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Imaginative Storm 4-Day Writing Transformation
with Allegra Huston and James Navé in legendary Taos, New Mexico
April 22 – 25, 2024
Make your writing more creative and powerful
Welcome to your writing transformation
In four enjoyably intense days, you’ll take yourself to a level of writing you didn’t know you could reach.
You’ll throw off the shackles of “should” and the anxiety of “Is it good enough?”
You’ll learn how to push deeper into your imagination and bring playfulness and freshness to your writing.
You’ll see your story taking shape organically.
You’ll finish the week with a powerful set of tools to take into the rest of your writing life.
Enrollment is limited to 10 people, ensuring an intimate and personalized workshop
Our base: historic Hacienda del Sol
The Hacienda del Sol, located on the edge of Taos Pueblo, is where Mabel Dodge Luhan lived while she and her husband Tony Luhan of Taos Pueblo were building their big house. When they came to Taos to visit Mabel, international cultural icons including D. H. Lawrence, Carl Jung, and George O’Keeffe discovered New Mexico. Later, the Hacienda was home to classic Taos writer Frank Waters. Great photographer Ansel Adams also slept here.
Workshop participants receive a discount at Hacienda del Sol. We encourage you to stay in this beautiful B & B, and enjoy their lavish, freshly cooked complimentary breakfast!
Your writing transformation includes:
~ welcome drinks and buffet supper
~ daily “write what you don’t know” workshops, focusing on creating a powerful emotional connection with your reader
~ one-on-one editing and advice sessions with Allegra and Navé
~ evening storytelling with acclaimed storyteller Cisco Guevara
~ visit to a working artist’s studio
~ optional evening float trip on the Rio Grande
~ closing dinner at Allegra’s house, with its 100-mile view of the New Mexico sunset
Whether you’re writing memoir, fiction, poetry, or some combination, the Imaginative Storm method unlocks the hidden potential of your imagination.
You will:
~ retrain your inner critic into your inner coach
~ banish writer’s block forever
~ find your own authentic writing voice
~ discover how to write fearlessly, authentically, and with unbridled curiosity
You’ll finish this workshop with a powerful set of tools to take into the rest of your writing life.
Tuition $1695
Your Facilitators
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.”
Tuition $1695
Your Daily Schedule
Before we begin
The only things you’ll need are a cheap and cheerful notebook and a pen you like to write with.
If you’d like editorial feedback on the writing you’ve already produced, please send 25 pages by April 7 to allegra@imaginativestorm.com.
Sunday, April 21 ~ 5 – 7 pm
We’ll all meet at Hacienda del Sol, in Mabel’s living room, to enjoy drinks and a buffet supper of delicious New Mexican food.
We’ll have a signup sheet so you can schedule your one-on-one hours of editing, coaching, publishing and/or marketing advice with us.
Monday, April 22
8 - 10 am: Individual sessions with Navé
10 am - 12.30 pm: group session
2-6 pm: individual sessions with Allegra
3-5 pm: optional, informal writing time with Navé
Evening at leisure
Tuesday, April 23
8 - 10 am: Individual sessions with Navé
10 am - 12.30 pm: group session
2-6 pm: individual sessions with Allegra
3-5 pm: optional, informal writing time with Navé
6 - 7 pm: Storytelling with Cisco Guevara
Wednesday, April 24
8 - 10 am: Individual sessions with Navé
10 am - 12.30 pm: group session
2-6 pm: individual sessions with Allegra
3-5 pm: optional, informal writing time with Navé
Optional evening float trip on the Rio Grande, weather permitting
Thursday, April 25
8 - 10 am: Individual sessions with Navé
10 am - 12.30 pm: group session
3 – 4 pm: visit to a working artist’s studio
4 – 6 pm: afternoon at leisure to write, hike, or explore
Closing dinner at Allegra’s house
Spaces extremely limited! Reserve your space now.
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FAQs
Do I need a background in creative writing to do this workshop?
The desire to write is all you need. If you write, you're a writer—no qualifications required. Total newbies have taken our workshops, 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" workshops?
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 the four days of this workshop, you’ll 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 workshop?
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. You'll be doing a lot of writing in this workshop—and in every single prompt you'll be writing about something that intrigues you.
Will I get critical feedback on my writing?
Yes, if you want it. You’ll get it in private, in our one-on-one sessions.
We don’t agree with the usual creative writing class model, or the masterclass model in which someone’s work is criticized by or in front of the group. Editing is not a spectator sport! The best editing comes from engaging in dialogue, not from “criticizing.” Many writers suffer needlessly because they receive negative feedback too early in the writing process.
The first rule of editing is praise. This isn’t wishy-washy: it’s essential. Praise is what gives you a benchmark to aim at. Praise is what motivates and energizes you. Praise is what gives you confidence and faith that you can make it to the end. Praise is how you know what you’re good at—and demonstrates to you that “good writing” is within reach of everybody.