The Story Intensive
Three days. Four writers.
One current running underneath everything you write.
A story is never really
invented, is it?
It's noticed.
The story you're reaching for is already sitting inside your character, in what she wants and won't say, in what she does the moment she's cornered. That’s human nature, and it isn’t pleading with you to build it.
No.
It’s beckoning with a finger.
Come hither. Follow.
This way.
The Story Intensive
The Story Intensive is three consecutive days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday; three hours each) with four writers and me, working through The Current: the process I use to find the throughline underneath a novel before it's written, or to find it again inside a draft that's lost its way.
Every character is carrying something she doesn't say out loud and it slides through the crevices of her everyday life. Into what she wants. Into what she notices and doesn't. Into the choice she makes when it counts. What happens next is what was already true, only now it’s finally visible.
Most novel planning starts outside and works it’s way in. In The Story Intensive, we start inside and follow it out. By the end of three days, you’ll understand your character down to the psychology of their bone marrow and how this creates your scenes, exposition, plot points, conflict, etc. You won't have a full outline, but you will have the ground an outline can stand on.
How We’ll Work
This isn't a lecture. I'm not standing at a podium walking you through slides. It runs like a seminar, the kind where the room does most of the thinking, and I'm there to sharpen it.
Each day, we'll trace the movement from inner world into outer world through three novels:
I'll Take You There, Joyce Carol Oates
Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin
Adèle, Leïla Slimani
We'll talk about these works closely. Then we turn the same attention on your manuscript, in the room, together, following what's underneath your character out into everything she says, feels, does, and sets in motion.
Four writers means real time on each of your projects, and real witnesses to every breakthrough.
The Details
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This intensive is built for a writer already inside her book, not a writer deciding if she has one.
You're a strong fit if you're:
In the late exploratory phase of a novel — you've been circling it, taking notes, maybe writing scenes out of order, and you're close enough to a first draft to need the foundation locked before you lose momentum finding it
Somewhere inside a first draft or revision, and it's started to feel uncertain, like you can't yet say, in one sentence, what your book is actually about underneath what happens in it
Working primarily in literary fiction, and already comfortable in a room that reads closely and talks honestly about craft
This is not an introduction to fiction writing, and it's not a plot-formula workshop. If you already know you're a writer and you're past the question of permission, this is built for exactly where you are.
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Not a full outline or a synopsis, but a foundation. A clear, specific understanding of what's moving within your character, and how that movement will shape everything she says, feels, and does from here. Every scene decision after this one gets faster and truer, because you're no longer guessing at what she'd do next. You already know what's driving her there.
You'll also leave having revealed your character's unfiltered self out loud, in an intimate room of people who took it as seriously as you do. Supporting you in workshop with feedback and guidance to use as you go on to complete your draft.
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When: Friday–Sunday, 9/25, 9/26, 9/27
Time: 10am - 1pm EST
Group size: 4 writers (plus Tiffany), in the virtual room together for the full intensive
Recordings available for 1 week
Investment: $1,100
Texts to have read beforehand: I'll Take You There (Joyce Carol Oates), Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin), Adèle (Leïla Slimani)
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Let’s start with the practical, “good on paper” stuff. I have a BA in English, Creative Writing concentration; and an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction). Moving on to my experience as an author, I’ve self-published one book of literary fiction that readers “couldn’t put down” (their words, not mine), and called “a lesson in fearless writing.”
My second novel, BLUE HOUR, was traditionally published and made most anticipated lists in several publications including Electric Literature and Ms. Magazine. After publication, the novel won the 2024 Clara Johnson Award for Women in Fiction, was featured by Coco Gauff, Emma Roberts, and Dua Lipa; made Vulture’s Best Books of 2023, and was a Barack Obama summer reading list pick.
I’ve guided 100+ authors in writing character-driven fiction through private mentorship, group programs, online workshops and writing retreats.
I have clients who have signed with agents, received six-figure book deals, and been number one bestsellers.
Investment: $1,100
Be a part of this intimate group.
Testimonial
“I really started on this project with a prayer and a dream to be honest. l knew l wanted to write a story, and I knew a few things about who and where it was about, but that was it.
And what Tiffany did with that in such a short period of time was genuine magic. We created so much of these people, and so much or their lives, and suddenly l cared about them and knew them and realized what their story was going to be about. Somehow, thanks to her, now I have an entire first part of a book and actual plans for the rest. And it feels like it's a story worth telling, and that's because of her. She is not only a spectacular and emotional and genuine writer but she's also a brilliant and informed and insightful teacher, which is an insane combination if l ever saw one. I could never thank her enough.
Working with Tiffany is honestly to me about as close as you can get to working with an oracle. She will just casually hand out these pieces of information or insight that are so profoundly correct, so creatively important that it changes everything you're writing for the better - and she'll do it like it's nothing. Over and over again. She'll do it while simultaneously holding so much empathy and emotional honesty for you and for herself so you never feel talked down to. You never fee like an imposter. That makes it so much easier to write emotionally honest characters. because it's an emotionally honest space.
It's really special to be able to work with a person who can do that. Tiffany's probably the smartest person l've ever talked to, let alone worked with like this.
It was a fucking joy. "
—Ash Nicholson, published author
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