“write what you don’t know”
10-week Master class on Zoom
facilitated by James Navé
February 4-April 15, 2025
11 sessions, Tuesdays, 3–5:30 pm PT / 6–8:30 pm ET
Limited to 10 participants
Join a community of passionate writers in the Imaginative Storm Write What You Don’t Know 10-week master class. In this immersive experience, you’ll unlock your creative potential and sharpen your craft. Whether you’re writing memoirs, fiction, or poetry, this master class offers expert guidance, accountability, and inspiration. With lifetime access to recorded sessions and personalized feedback, you’ll emerge with 40 powerful pieces and a renewed sense of purpose. Start your journey—reserve your spot today!
What’s included
Ten 2.5-hour sessions covering all the material in Write What You Don’t Know
A goodbye eleventh session at the end of the 10 weeks, to celebrate, make plans, and ask any last questions
Private YouTube videos of each session, lifetime availability
An open channel of communication with Navé throughout the week, for questions and encouragement
Opportunity to “hand in” your work each week, creating accountability
Optional editorial evaluation of one piece per week by renowned editor and WWYDK co-author Allegra Huston (limited to 6 people)
Testimonials from our most recent course:
“You have a jewel here; the world needs Write What You Don't Know! It took me into seeing things so much deeper and from different angles. This experience has been beyond anything I could have imagined.” — Krista T., North Caorlina
“This course has been transformative for me. It opened a gate to a kind of expression that I can't shut again - and I wouldn't want to. There's something about the Imaginative Storm process that evokes extraordinary depths from each of us.” — S. K., New York City
“I appreciated how the Write What You Don't Know course focused me. That first leap was like I had to jump over a canal, and then I was on the other side, and writing! This course has been really helpful, and it's been valuable to be part of a community.” —Raechel B., San Miguel de Allende
“Because of this course, I'm on a roll now. I've got momentum. More than anything, the Write What You Don't Know course has kept me sane in a crazy time and helped me make some sense of a lot of nonsense.” —Katerina T., Los Angeles
Course schedule
Session 1: Spin the Kaleidoscope of Your Mind
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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!
Take the Imaginative Storm into your future
What you'll learn:
How to keep you writing momentum going
How to explore the Imaginative Storm method more deeply