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

25 January 2025

Posted by Susan L. Edser

Plot

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 and click on her profile: https://artfulscribe.co.uk/facilitators/ali-sparkes

Susan L. Edser, MA graduate in Creative Writing and Publishing and winner of Bournemouth University’s prestigious Vice Chancellor Award 2024, is Ali’s assistant and writes the weekly blog. To learn more about her, click on her profile: https://artfulscribe.co.uk/facilitators/susan-l-edser


The writers were invited to begin with a classic Frankenstory. This involved each child and young person taking turns to write a story, one sentence at a time. Ali began it with the part-completed sentence, ‘When the car finally came to a halt’ and then the writers continued it. The stories weaved in unpredictable directions, involving characters like Jeff and Taylor Swift, and ending with screaming mums, everyone dying, and the story being a dream. The Young Writers told funny stories about eating at Burger King, dancing the Macarena and meeting an unpleasant Easter Bunny.

We then explored plot and thought about how to make the following passage more dramatic: 

Sam walked into the station, bought a ticket and got on the train.

He sat in his seat and watched the countryside go by.

Then he got up, and got off the train.

Both groups came up with brilliant ideas, such as the train derailing, the driver going missing, or the carriages getting bombed. They thought of what Sam saw out of the window, which even included killer sheep! Of course, it did…

Ali explained that the plot can be told from Sam’s point of view, but it can also be revealed from other perspectives, such as the railway worker, farmer or passenger. Ali used her ‘Box of Wonder’ [cue ‘ooo’ sound] and allocated different characters to each writer to narrate the story from their subject positions. The Junior and Young Writers wrote compelling narratives built on the earlier discussions. 

We ran out of time for the Junior Writer of the Week (look out for two winners next week!). Congratulations to Olivia, the Young Writer who won Writer of the Week for her unique perspective of a wing walker. Well done, Olivia!

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