Online Writing Intensives

An Online Writing Intensive that pushes your practice further, faster

How Online Writing Intensives Differ from our Saturday Circle

The weekly Writing Circle is a practice. An Intensive is a push. They work together and do not compete.

Where a weekly session builds consistency a little at a time, an intensive session creates a concentrated burst of momentum. That burst is what can unlock a project that has been stuck for months, produce a substantial body of new work in a single afternoon, or simply remind you what you are capable of when you give your writing real, uninterrupted time. Think of the weekly group as the rhythm that keeps you writing, and the intensive as the occasional deep dive that carries you somewhere new. One keeps the engine warm. The other puts your foot on the accelerator for an afternoon.

It is also a lower-commitment option than a multi-week program. You do not have to enroll in an intensive writing course that stretches across your calendar. You commit to one focused session, and you walk away from it with something to show for it. Many writers use both formats: the Weekly Circle to stay in motion, and an intensive whenever they feel ready to break through. It is a good fit whether you are deep into a manuscript or just hungry for one good, serious stretch of writing time.And the two formats are only the start. As your practice grows, the same method runs through the 10-Week Writer Training, the self-paced audio and video courses you can take on your own schedule, and the multi-day retreats, so there is always a next form for your writing to grow into.

What Are Imaginative Storm Online Writing Intensives?

An Online Writing Intensive is a concentrated, single-session online writing experience, run live over Zoom and led by an experienced Imaginative Storm facilitator. It is longer and more immersive than a weekly workshop, usually a full afternoon, and it is built to move your writing forward in ways a single hour cannot.

The structure is the Imaginative Storm method, stretched out and given room to breathe. You move through a sequence of extended generative prompts, write more than you usually would in one sitting, and pause along the way for focused craft instruction and real-time feedback. Because everyone is writing at length together, the session builds its own momentum. By the second or third prompt, most writers find themselves somewhere they could not have reached in a shorter format. If a weekly session is a spark, this online writing intensive is a sustained flame.

Because it all happens online, you can join from wherever you are. This makes a generous block of guided writing time available to people whose lives or locations would never allow a multi-day retreat. It is a virtual writing workshop in the truest sense: the depth of an in-person session, delivered to your desk. No experience is required to take part, and there is nothing to read or prepare beforehand. You bring your attention and a few hours, and the facilitator handles the rest.

Our Next Online Writing Intensive

Intensives are scheduled at various times throughout the year: always on a Saturday, after our Weekly Circle (with a break between). . Each one is a standalone session you can join on its own. All are taught by Allegra Huston or James Navé, or both.

Memorization: Learn by Heart, Not by Head

In this three-hour workshop, you’ll train your memory through the discipline of memorization. By working with language in a deep, intentional way, you’ll strengthen recall, sharpen focus, and unlock surprising creative insights—all while engaging with centuries-old techniques that keep the mind agile and alive.

Memorization isn’t just about retaining words—it’s about awakening new dimensions of creativity and expression. In this intimate, hands-on workshop, you’ll discover how memorizing a single line can open a gateway to deeper emotional resonance and storytelling power. You’ll connect with the timeless human practice of committing words to heart, which builds intellectual resilience and inspires creative freedom.

Memorizing poetry is easier and more fun than you might think! You can’t force a garden to grow, and you can’t force a poem to take root in your heart. But if you cultivate it with love, it will become part of you.

What You’ll Gain:

  • Deeper Creative Flow: Learn how memorization becomes a wellspring for your writing, speaking, and artistic endeavors.

  • Enhanced Connection to Language: Experience how living with memorized words enriches your storytelling and expression.

  • Confidence in Your Voice: Transform performance anxiety into a tool for dynamic self-expression.

  • Practical Techniques: Leave with strategies you can incorporate into your daily life, from visualization to embodied repetition.

  • Emotional Insight: Tap into the emotional depth that memorized work brings, creating personal and creative breakthroughs.

Step away from the digital rush and into a profound practice that invites clarity, focus, and imaginative intelligence. Whether you’re a writer, performer, educator, or simply curious about the creative possibilities of memory, this workshop will offer you tools to elevate your craft and deepen your engagement with language.

Sign Up for the Memorization Intensive

Your Writing Intensive Leaders

James Navé, co-founder of Imaginative Storm, has memorized over 600 poems.

in 1984 Navé co-founded Poetry Alive!, which sent teams of poets into schools to perform classic poems as theater. Criss-crossing the country, Poetry Alive! teams reached 5 million children. After that, as one of the original participants in the Poetry Slam, he wrote, memorized, and performed his own poetry, getting a perfect 30 at the Green Mill in Chicago (the birthplace of the Slam) and placing in the National Finals as a member of the Asheville team.

To hear both Navé and Allegra perform poems from memory, visit our YouTube channel.

Allegra Huston, co-founder of Imaginative Storm, is the bestselling author of six books including Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found. Her TEDxAsheville talk on Imaginative Intelligence has garnered thousands of views and a stack of enthusiastic comments on YouTube.

What You Will Walk Away With from an Online Intensive

Every participant leaves a Virtual Intensive with new pages, a clearer sense of their voice, and craft observations they can put to use immediately. Those are the tangible results. The deeper one is harder to name.

After a few hours of focused, uninterrupted writing, something recalibrates. You see what you are capable of when distractions fall away and the work has your full attention. Writers often arrive carrying a problem, a scene that will not land, a chapter that has stalled, a voice they cannot quite hear, and leave with a way through it. Even when no single problem gets solved, the experience tends to raise the bar for everything that comes after. The next time you sit down to write alone, you write toward that higher line, and your ordinary sessions are never as small again.

Writers gain insight into their creative process, including when they write best, what helps them create, and how to replicate those conditions. That self-knowledge outlasts the session, and it is often the thing participants value most weeks later.

There is a shared dimension to it, too. For a few hours you write not alone but among others doing the same brave thing, in a group small enough that being unfinished feels safe. That sense of belonging, of having your words taken seriously by people who understand the work, is not a side benefit here. For many writers it is the point, and the reason they come back.

What Past Intensive Participants Say

A few hours can do more than people expect. Here is what past participants say their intensives gave them.

  • “You helped me overcome my critic. I went from being a fearful writer to a joyful one.”

    — Corinne Crone, intimacy coach

  • “There’s an energy of inspiration and permission to everybody to be themselves. It’s comfortable and safe.”

    — Bronwyn Morrissey, writer, coach, and inspirational speaker

  • “I found what to trust in myself. In my writing and in myself.”

    — Rev. Diana V. Gustafson, Episcopal priest

  • “Right from the start, I knew this was no ordinary workshop. Allegra and Navé created a collaborative and safe environment in a short amount of time by taking us all to our playful selves.”

    — Alice W. Meadows, writer

Register for the Next Online Writing Intensive

No prior experience is required. Virtual Intensives emphasize connection, not perfection. Each intensive is limited to just 12 people, so the group is small and the feedback stays personal. Choose the session that suits you, reserve your place, and give your writing the afternoon it has been waiting for. A single, focused stretch might surprise you with its transformative power.

$197

After you register, you'll receive an email with the Zoom link and brief instructions on preparation.

REGISTER NOW