help you meet your writing production, drafting, and collection goals. Want to leverage summer as best you can to write? Want to write that book but need that adviser in your corner? We’re here to help!

What students can expect to accomplish with…

  • Students will get acquainted with their creative writing instructor of choice. From there, students can expect to go one of the following directions:

    • Work through revising a brief portfolio of poems in preparation for a specific submission or contest (for example, the YoungArts Awards).

    • Establish and walkthrough plan for submission to student- and/or adult writing publications.

    • Discuss and confront challenges in the writing or revising process(es).

    • Any other shorter term goals, which we encourage you to share with your instructor!

  • Students will get acquainted with their creative writing instructor of choice. From there, students can expect to go in some of the following directions:

    • Work through revising a portfolio of creative work(s) in general preparation for submissions or contests.

    • Explore revision(s) of work(s) reviewed in first few sessions, to finalize a creative portfolio with confidence.

    • Following detailed walkthrough of creative portfolio, establish and execute plan for submission to student- and/or adult writing publications.

    • Discuss, confront, and monitor progress addressing challenges in the writing or revising process(es).

    • Any other moderate-term goals, which we encourage you to share with your instructor!

  • Students will get acquainted with their creative writing instructor of choice. From there, students can expect to go in many or all of the following directions:

    • Work through revising a portfolio of creative work(s) in general preparation for submissions or contests, including larger-volume contests (Scholastic Awards, Davidson Fellows, etc.).

    • Explore revision(s) of work(s) reviewed in first few sessions, to finalize a creative portfolio with confidence.

    • Generate new work based on individually-curated craft readings and writing prompts.

    • Following detailed walkthrough of creative portfolio, establish and execute plan for submission to student- and/or adult writing publications.

    • Discuss, confront, and monitor progress addressing challenges in the writing or revising process(es).

    • Establish longer-term writing process and technical approach, emphasizing creative health, efficiency, and achievement of creative flow.

    • Any other longer-term goals, which we encourage you to share with your instructor!

Currently Available Creative Writing Instructors

When the Ellipsis team reaches out to confirm your order, you’ll have the opportunity to secure the weekly slot(s) you’d like to claim from the instructor or instructors of your choice. You have the option of participating in the full Fall 2023 season (which ends December 8, 2023) or working with an instructor for 3 hours, 5 hours, or 10 session (synchronous and/or asynchronous) hours.

 
  • AVAILABLE STARTING IN JUNE 2024 AND ONWARDS

    Peter founded Ellipsis in 2019. His poetry has received a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in such venues as AGNI, American Poetry Review, Best New Poets, Harvard Review, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Pleiades, and Tin House, among many others. Peter graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with his B.A. in English and Consumer Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017 and obtained his M.F.A in Creative Writing from New York University as a Writers in the Public Schools Fellow. Numerous students of his have been recognized through the National YoungArts Foundation, the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the National Student Poets Program, the Foyle Young Poet of the Year Awards, Princeton University, the Davidson Fellows Program, the U.S. Presidential Scholar Program, TASP, the Coke Scholars Program, the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) Program, the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program, and the Bryan Cameron Scholars Program. They’ve been featured at the White House, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the New York City Poetry Festival, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, and by BBC News, the Boston Globe, Disney Channel, Teen Vogue, and the Wall Street Journal. In addition to his role as founder and CEO of Ellipsis, Peter is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Adroit Journal.

  • Sara is a poet, journalist and translator based in Cairo. She holds an MA in arts journalism from Columbia University, and an MFA in poetry from New York University. Elkamel's poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, The Yale Review, and Gulf Coast, among others. She was named a 2020 Gregory Djanikian Scholar by The Adroit Journal, the winner of Redivider's 2021 Blurred Genre Contest, Tinderbox's 2022 Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize, and Michigan Quarterly Review's 2022 Goldstein Poetry Prize. Elkamel’s debut chapbook, “Field of No Justice,” was published by the African Poetry Book Fund & Akashic Books in 2021.

  • Shangyang grew up in Chengdu, China, and writes both in English and Chinese. A Wallace Stegner fellow at Stanford University, his works have appeared in The Nation, New England Review, Ploughshares, The Yale Review, and have been anthologized in Forward Book of Poetry Anthology 2020, and The Best American Poetry 2022. He is the author of the poetry collection Burying the Mountain (Copper Canyon Press, 2021).

  • Lisa is the author of Afterfeast, which was selected by Mary Jo Bang as the winner of the Dorset Prize in Poetry. She holds degrees from Boston University and Harvard University. Her work has appeared in Lambda Literary, The Common, and Kenyon Review, and has been honored with the AWP Kurt Brown Prize. She is Poetry Editor of The Adroit Journal and a 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Best-in-Grade Educator. She is the Founder and Co-Producer of Queer Poem-a-Day at the Deerfield Public Library.

The Word on the Street

 

“In the past, it was easy to neglect my pursuit of writing because I didn’t know how to start. I can definitely, 100% say the literary world doesn’t seem so intimidating anymore!”

DIANA CLASS OF 2020

 

“Coming from a public school in the middle of the country, I really appreciate the way Ellipsis offers all its students unparalleled access. I don’t feel limited anymore.”

NICHOLAS CLASS OF 2024

“Peter LaBerge was a brilliant and knowledgeable tutor. My daughter’s writing improved by leaps and bounds through their meetings. I wish Ellipsis had been on our radar earlier!”

YINGYING PARENT

 

“I spent years wondering why my work wasn’t resonating with readers and editors the way I wanted it to. I got those answers—and so much more—working with Ellipsis.”

ESTHER CLASS OF 2021

ELLIPSIS MEETS YOUNGARTS 2024

Congratulations to the twenty-two Ellipsis students recognized as 2024 YoungArts winners in Writing! Whether these students joined the Ellipsis family through participation in summer workshops or one-on-one creative writing tutoring, we can’t wait to see what they write next! LEARN MORE!

From 2020-present, Ellipsis students have been…


4x likely to gain recognition as NATIONAL YoungArts Winners

5x likely to receive at least one Scholastic Awards Gold Key

6x likely to receive at least one Scholastic Awards National Medal

8x likely to gain admission to Ivy League universities

9x likely to gain admission to Top 20 U.S. News & World universities

*BASED ON NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AVERAGES.

Ellipsis Student College Matriculation

FOR High School Classes of 2022 & 2023

Since the inception of Ellipsis at the end of 2019, we have mentored and uplifted exciting groups of passionate, creatively driven high school students from around the world. They have subsequently enrolled at an array of prestigious universities.

Schools with five or more matriculations are listed in bold. Schools with the most 2022 Ellipsis matriculations are University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Yale University, and Harvard University. Schools with the most 2023 Ellipsis matriculations are Stanford University, Yale University, Harvard University, and Brown University.

Amherst College

Auburn University

Brandeis University

Brown University (8)

Boston University (2)

Carleton College

Carnegie Mellon University

Colorado College

Columbia University (3)

Cornell University (2)

Dartmouth College (2)

Duke University

Georgetown University (2)

Harvard University (10)

Kenyon College (2)

Lafayette College

Lewis & Clark College

Loyola University

Massachusetts Institute of Tech. (4)

McGill University

Middlebury College

New York University

Oberlin College (3)

Princeton University (8)

Rice University

Rhode Island School of Design

Smith College

Stanford University (10)

Swarthmore College (2)

Trinity College Dublin

University of Buffalo - Honors College

University of Calif. - Berkeley (8)

University of Calif. - Los Angeles (2)

University of Chicago

University of Iowa

University of Michigan (3)

University of Pennsylvania (17)

University of San Francisco

University of St. Andrews - Scotland

University of Southern California (2)

University of Washington (2)

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Vanderbilt University

Vassar College (4)

Washington University in St. Louis

Wellesley College

Wesleyan University

Whitman College

Williams College (3)

Yale University (12)

Ellipsis students have been recognized for their writing excellence by a wide array of writing contests and scholarships sponsored by regional, national, and international organizations:

National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

National Student Poets Program

National YoungArts Foundation

U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts

U.S. Presidential Scholars in Academics

NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing

Davidson Fellows Program

Bryan Cameron Scholars Program

Kenyon Review (via Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize)

WUSTL Nemerov Scholars Program

Adroit Journal

Gannon University

Sarah Mook Foundation

Polyphony H.S.

Gigantic Sequins

Hollins University

Interlochen Arts Academy

Telluride Association Summer Program

Poetry Society of America

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Awards

Princeton University

Columbia University

The Coca Cola Scholars Program

The Poetry Society of the United Kingdom

Young Poets’ Network

Bennington College

Columbia College Chicago

Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Program

Hunger Mountain

COUNTERCLOCK

EX/POST Magazine

Stone Soup

1455 Foundation

Hominum Journal

Rider University

Ringling College of Art & Design

On that note…

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Our Team

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GETTING STARTED WITH ELLIPSIS