One-on-one mentorship with established writers

A practice of Ellipsis Writing
Established 2019

Helping teen writers become trusted readers published writers skillful editors trusted readers literary citizens

During weekly Zoom sessions, students receive personalized feedback on specific writing pieces, on general writing habits, and on the larger ambitions that shape both their work and their creative goals. Every session is built around a customized path of discussions, readings, and prompts — designed to take a young writer further into writing (and the literary world!) than they've ever been before.

Schedule a free consultation Meet our instructors

The Ellipsis Approach

A seven-part methodology linking creative, editorial, and civic avenues of growth

From the first draft of a poem to the final round of contest submission review, our process is designed to make every part of the writing journey feel intentional and undeniably yours.

01
Personalized Feedback
02
Analytical Discussion
03
Strategic Contest Preparation
04
Strategic Publication Strategy
05
Literary Initiative Advising
06
Summer Program Applications
07
Writing Goal Accountability

01 / 07

Personalized Feedback

At the core of each session is the promise of personalized, customized feedback on new and exciting student work. Oftentimes, this takes the form of both generalized comments and specific, line-by-line suggestions.

We take pride in our ability to usher and inspire refinement in creative drafts. We anchor growth in conversation — one piece at a time, we build relationships fuelled not only by trust, but also by the development of creative ambition, intuition, and intent.

01 / 07

At the core of each session is the promise of personalized, customized feedback on new and exciting student work. Oftentimes, this takes the form of both generalized comments and specific, line-by-line suggestions.

We take pride in our ability to usher and inspire refinement in creative drafts. We anchor growth in conversation — one piece at a time, we build relationships fuelled not only by trust, but also by the development of creative ambition, intuition, and intent.

02 / 07

Through each assigned reading, we will interrogate writing habits (both of the writer and of ourselves), unpacking deeper understandings of craft-based writing customs introduced through the drafting and revision processes.

Whether we're unpacking other creative pieces or critical pieces demystifying more complex understandings of literary craft and intent, we approach discussion of assigned readings with the goal of providing structural examples of the techniques we introduce through personalized feedback. Ultimately, our goal remains to help students think about writing the way working writers do.

03 / 07

Every high school writing contest has a unique set of guidelines and tastes. Our battle-tested instincts will help ensure you're putting your best foot forward with each writing contest and publication submission.

We're here to offer more than a decade of experience working with students who secure top-tier recognition and thrive in those rooms, across genres and across the writing contests that have come to define the high school creative writing world. From the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards to the National YoungArts Foundation to the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Awards, we've got your back.

04 / 07

We've also amassed a decade of experience advising students who wish to publish their work in top creative writing publications for teen writers and non-student writers alike.

Our instructors read literary journals daily — many of them even edit literary journals — so we know which publications are looking for work like yours, and which non-student publications are most open to promising work by teen writers.

05 / 07

Whether your goal is to contribute to an existing literary publication or to form your own literary endeavor, we'll help you build a civic and editorial roadmap that reflects the specific interests and intersections that define your commitment to creative writing.

From helping you refine applications to join literary organizations (locally or globally!) to helping you craft the blueprints behind your own journal or workshop series, we'll help you intentionally and actionably define what kind of literary citizen you want to be — and how to get there.

06 / 07

Whether you're applying to Iowa Young Writers' Studio, Adroit Summer Mentorship, Kenyon Young Writers Workshop, or any of the dozens of other competitive summer writing programs, we'll help you make sure you're standing apart from applicants whose backgrounds resemble yours.

We'll help you put together application materials — from personal statements to writing samples — that show readers what makes your work both distinctive and exciting.

07 / 07

Above all, we help you meet your writing production, revision, and submission goals by making engagement with the student and non-student literary worlds feel less intimidating — and by keeping you on track.

Want to leverage summer as best you can to write? Want to actually get your work published? We're here to help.

Why Ellipsis

Teen writers face a specific problem

If we've learned anything as professionals steeped in the teen writing world for more than a decade and a half, it's that success at the teen writing level is a function of both skill and access.

Ellipsis was built to address both of these components of teen writing success. Founded in 2019 by poet Peter LaBerge — who has spent his career building communities for young writers, including The Adroit Journal — Ellipsis pairs teen writers with established writers. Some of these writers have achieved remarkable heights within the teen writing world themselves; others have emerged as active leaders in the professional literary industry today. Either way, they've gathered countless craft lessons, industry insights, and (of course) opportunities for teen writers that they can't wait to impart.

This work is proof that sustained attention to both craft and industry is critical for teen writing achievement. It's no wonder Ellipsis students have received more than 150 Scholastic Art & Writing Award medals, more than 50 YoungArts Winners with Distinction titles, and more than 125 publications in student and non-student literary journals around the world. It's no wonder ten of the seventeen U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts in Writing named between 2020 and 2025 came from the Ellipsis network.

But we don't lead with that, because it's always been — and will always be — about the creative work our students write along the way.

In Their Words

Creative writing · Six-year track record

What our students
have achieved

10/ 17

U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts in Writing (2020–2025) came from the Ellipsis network.

In 2025–2026, 70+% of Ellipsis students who submitted to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards earned at least one Gold Key in Writing (the top 3–5% of submissions) — and 60+% of those students went on to win at least one National Medal, against the roughly 10% of Gold Key winners who do so nationally.

150+

Scholastic Art & Writing Award Medals earned by Ellipsis students.

50+

YoungArts Winners with Distinction named from the Ellipsis community.

125+

Ellipsis students published in literary journals and anthologies.

Our students have been recognized by
The White House
The Wall Street Journal
BBC News
The New York Times
NPR
NBC News
The Boston Globe
Teen Vogue
Los Angeles Times
National Student Poets Program
The Kennedy Center
The United Nations
The Smithsonian Institution
Princeton Prize in Race Relations
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
YoungArts
Poetry Magazine
American Public Media
Poetry Society of America
Academy of American Poets
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Regeneron STS
Aspen Ideas Festival
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation
The Diana Award
National Youth Poet Laureate
The Poetry Society
Pulitzer Center
The White House
The Wall Street Journal
BBC News
The New York Times
NPR
NBC News
The Boston Globe
Teen Vogue
Los Angeles Times
National Student Poets Program
The Kennedy Center
The United Nations
The Smithsonian Institution
Princeton Prize in Race Relations
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
YoungArts
Poetry Magazine
American Public Media
Poetry Society of America
Academy of American Poets
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Regeneron STS
Aspen Ideas Festival
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation
The Diana Award
National Youth Poet Laureate
The Poetry Society
Pulitzer Center

Who you'll work with

A team of working writers

Our creative writing instructors are published novelists, prizewinning poets, journal editors, and contest judges — graduates of Iowa, Michigan, Harvard, Cornell, NYU, Oxford, and beyond. Most of them are writers who first came up through programs like ours, which is why they teach the way they wish they'd been taught.

Founder & Instructor Peter LaBerge
Poetry

Peter LaBerge

Founder & CEO

  • MFA, New York University
  • BA, University of Pennsylvania
Read Bio
Matthew Buxton
Poetry

Matthew Buxton

Creative Writing Instructor

  • MFA, University of Michigan
  • BA, Emory University
Read Bio
K-Ming Chang
Poetry & Fiction

K-Ming Chang

Creative Writing Instructor

  • BA, Sarah Lawrence College
Read Bio
Stephanie Chang
Poetry

Stephanie Chang

Creative Writing Instructor

  • BA, Kenyon College
Read Bio
Su Cho
Poetry & Creative Nonfiction

Su Cho

Creative Writing Instructor

  • PhD, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
  • MFA, Indiana University
  • BA, Emory University
Read Bio
Emma De Lisle
Poetry

Emma De Lisle

Creative Writing Instructor

  • PhD, Harvard University (in progress)
  • MTS, Harvard Divinity School
  • BA, Smith College
Read Bio
Meet the full team →

18 creative writing instructors · matched after free consultation

Asynchronous Summer Program

Coming in Summer 2027

Introducing the Ellipsis Summer Poetry Studio

Taught by Adroit Journal and Ellipsis founder Peter LaBerge, the Ellipsis Summer Poetry Studio will invite students to partake in a four-week poetry writing incubator that emphasizes generation of new work and expansion of involvement in the literary industry. We'll help make sure you're ready to stand out in the academic year ahead!

Learn More & Get Notified Inaugural Program: August 2027

Program focuses

  • Generative craft — through 3x weekly poem prompts and craft lessons, you'll sharpen line-level decisions and instincts.
  • Editorial engagement — you'll how to engage editorially and civically with the global literary world.
  • Building your own opportunities — you'll emerge with a blueprint for your own literary initiative.
  • Portfolio creation — you'll gather your new work into a portfolio ready for revision.

Getting started

Start with a free
consultation

A 45-minute call with Peter to talk through where you are and what you're working on, as well as what you're hoping to accomplish with Ellipsis. We'll map out a plan and propose advisor matches before giving you a sense of what working together would actually look like. Consultations are free and require no up-front commitment.

Schedule a free consultation →

Available year-round · No prior writing required

Getting Started

Three steps to working with us

No portfolio to assemble before you can build a portfolio. Just a conversation, a plan, and a way to begin.

Step 01

Book a free consultation.

A no-pressure call to talk through where you are as a writer, what you're working on, and what you're hoping to accomplish — whether that's a contest portfolio, a publication goal, or a long-term writing practice.

Schedule a call →

Step 02

Find the right instructors.

During the consultation, we'll talk through which of our instructors are the best fit for your genre, goals, and timeline — and whether splitting time across multiple specialists makes sense for you.

Meet the team ↑

Step 03

Choose a session package.

Pick a starting bundle that fits your scope and schedule. Hours are flexible — usable across instructors, across genres, and synchronously or asynchronously, however serves you best.

See packages ↓

How session packages work

Every Ellipsis engagement starts with a session bundle — a set of hours you can spend on synchronous meetings, asynchronous draft review, or any mix of the two.

Hours are fully flexible. Bundles auto-convert across instructors with no conversion fees (only differences in hourly rates apply), and they auto-convert between Creative Writing and College Advising for students pursuing both. One bundle, one balance — no rebooking, no repurchasing.

Ideal for: Student writers seeking targeted support on specific projects, goals, or contest submissions.

What's included: Five hours of personalized tutoring, usable for synchronous meetings or asynchronous feedback.

You can expect: Focused assistance on tasks such as revising a set of poems, preparing a contest submission, or working through a particular writing challenge. A flexible starting point for students who need expert guidance on a specific aspect of their writing.

Ideal for: Students aiming for deeper support across multiple projects or goals.

What's included: Ten hours of individualized tutoring, adaptable for synchronous meetings or detailed asynchronous feedback.

You can expect: Enough runway to revise a cohesive portfolio, strategize for upcoming contests, and refine submission materials for publications — with any remaining space devoted to dive deeper into craft, explore new creative directions, and polish work with intention.

Ideal for: Students seeking holistic, long-form support throughout their writing development.

What's included: Twenty hours of comprehensive tutoring with a member of our creative writing team, suitable for meetings and detailed feedback.

You can expect: Close mentorship across multiple genres and/or through a season of writing contests and publication deadlines. Optional focus areas include drafting and revising new work, strengthening craft foundations, preparing contest submissions, strategizing publication goals, and workshopping creative portfolios.

Ideal for: Students seeking transformational, personalized mentorship from Ellipsis founder Peter LaBerge.

What's included: Twenty hours of one-on-one creative writing tutoring exclusively with Peter, billed at the founder tier and usable (or renewable) across your full writing journey.

You can expect: Expertise in developing a standout portfolio, strategic planning for contest submissions, and meticulous editing — with informative craft lessons along the way. You'll benefit from Peter's experience as editor-in-chief of The Adroit Journal for the past sixteen years, as well as a Scholastic Awards Regional Judge in both poetry and prose for over a decade.

Ideal for: Students committed to a comprehensive, long-term writing development strategy spanning craft, collection-building, publication and contest recognition.

What's included: Fifty hours of personalized tutoring with an Ellipsis creative writing instructor, plus priority scheduling during peak periods and priority access to Peter's schedule.

You can expect: In-depth, long-term support across all stages of writing — drafting, revising, and preparing for contests and publications — with continuous, well-paced attention to every facet of creative and artistic growth.

Ideal for: Students seeking elite-level mentorship with maximum personalized attention over one or more years of instruction.

What's included: Fifty hours of one-on-one tutoring with Peter, plus priority access to additional sessions during high-demand periods.

You can expect: An immersive partnership with direct mentorship from Peter, designed to craft a writing portfolio that authentically represents the student's voice and aspirations. You'll benefit from Peter's experience as editor-in-chief of The Adroit Journal for the past sixteen years, as well as a Scholastic Awards Regional Judge in both poetry and prose for over a decade.

Ideal for: Students seeking targeted support on specific application components.

What's included: Five hours of personalized advising, usable for synchronous meetings or asynchronous essay reviews.

You can expect: Focused assistance on specific tasks (for instance, refining an existing Common App personal statement draft, strategizing for a particular group of supplements, or polishing the Common App honors section and activities list). A flexible, low-commitment option for students who need expert guidance on particular aspects of their application.

Ideal for: Students taking on a meaningful slice of the application — multiple essays, school-list refinement, or a focused supplement strategy.

What's included: Ten hours of personalized advising, flexible between synchronous meetings and asynchronous review.

You can expect: Enough runway to develop a Common App essay through multiple drafts or to tackle two or three supplements, stepping back periodically for higher-level strategic discussions.

Ideal for: Students seeking guidance through multiple high-stakes stages of the college process — from building a balanced school list and establishing a college-facing narrative to bringing the Common App Personal Statement from idea to polished draft.

What's included: Twenty hours of personalized advising, usable (or renewable) across the full admissions arc.

You can expect: A sustained working relationship through at least a significant portion of the application season, with room for revision, contingency, and the strategic conversations that meaningfully sharpen a candidacy.

Ideal for: Students seeking guidance through multiple high-stakes stages of the college process — from building a balanced school list and establishing a college-facing narrative to bringing the Common App Personal Statement from idea to polished draft.

What's included: Twenty hours of one-on-one advising with Peter himself, billed at the founder tier and usable (or renewable) across the full admissions arc.

You can expect: An intensive partnership with the same advisor whose top-quartile students have, for the third year running, all gained admission to top 20 universities.

Ideal for: Students starting the process early — typically sophomores or juniors — who want comprehensive support across leading up to (and including) the college process. Also ideal for students who know they'll want to work closely with an Ellipsis advisor on every step of the college advising process.

What's included: Fifty hours of personalized advising, with the longest runway we offer outside the founder tier.

You can expect: Long-arc strategic guidance: school-list construction, summer program planning, internship and editorial-experience advising, and the full application cycle when it arrives.

Ideal for: Families committing to long-form, high-touch partnership with Peter, often from early in the high school years through application submission.

What's included: Fifty hours of one-on-one advising with Peter, billed at the founder tier and usable (or renewable) across the full admissions arc.

You can expect: Long-arc strategic guidance from the same advisor whose top-quartile students have, for the third year running, all gained admission to top 20 universities. Level 4+ students often receive in-depth, tailored advising across school-list construction, summer program planning, internship and editorial-experience advising, and the full application cycle when it arrives.

Where they go

Schools where our writing students have matriculated

Since the founding of Ellipsis in 2019, the passionate, creatively-driven high school writers we've worked with through summer writing programs and studios and one-on-one writing instruction have matriculated to a wide range of prestigious universities.

Schools with 10+ matriculations

University of Pennsylvania (25)

Harvard University (17)

Yale University (17)

Princeton University (16)

Stanford University (15)

Columbia University (13)

University of California — Berkeley (11)

Other matriculations

Amherst College (3)

Auburn University

Barnard College (3)

Boston University (3)

Bowdoin College

Brandeis University

Brown University (9)

Carleton College

Carnegie Mellon University (2)

Chapman University

Claremont McKenna College

Colorado College

Cornell University (5)

Dartmouth College (3)

Duke University (3)

Emory University (3)

Georgetown University (4)

Kenyon College (5)

Lafayette College

Lewis & Clark College

London School of Economics

Loyola University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (5)

McGill University

Middlebury College (2)

New York University (4)

Northwestern University (3)

Oberlin College (4)

Pomona College

Rhode Island School of Design

Rice University (2)

Smith College (3)

Swarthmore College (4)

Trinity College Dublin

Tufts University

University of Buffalo — Honors College

University of California — Los Angeles (4)

University of Chicago (3)

University of Florida — Honors College

University of Iowa

University of Michigan (3)

University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill (2)

University of San Francisco

University of Southern California (4)

University of St. Andrews (3)

University of Washington (2)

University of Wisconsin — Madison

Vanderbilt University (3)

Vassar College (6)

Washington University in St. Louis (3)

Wellesley College (3)

Wesleyan University

Whitman College

Williams College (4)

Reflects matriculations of students who participated in Ellipsis summer writing programs and studios or one-on-one creative writing tutoring between 2019 and 2026. Schools with ten or more matriculations are listed at top; the most 2022–2024 matriculations went to Penn, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford.

Frequently asked

What parents and students
ask us most

Since sessions are intentionally flexible by design, instructors can collaboratively structure sessions around meeting every student's particular goals. Some students spend sessions revising poems line by line, to strengthen their writing portfolios for college apps or writing contest submissions. Others spend the same hour talking through a college essay-style personal narrative, or strategizing for entry to the Scholastic Awards. Still others are tackling craft topics — from dialogue and line break to writer's block — head-on.

We meet students where they are — whether the hour calls for generating new work from scratch, polishing existing pieces for submission, or stepping back to approach larger aspects of writing craft. The shape of the session follows the student's evolution as a writer and/or college applicant, rather than observing a fixed curriculum.

Our students benefit from the deep knowledge of literary craft that we pair with the nearly two-decades of experience we've gathered from direct exposure to (and leadership within) the teen writing ecosystem. We have spent more than a decade tracking the writing contests for teen writers, which means we help students cast wide nets that reach not only into the household-name awards, but also well beyond them.

Ultimately, since contests are subjective, there's no formula for winning one. But our instructors help Ellipsis students make craft-based, intentional choices on the page that give their work a better chance of standing out and being remembered. The combination of opportunity-awareness and craft-knowledge is the winning formula.

After your free consultation, we'll send you a short list of price quotes for instructors we think would be a strong fit, based on what what you've written (or what the student in your life has written), as well as based on your meeting preferences and writing goals. You pick your instructor from there. If you would like, you may opt to work with multiple instructors — perhaps one genre with one instructor, and another with another.

From there, your hours can freely flow — either into sessions with your one instructor, or between different instructors or modes of work. Session packages never expire. If you want to switch instructors mid-engagement, or convert hours over to college advising entirely (or vice versa), we can transfer hours seamlessly and as needed across the team.

One small note — our instructors work across four different hourly rates, so a change in instructor may mean a change in hourly rate. We'll always walk through that with you before anything shifts.

Here, we channel the same philosophy that governs our support of students applying to contests like Scholastic and YoungArts. Our writing instructors read literary journals daily — many of them even edit literary journals — so we know which publications are open to student work, as well as which publications are especially geared toward each ovewrarching aesthetic of poetry.

We can suggest specific magazines for your student to read first (the best preparation for submitting anywhere is careful reading of recent issues!), then help them prepare submissions that truly sing.

Publication itself is never something we — or any education firm — can promise. But what we can promise is that when your student submits, the work they're sending out is something they're proud of, aimed at places where it has a real chance of being read.

It varies wildly, and that's fine. Some students come back to us once a year, just to touch up their YoungArts or Scholastic submissions before deadlines. Others work with us weekly from seventh grade through their senior year — some even more often than that, or well into their undergraduate years, especially during summer months when they're generating new work or building a portfolio.

Beyond working with Peter (which entails weekly meetings during the summer, fall, and winter session seasons), there's no minimum commitment and no expected length. Whatever fits your student's goals and your family's calendar is what we can plan to accommodate.

The Teen Writer

Writing contests, publications, & prompts for the Teen Writer

Ever wished you had a direct line to the professional literary world? With The Teen Writer, a free occasional newsletter organized by Ellipsis founder Peter LaBerge, you'll find worthwhile creative writing submission and applications opportunities, and even a writing prompt or two. Sign up below to get (teen) writing!

Note: Educators can simply leave the "High School Graduation Year" dropdown unselected.

No spam and no selling your email.

Get Started

Ready to write your next chapter?

During a free 45-minute consultation with Ellipsis founder Peter LaBerge, you can review goals and explore how Ellipsis can help you reach toward the next chapter.

Schedule a Free Consultation
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