New For 2026
Whale Rock Mentorships, Winter 2026
Whale Rock Faculty
January - June 2026
Build Your Own Schedule
Level: Advanced
Our Mentorships are immersive, writing experiences designed to offer writers one-on-one attention, feedback and skill building from expert, MFA-level faculty members.
New for winter 2026, we’re introducing a build-your-own mentorship to meet your unique needs. Some of you have sought the opportunity to have a mentor read your entire novel. Others of you hoped for a mentorship where your mentor could read your work, offer feedback and then re-read your work with revisions. This winter we’re experimenting with a mentorship model designed to meet you exactly where you are, to meet your individual needs, on your schedule. Whether you’re working on picture book, middle grade, or young adult, our mentors are here to help you reach your goals.
Winter 2026 Write Now!
WHEN: January 13 - April 30, 2025
Tuesday & Thursday mornings
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM ET
PLEASE NOTE: There is no Write Now! on:
Thursday, April 2, 2026
Our schedule may be impacted if an in-person event is scheduled.
WHERE: Online
There’s nothing like a regular meeting time and space to keep your writing commitments honest. Our Write Now! groups are FREE and offer the support you need to show up and work each week. (Note: You must be a newsletter subscriber to participate in Write Now!)
The History of Children’s Literature
Gary Schmidt
Thursdays, January 14 - March 4, 2026
7:00-8:30 PM EST | Online | Workshop recorded
Level: All Levels
This workshop is sold out, and we have a long waitlist, which we have closed. We will open a new session the week of December 1. Priority registration will go to our waitlist and then, if there is room, to the community.
Are you interested in exploring and understanding children’s literature more deeply? Perhaps you’re feeling uninspired in this moment in history, and you’re looking for new ways to access your craft. Maybe you seek a little bit of both.
Here at Whale Rock we regularly turn to mentor texts as part of our curriculum. In January 2026 we're taking mentor texts to a whole new level. Join Gary Schmidt for eight weeks as he brings his many years' of experience teaching literature to both undergraduates and to MFA students to explore the history of children's literature through your lens as a children's author or illustrator.
You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of the purpose children's literature has served both for young readers and for the culture as a whole, personal insight into your role as a children's author at this moment in time, and new story ideas and inspiration
Beyond the Hero’s Journey: Exploring Story Structure
Erin Dionne
Tuesday, January 27, 2026 7:00-8:30 PM EST
Online | Workshop recorded | $30 Early Bird Pricing*
Level: All levels
*Price increases to $36 after December 27, 2025
We’re all familiar with the hero’s journey, but there are many other paths our stories can take. More and more, novels are pushing the boundaries, exploring new ways and structures with which to tell stories.
Explore a the different types of story structures, including fishbone, “little e,” braided narratives, the heroine’s journey, spiral structure, and others. You’ll review these structures, identify their unique elements, and assess what types of projects they may each be best for.
Whether you’re drafting a new manuscript, whether you’ve completed a draft, or whether you simply want to have a deeper understanding of craft, don’t miss out on this seminar, designed to add more tools to your writer's toolbox.
The Page Turner's Toolbox: Revising for tension and flow
Chris Tebbetts
Thursdays, February 5 - March 5, 2026 (no workshop February 19)
7:00-8:30 PM EST | Online | Workshop recorded
Level: All levels
Join best-selling author and teacher Chris Tebbetts for this four-week generative, craft-focused workshop that will focus on tools and techniques for creating stories that keep readers engaged and … well … turning pages.
We’ll kick of our workshop with sentence level-revisions and subsequent sessions will examine scene-level, story-level, and thematic revisions. The final session will include additional time for an optional open mike and sharing of work.
Perfect for authors who wish to tighten their prose, figure out plotting, and/or who gravitate towards propulsive, immersive, and fast-reading fiction. You’ll walk away with newfound revision skills that include knowing how to keep your readers turning those pages, the ability to spot redundancies, the ability to make your prose work for your story and more.
The Short Novel Writing Workshop
Gary Schmidt & Shelley Tanaka
Sundays, Sunday, Feb 8, 2026, 3:00 PM EST – Wednesday, Aug 26, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT
See description for schedule breakdown | Online | Workshop recorded
Level: Advanced
Short novels are in demand. Teachers want them, librarians want them, and kids want them. And yet authors continue to churn out 200-page-plus books for young readers.
Now in our second year, this unique offering brings together beloved faculty members Gary Schmidt and Shelley Tanaka to walk you through the process of writing a short novel (approximately 80-120 pages) from beginning to end. That’s right, you will come up with a novel premise and by the end of the workshop you should be able to write the full manuscript with the help of these two amazing mentors.
We can only accept ten students for this intensive workshop. Registration opens December 1, 2025.
The Graphic Novel Writing Workshop
Elizabeth Bicknell & Eugene Yelchin
Sundays, Feb 22, 2026, TIME – Sunday, June 14, 2026
3:00-4:30 PM EST | Online | Workshop recorded
Level: All levels
Cost: $3000
Are you an author interested in writing a graphic novel? Maybe you’re an illustrator looking to explore the genre. Or, maybe you are an author/illustrator already working on graphic novels, and you want to hone your skills even more. This workshop is for all of you!
Graphic novels keep readers of all levels engaged and entertained. And as writers that is exactly what we want to do. Our graphic novel intensive is designed for both authors and author/illustrators who wish to develop their graphic novel writing skills and write a graphic novel with the support of expert mentors.
New for 2026, join Elizabeth Bicknell, faculty member and former Executive Editorial Director of Candlewick and award-winning author illustrator Eugene Yeltsin for this unique opportunity to plot, lay out, and write the script for a complete graphic novel. That’s right, you will come up with a graphic novel idea, and by the end of the workshop you should be able to write the full manuscript with the help of these two amazing mentors.
We can only accept ten students for this intensive workshop. Registration opens December 1, 2025.
Revise Your Picture Book Manuscripts: A Faculty led, Writer-Centered Critique Group
Karen Krossing
Thursdays April 30 - June 25, 2026
7:30 - 9:10 PM EST | Online
Level: All Levels
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Do you have picture book manuscripts that you’d like to revise with a small, committed group of writers dedicated to helping you produce your best work? Join award-winning author and MFA-level instructor Karen Krossing for this in-depth, hands-on, nine-week workshop limited to eight participants. You’ll use your own manuscripts to explore picture-book craft/revision, you'll discuss craft elements you can apply to your own manuscripts, and you’ll participate in weekly online discussions that dive into picture book craft topics.
Registration Details Coming Soon
The History of Children’s Literature, Fall 2026
Gary Schmidt
Tuesdays, August 25 - October 13, 2026
7:00-8:30 PM EST | Online | Workshop recorded
Level: All Levels
Registration opening soon.
Are you interested in exploring and understanding children’s literature more deeply? Perhaps you’re feeling uninspired in this moment in history, and you’re looking for new ways to access your craft. Maybe you seek a little bit of both.
Here at Whale Rock we regularly turn to mentor texts as part of our curriculum. In January 2026 we're taking mentor texts to a whole new level. Join Gary Schmidt for eight weeks as he brings his many years' of experience teaching literature to both undergraduates and to MFA students to explore the history of children's literature through your lens as a children's author or illustrator.
You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of the purpose children's literature has served both for young readers and for the culture as a whole, personal insight into your role as a children's author at this moment in time, and new story ideas and inspiration