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

15 February 2025

Posted by Susan L. Edser

Invisible Friend

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 Junior and Young Writers were met with an empty chair and paper, water, and a snack on the table. They discovered that Sue’s imaginary friend, Infri, had joined the session. Infri had forgotten her pen, but fortunately, our writers had a spare they could lend her. 

This opened up a discussion about their own imaginary friends, followed by a writing exercise about their ‘real’ imaginary friends, or ones made up for the task. The Junior Writers had a Taylor Swift lookalike and an assassin, while the Young Writers described childhood imaginary friends who were ghosts and a blob man who loved wearing sombreros. Infri surprised everyone by completing her fill-in sheet, and her imaginary friend was Sue! See the photo if you want a chuckle over her answers.

Ali then introduced the ‘Fortunately / Unfortunately’ writing exercise. This involved writing a sentence about a good thing that happened but then changing it to the reverse. The writers passed the statements to the next person, who continued the passage. Ali and Sue unfortunately had a grisly death, but fortunately, it was all a dream.

During break time, the Junior Writers needed to calm down (too many imaginary friends had joined us, I think), so Ali led them in some yoga tree standing. The photos prove what a talented bunch we have.

Finally, the groups were challenged to write their best work to win ‘Writer of the Week’. The Junior Writers were given the first sentence: ‘Mum, [fill in their invisible friend’s name] is here. Can they have some tea?’ Willow won for her excellent story structure and surprise ending. Great work, Willow. The Young Writers were asked to begin with: ‘So,’ sighed the detective. ‘Apparently, everything that happened is actually the fault of [fill in name], your invisible friend.’ Zena won the prize for her funny and deep story, told from the point of view of her imaginary friend. Well done, Zena!

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