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Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

05 October 2024

Posted by Susan L. Edser

Sound

Ali Sparkes is a children’s author who leads writing sessions for Junior and Young Writers every Saturday morning at MAST Mayflower Studios. To learn more about her, visit her website: https://www.alisparkes.com.

Sue Edser, a recent graduate with an MA in Creative Writing and Publishing from Bournemouth University, was her backup. Think Paul Daniels’ lovely assistant, Debbie McGee, but with more writing than magic tricks (and more jumper and jeans than leotards and leopard-skin print). 


This week, we continued the senses and focused on hearing. Both groups listened to sounds Ali created and described them in a sentence or two. The writers heard high-pitched bells and thought they sounded like Santa’s sleigh, glistening crystals or birds chirping. There was rattling, which someone thought reminded her of the sea shaking, and another person, a scorpion’s warning. Ali dropped rice on a metal lid, and the writers described it as a hailstorm in a junkyard, milk poured on Rice Krispies, and sausages frying in a pan.

The Junior writers joined in with the concept of sound and created their own dramatic soundscape by finishing each round by drumming their pencils. 

The main writing exercise involved listening to an audio of a thunderstorm and imagining themselves captured in the dark. Ali rose to the challenge of reading one story with evil laughter. Give that woman an Oscar!

The Junior Writers were given words describing a sound, such as buzzing, hissing, or a baby crying. Then, they were divided into pairs and threes to write some dialogue beginning with, ‘What’s that noise?’ The Young Writers were given the same words but tasked with adding this to their stories inspired by the thunderstorm. The results were a cacophony of creativity, including filling wells, awakening from dreams and beginning a nuclear war. Extraordinary writing this week. Well done, everyone.

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