“Write What You Don’t Know” online writing course
Discover the secret to powerful, original writing
Based on our acclaimed book
“Write What You Don’t Know: 10 Steps to Writing with Confidence, Energy, and Flow”
Learn to be curious instead of self-critical
Banish writer’s block for good
Find your authentic writing voice
Pack your writing with emotional power
Learn to write fearlessly. Surprise yourself!
Bestselling memoirist Allegra Huston and creativity guru James Navé teach you how to unleash your imagination
Allegra and James have been featured in
Dive in ~ or dip your toes in the water
Purchase the complete online writing course:
Over 65 videos of writing prompts and insights — the equivalent of the first year of a graduate school writing program
Monthly hour-long Zoom with course creators Allegra Huston and James Navé
26 bonus sessions of audio content: hear other people read what they wrote to the prompts you’re working with
Free pdf download of the book Write What You Don’t Know
Join a thriving, supportive writing community
Save 25% of the cost of buying the 10 sessions individually
Unlimited lifetime access
Or purchase individual sessions:
After an introduction to the simple principles of the Imaginative Storm method, you’ll discover how easy it is to “Spin the Kaleidoscope of Your Mind” (Session 1). You’ll surprise yourself with the imaginative power of the very first thing you write!
After you complete Session 1, you can purchase the remaining sessions in any order you choose. Or purchase the complete course and still save over the cost of buying all sessions individually.
Purchase 1 session and qualify for one Zoom with course creators Allegra Huston and James Navé.
Purchase 5 sessions and you’re welcome to attend as many Zooms as you like.
Why people love Imaginative Storm
Nine Imaginative Storm writers say what they love about our method
Are you . . .
A total beginner? A seasoned pro? Somewhere in between?
Whatever your level of experience, the Imaginative Storm method will take you to a level of creativity and self-expression you’ve never experienced before.
What are you writing?
Memoir? Fiction? Poetry? Screenplay? Transformational or creative nonfiction?
Are you aiming for publication, or writing just for yourself?
Are you already published in one genre, but would like to expand your range?
Whatever your goals, the Imaginative Storm method will unlock the hidden potential of your imagination, and train your rational mind to shape its gifts into writing that amazes you.
~ Teach your imagination to shower you with gifts ~
The 10 Sessions of Imaginative Storm Writer Training
Session 1: Spin the Kaleidoscope of Your Mind
Ground yourself in the Imaginative Storm method, and amaze yourself with the new power and freedom in your writing. Begin to develop your authenticity meter—your instinctive sense of when you're on your voice and when you're not. Begin to retrain your inner critic into your inner coach. Discover the ease and enjoyment of writing what you don’t know.
What you’ll learn:
how to invite your imagination out to play
how to make your writing authentic to your experience, your perspective on the world, and your voice
how to bring life back to a story you’ve told often
how to maximize your chances of writing well—without trying to write well!
Session 1 will give you all the tools you’ll need for success in your Imaginative Storm writing journey. Plus, you’ll generate four pieces of writing different from anything you’ve written before.
After you purchase Session 1, you’ll be able to purchase later sessions individually, in whatever order you wish.
And if you’re not excited about what you write in the Imaginative Storm, we’ll give you your money back.
Session 2: Let Rip
Rant! Jettison your inhibitions. Release judgment. Allow yourself to write what you think you’re not supposed to write. Be passionate. Be playful. You’ll discover a new humor and verve in your writing—and you’ll have a head start on creating character and dialogue, which we explore further in Session 7.
Ranting is a powerful tool for finding your voice on the page, and for retraining your inner critic into your inner coach.
What you’ll learn:
what may have been holding you back
how to find comedy in intense feelings
how to imbue your writing with tenderness
how to show a character’s individual personality
how to play in the gap between what people say and what they mean
Session 3: Common Senses
Explore the sensations of your physical body: the five usual senses, and others that aren't so often mentioned: proprioception, sense of direction, the vibes of a place. Do you have other uncommon senses?
We believe that the realm of the imagination encompasses everything that isn’t the matter of the rational mind: bodily senses, intuition, submerged experiences and memories. Getting in touch with this realm adds immediacy and emotional power to your writing.
What you’ll learn:
how to make your reader’s mirror neurons fire
how to bring the texture of a moment to life
how to find details that matter
how to re-immerse yourself in the truth of the past moment
how to pack an emotional punch
Session 4: Go There
Everything happens somewhere, but location isn’t just a backdrop. In this session, you’ll discover ways to use setting to give a scene emotional resonance.
The marks of time are left on physical objects; so are the marks of choice and use. These marks are repositories of memory, story, and character. You’ll also take the “don’t-know” approach to location: there’s just as much meaning in what isn’t there, as in what is.
What you’ll learn:
how to describe an event with authenticity
how to avoid a “know-all tone” in your writing
how to locate emotional resonance in the details of place
how to invest into the present you’re writing about with a sense of past and future
how to use location to shape your story
Session 5: Elemental Alchemy
The natural world is our habitat and our eternal symbol of life and its cycles. It’s where we see the effects of time, the spiraling seasons (never the same). In communion with nature, we find peace: whether in a forest or appreciating the daisy growing through the crack in a city sidewalk.
In this session, you’ll make literal and symbolic connections between your life and the elements that make up our universe.
What you’ll learn:
how to make connections with the natural world in your writing
how to make quantum leaps as you set a scene
how to locate your story within a living history
how to rack focus to micro and macro
how to enrich your observations so that nothing is ordinary
Session 6: Socialese
Socialese is our term for the unspoken language of human interaction. In connection with others, we experience joy and grief, comfort and competition. This is where we mold our identity.
In this session, you’ll consider some of the overt and not-so-overt ways in which we communicate and find our place in the world. You’ll learn techniques to spy into the subtext that underlies and animates all human communication.
What you’ll learn:
to notice “Socialese”: the unspoken language of human communication
to see the kaleidoscope of tribal affiliations that humans create
to track the undercurrents (or subtext) of a situation
to invest ordinary activities with social significance
to suggest aspects of your characters’ lives outside the story you’re telling
Session 7: Tender Spots
Before psychologists existed, writers were the ones to shed light on why people do what they do. Everybody does things for their own reasons—even though often we don’t know what those reasons are.
In this session, we’ll show you ways to discover what unseen forces shape personality and drive action, and give you techniques for bringing characters to life on the page.
What you’ll learn:
how to understand what drives a person’s actions
how to create strong, multi-dimensional characters: good and bad
how to give a sense of what it’s like to be in the presence of a particular person
how to honor the individuality of minor characters
how to convincingly portray a character with whom you seem to have nothing in common
Session 8: Take Yourself Back
Memoir work isn’t just for memoir writers. As Graham Greene said, “Childhood is the credit balance of the novelist.” You yourself and your own life are your best laboratory for examining human nature.
In this session, you’ll discover ways to explore what you don’t know about your own life. If you are writing memoir, your story may not be what you thought it was! And even if you’re writing about gardening, car maintenance, or some other useful topic, a memoir snippet to convey your learning experience and your passion brings your subject alive for the reader.
What you’ll learn:
how to identify and develop the deep story of your memoir
how to know which incidents are part of your story, and which aren’t
why all memoirs have a happy ending—and what a happy ending is
how to find the connection point between your story and your readers
how to write about yourself without seeming egocentric
Session 9: There’s No Story if
Nothing Changes
What makes a story, whether fiction or nonfiction? What makes a strong beginning? What makes a strong ending? What gives a narrative—fiction or nonfiction—coherence and momentum?
In this session, you’ll get a sense of the bigger picture of the story you’re developing—however long or short. You’ll understand what belongs in the story and what doesn’t, and why.
What you’ll learn:
the building blocks of a strong narrative
what gives a story momentum—and why momentum sags
how to know what comes next
how to ramp up the excitement in your story
how to know where your story begins and where it ends
Session 10: The Oxymoronic Inversion
Oppositions, contradictions, and paradoxes are at the heart of all compelling stories. In life, nothing is black or white, good or bad—or, it’s both at the same time. Nuggets that the rational mind cannot explain are catnip for the imagination.
In this session, you’ll experiment with framing scenes and characters with oppositions, contradictions, and paradoxes in mind. You’ll be amazes at the imaginative energy this generates.
What you’ll learn:
how to play in the paradox sandbox
how to balance a scene on the fulcrum of an opposition
the pleasure of generating a paradoxical image
how to flip your conception of a scene upside-down
how to use imagined realities to power up your story
How does the Imaginative Storm method work?
Bestselling author and Imaginative Storm co-founder Allegra Huston explains
Your Writing Experts
Allegra Huston
“As a former Editorial Director of the London publisher Weidenfeld & Nicolson and holder of a First Class degree in English from Oxford University, I'm all about good writing. But when I started writing myself, I wasn't able to write anything I liked! Maybe I just can't write, I thought. I was trying as hard as I could to write well.
The Imaginative Storm method was a revelation to me. I learned that trying to write well didn't help me. That my writing would be better, and my own authentic voice would emerge, if I didn't try so hard. James Navé taught me to surprise myself and write what I don't know.”
As well as Write What You Don't Know, Allegra is the author of the bestselling Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found, the novel A Stolen Summer, How to Edit and Be Edited, and How to Read for an Audience (with James Navé). She wrote and produced the award-winning short film Good Luck, Mr. Gorski, and has also written numerous feature screenplays. Her articles have appeared in many major magazines in the US, UK, and France. An editor for over three decades, she worked with authors including three Booker Prize winners, two Nobel Prize winners, and Jane Goodall.
“Allegra Huston is incapable of writing a dull sentence.”
James Navé
“I came to the Imaginative Storm method from the spoken word tradition. As a founder of the company Poetry Alive!, I memorized over 600 poems and performed them for schoolchildren. (Poetry Alive! has to date reached over 5 million students.) I've competed in the National Poetry Slam and have emceed the LEAF Festival slam for 25 years.
My focus on creativity began when I co-founded The Artist's Way Creativity Camp in partnership with Julia Cameron, author of the perennial bestselling guide to creativity The Artist's Way. The principles and prompts that make up the Imaginative Storm method are the culmination of over 30 years of practice and exploration.”
Navé holds an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts. His latest book of poems, 100 Days: Poems After Cancer, was published by 3: A Taos Press in May 2023. His poetry has appeared in many publications, and he has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered and Weekend Edition.
He hosts a weekly long-form interview podcast, available on YouTube @imaginativestorm, and has served on the advisory team of LEAF Global Arts since 1995.
“James Navé and I worked together for over 20 years. He has a quick, curious, and searching mind, plus a humanist eye for poetic detail. His work as a poet, teacher, and facilitator is an important force for change.”
Send your inner critic to cheerleading school!
FAQs
Is there anything extra in the online course that isn’t in the book?
A lot!
a monthly 60-minute live online session with Allegra and Navé, in which you can get advice and insight into the Imaginative Storm method
a Prompt Archive, so you can hear up to five examples of what other people have written to each prompt
a pdf download of the entire book Write What You Don't Know
audiobook recordings of the nine “Write” essays in Write What You Don’t Know
Do I need a background in creative writing to do this course?
The desire to write is all you need. If you write, you're a writer—no qualifications required. Total newbies have taken our course, and so have widely published writers. If you're a newbie, you'll gain confidence because you're generating surprising, intriguing material straight out of the gate. If you're a published writer, you'll be astonished by the new dimensions our method brings to your writing.
How is this different from other "free writing" courses?
The Imaginative Storm method is far more wide-ranging than the simple concept of "free writing." It's not just a technique; it's a method. In these 10 sessions, you will move from the imaginative storm to the creative form. First, you'll learn how to pack your writing with vivid imagery, fresh language, and authentic emotion. As you continue, you'll learn how to develop compelling character and narrative. Finally, you'll explore what creates the core of energy at the heart of all great stories.
Is there any reading required for this course?
No. We don't hold up examples of how you should write or require that you write about anything in particular. Our goal is to help you find your voice, not to try and "teach" you what "good writing" is. As we see it, good writing is writing that feels good to you: it feels original, powerful, insightful, and authentic. You'll be doing a lot of writing in this course—and in every single prompt you'll be writing about something that intrigues you.
Can I get critical feedback on what I write in this course?
If you post what you write on our Circle, we will let you know what pops for us. Appreciation of what's strong in your writing gives you confidence and helps to retrain your inner critic. We don't "criticize"—not because we don't have standards but because all-round critical feedback belongs later, when you're shaping and editing. Getting negative feedback too soon is a major reason many people suffer writer's block and have trouble finding their voice.
When you reach the point where you want notes, other writers are your best readers. So, join the Imaginative Storm community! We're here to help one another make our work as good as it can possibly be.
Is this course suitable for all ages?
Imaginative Storm writing prompts are suitable for all ages. The audio samples of writers reading their work include some adult-themed material.