Writing Workshops & Retreats

on Zoom and in-person

Work with us directly in a small, supportive group of writers.

When you write in the Imaginative Storm, you’ll write in a way you’ve never written before. You’ll surprise yourself, even amaze yourself. And you’ll draw confidence and direction from the appreciative feedback of the other writers in the workshop.

By the end of even a single-session workshop, you’ll become acquainted with your voice, and you’ll be well on the way to transforming your inner critic into your valued ally. Plus, you’ll have sparky new material for your work-in-progress, or perhaps you’ll realize you’ve started something new!

Zoom Workshops

Illustration by Joey Guidone of a man raking lines across the top of a large book

“Write What You Don’t Know” Immersion

with Imaginative Storm co-creator James Navé

Next course September 9 – November 11, 2025

11 sessions, Tuesdays, 3–5:30 pm PT / 6–8:30 pm ET

Limited to 10 participants

Every writer begins with a blank page and a spark of possibility. But where do we find the fuel to transform that spark into something extraordinary? Enter “Write What You Don’t Know,” a 10-week course that takes you on a journey into the heart of your imagination.

You’ll transform your writing, and you’ll revolutionize how you think about creativity, connection, and storytelling. You’ll finish the course with 40 pieces of writing, a tremendous sense of accomplishment, and a renewed connection to your creative spirit.

  • Retrain your inner critic to support you, not hinder you

  • Banish writer’s block for good

  • Find your authentic writing voice

  • Fill your writing with emotional power

  • Learn to write fearlessly. Surprise yourself!

Includes phone support from Navé between sessions and lifetime access to privately-shared recordings of all sessions.

“Navé is a superb facilitator, the other participants are smart and supportive, and I’m writing more freely than I have before. It’s working!”

— S.K., New York City

“Write What You Don’t Know” Single Sessions

with Imaginative Storm co-creator James Navé

Each session limited to 10 participants, 3–5:30 pm PT / 6–8:30 pm ET

“Let Rip” ~ Tuesday, May 6, 2025

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

“Common Senses” ~ Tuesday, May 20, 2025

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

“Go There” ~ Tuesday, June 9, 2025

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.

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

“Elemental Alchemy” ~ Tuesday, June 23, 2025

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

“Socialese” – Tuesday, July 8, 2025

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:

  • how to notice Socialese: the unspoken language of human communication

  • how to see the kaleidoscope of tribal affiliations that humans create

  • how 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

“Tender Spots” – Tuesday, July 22, 2025

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

“There’s No Story If Nothing Changes” – Tuesday, August 5, 2025

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

“The Oxymoronic Inversion” – Tuesday, August 19, 2025

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

Live Workshops and Retreats

“Write Without Limits”

4-day Writing Retreat

with Allegra Huston and James Navé in legendary Taos, New Mexico

April 20 – 24, 2025

ONE SPOT JUST OPENED UP!

Transform your writing, and your approach to writing, forever. In four enjoyably intense days with Allegra and Navé, you’ll discover how to surprise yourself on the page, how to tell your story with authenticity and originality, and how to suffuse your writing with personality and emotion. You’ll learn easy techniques designed to open the gateways into the highest peaks and deepest dells of your imaginative intelligence.

  • Say goodbye to writer’s block forever

  • Turn your inner critic into your most valuable and trusted ally

  • Get acquainted with your authentic writing voice

  • Fill your writing with passion, purpose, and power

We’ll be based at historic Hacienda del Sol, in the room that once hosted D. H. Lawrence and Georgia O’Keeffe. You’ll enjoy delicious breakfasts, visit the studios of working artists, and enjoy a farewell dinner around Allegra’s kitchen table.

In Asheville: We’ll be based at the Lake Eden Retreat Center, in gorgeous wooded grounds still blazing with fall colors. There’s a variety of accommodations, from self-catering cottages at the Center to hotels in nearby Black Mountain and Asheville. A perfect place to recharge and get inspired!

Imaginative Storn

2-Day Intensive

with Allegra Huston and James Navé in lovely La Veta, Colorado

June 21 – 22, 2025

LIMITED TO 12 PARTICIPANTS

Here’s your chance to transform your writing process from effort to ease and anxiety to excitement! In just two days, you’ll be writing what you don’t know and amazing yourself with what emerges onto the page.

Spark your imagination and strengthen your prose! you’ll discover how to surprise yourself on the page, how to tell your story with authenticity and originality, and how to suffuse your writing with personality and emotion. You’ll learn easy techniques designed to open the gateways into the highest peaks and deepest dells of your imaginative intelligence.

  • Say goodbye to writer’s block forever

  • Turn your inner critic into your most valuable and trusted ally

  • Get acquainted with your authentic writing voice

  • Fill your writing with passion, purpose, and power

We’ll be based at the beautiful Estelle Center for the Arts, at the foot of the spectacular Spanish Peaks in southern Colorado. Welcome reception on Friday, and delicious breakfasts included.

“Write What You Don’t Know” 3-Day Retreat

with Allegra Huston in lovely Paonia, Colorado

May 28 – 30, 2025

Limited to 10 participants

Discover the untapped riches of your imaginative intelligence!

We’ll meet for three enjoyable, exciting days in gorgeous Paonia, Colorado. Writing to 5-minute and 10-minute prompts, you’ll explore the riches of your imagination, and discover the story that’s yours alone to tell.

  • You’ll learn easy techniques to pack your writing with emotional power

  • You’ll discover your authentic writing voice

  • You’ll learn how to pacify your inner critic and develop your inner cheerleader

  • You’ll develop a new confidence in your writing

  • You’ll banish writer’s block for good

This plunge into the Imaginative Storm method will equip you with a powerful set of tools to take into the rest of your writing life—and transform your approach to writing forever.

5-Day Memoir Retreat

with Allegra Huston in historic Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Discover the story of your memoir, and how to tell it. Return home energized and inspired by five intensive days of exploration, insight, and revelation!

We’ll be based at the lovely Blue Nose Lodge in beautiful Lunenburg, a UN World Heritage Site. You’ll spend the mornings with the group discussing the elements of memoir and writing to Imaginative Storm prompts.

In the afternoons, Allegra will meet with each person individually, twice, for an hour (often more) each time, to give you whatever help you need: brainstorming, editorial notes, publishing advice, or just plain cheerleading. Otherwise, your afternoons are your own: for writing, exploring Nova Scotia, sea kayaking, recharging your batteries at a spa, and did we say writing?

What you write in this workshop will add depth and dimension to the story you already have—and it may even change your idea of your memoir completely! What you write in this thrilling week will amaze you—we promise.

October 7 – 12, 2025

Limited to 8 participants