Whale Rock Workshops

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. 

In this new and unique offering, beloved faculty members, award-winning author Gary Schmidt and award-winning editor Shelley Tanaka will walk you through the process of writing a short novel (approximately 80-120 pages) from beginning to end. That’s right. We have designed the program to enable you to come up with a novel premise and write a full manuscript over five months with the help of these two amazing mentors.

This is an intensive workshop. It is not intended for beginners, but rather experienced writers who want to experiment with a shorter format while building their writing skills. You will explore the essentials of storytelling – plots and subplots, continuity, story arc, character development, and more – and how these may be affected by the shorter form. 

Workshop Breakdown, Time Commitment and Expectations

This workshop runs over five months.

• In the month leading up to the workshop: read four assigned short novels. 
• March and April: participate in four workshops led by Gary and Shelley, and brainstorm story ideas with either Gary or Shelley.
• May to August: Focus on developing your novel in three parts, submitting each part as a packet to your assigned mentor. To this end, commit to spending 25-30 hours per month during this period.
• Monthly: attend group check-ins with faculty to help you stay on track, and meet with your assigned mentor for editorial feedback. 
• Over the course of the workshop: read an additional, assigned, seven or eight novels. 

Please Note: You may come to this workshop with a novel idea, but not with a novel you have already begun. The point of this workshop is to develop a project with faculty that suits the format.

Who is this for?

• Authors looking for an opportunity to write a complete novel draft with community scaffolding. 
• Published authors interested in experimenting with a shorter format.
• Authors who have spent years honing their craft, but still have no bites from agents or editors. 
• Authors who have spent years working on one project they can’t seem to complete.
• Unpublished authors with multiple started, but incomplete novels. 

Application Process

Due to the workload of this workshop, we can only accept ten students. Gary and Shelley will each work with five students.You will be assigned to the instructor who best suits your needs.

Writers may apply to the program between December 15 and January 24. 

Writers must submit a ten-page sample from a completed work of fiction or a fictional work in progress. (The submission is only a writing sample. It is NOT your project for this workshop.) Your application is not complete without this writing sample. Please email your sample to: submissions@whalerockworkshops.com.

We will inform accepted students in the first week of February. 

Please Note: You do not need to be agented or published, but you must demonstrate experience with craft. If you are interested in this workshop but you are new to novel writing, you must take Whale Rock Workshops’ month-long Novel Foundations course, offered in January 2025, with Kathryn Erskine as a prerequisite and apply the next time we run The Short Novel. 

Important Dates

** Please note all group sessions are Sundays at 3:00 PM ET

Required Workshops
March 23, 2025
March 30, 2025
April 6, 2025
April 27, 2025

Mentor Meeting and Story Selection

Between April 6 and April 27, 2025

(Exact dates and times to be determined by you and your mentor)

Packets Due
May 30, 2025
June 30, 2025
July 31, 2025

Monthly Check-ins

May 18, 2025
June 22, 2025
July 13, 2025

Final Gathering
August 24, 2025

*Please note: Your deposit is non-refundable if you are accepted and offered a spot. If you are not accepted your deposit will be returned in full.