"Write What You Don't Know" 10-week Zoom course with James Navé
What are you writing?
Memoir, fiction, poetry, screenplay, creative or transformational nonfiction?
Are you aiming for publication, or writing just for your own creative satisfaction?
Are you already published in one genre, but would like to explore further into your creativity?
Whatever your goals, the Imaginative Storm method will unlock the hidden potential of your imagination. And, it will train your rational mind to shape those creative gifts into writing that amazes you. You’ll finish the course with 40 pieces of writing that will either add a new dimension to your existing project, or send you well on your way into a new one!
All sessions will be recorded and shared privately to the group only, so if you miss a session you’ll be able to catch up.
Optional add-on: Editorial evaluation from top-level editor and Write What You Don’t Know co-author Allegra Huston. Limited to 6 people. Click here to learn more.
Session 1: Spin the Kaleidoscope of Your Mind
Date: June 11, 2024
Ground yourself in the Imaginative Storm method and learn to retrain your inner critic.
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 maximize your chances of writing well without trying to write well
Session 2: Let Rip
Date: June 18, 2024
Rant and release your inhibitions to discover new humor and verve in your writing.
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
Session 3: Common Senses
Date: June 25, 2024
Explore the sensations of your physical body to add immediacy and emotional power to your work.
What you'll learn:
How to make your reader's mirror neurons fire
How to focus on the details that matter
How to pack an emotional punch
Session 4: Go There
Date: July 2, 2024
Discover ways to use setting to give a scene emotional resonance.
What you'll learn:
How to describe an event with immediacy and emotional impact
How to avoid a "know-all tone" in your writing
How to imbue past and future into a present moment
Session 5: Elemental Alchemy
Date: July 9, 2024
Connect with the natural world and make symbolic connections in your writing.
What you'll learn:
How to make connections with the natural world in your writing
How to rack focus between micro and macro
How to enrich your observations so that nothing is ordinary
Session 6: Socialese
Date: July 16, 2024
Explore the unspoken language of human interaction.
What you'll learn:
To notice and interpret “Socialese”
To track the undercurrents of a situation
To suggest aspects of your characters' lives outside the facts of your story
Session 7: Tender Spots
Date: July 23, 2024
Discover what drives a person's actions and create strong, multi-dimensional characters.
What you'll learn:
How to understand what drives a person's actions
How to create multi-dimensional characters: good and bad
How to honor the individuality of minor characters
Session 8: Take Yourself Back
Date: July 30, 2024
Examine your own life and explore what you don't know about yourself.
What you'll learn:
How to identify and develop the deep story of your memoir
How to write about yourself without seeming egocentric
How to know which events are part of your story and which aren’t
Session 9: There's No Story If Nothing Changes
Date: August 6, 2024
Learn what makes a strong narrative and how to give your story momentum.
What you'll learn:
The building blocks of a strong narrative
How to know where your story begins and ends
What gives a story momentum—and why momentum sags
Session 10: The Oxymoronic Inversion
Date: August 13, 2024
Experiment with framing scenes and characters with contradictions and paradoxes.
What you'll learn:
How to play in the paradox sandbox
How to balance a scene on the fulcrum of an opposition
How to flip your conception of a scene upside-down
Session 11: Write On!
Date: August 20, 2024
Take the Imaginative Storm into your future
Experiment with framing scenes and characters with contradictions and paradoxes.
What you'll learn:
How to keep you writing momentum going
How to explore the Imaginative Storm method more deeply
