Aliens and Austen

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

Ali used last night’s rare planetary alignment as inspiration for the junior writers. The first exercise was to create their own alien, thinking about its name, voice and desires. They stretched their imaginations and conjured aliens that smelt like caramel, chocolate and all things sweet; were good at making ‘ooo ahh’ noises; and whose weakness was onions and cucumbers. They were then tasked with writing about their first encounter with the alien. As you can imagine, some of these were scary, including futuristic wars. Ali asked the writers to think of five pieces of information they would tell their alien about planet Earth and the human species. Their ideas were inspired:

• Not all humans smell good

• Sue and Ali are the best

• There are such things as bullies and unlike me, they are monsters

• Family and friends stick together, most of the time

• We can walk, but not fly

• People do their hair

• Caramel wafers are the best, but sticky

The coveted ‘Writer of the Week’ prize went to Zoya for her descriptive writing and brilliant advice for an alien, including the need to shower! Great writing, Zoya.

In the second morning session, Ali welcomed the young writers into the room, with whimsical, piano music playing. She expressed her delight at seeing them and suggested they put their cloaks and bonnets on the coat stand. This gave them the first hint that they were in for a different experience to usual. Today, we were entering the world of Jane Austen. Ali read excerpts of Pride and Prejudice to inspire them and then ‘Fill in Fun’ continued the theme. The young writers did a terrific job spinning their words in the spirit of Austen and afterwards, we all had lashings of ginger beer… sorry, I got carried away!

Ali asked the writers to imagine they were going to a party with a friend. She set the piece in the present day and wanted them to describe what happened. Background party music played to help create the right ambience. The young writers created their stories but had to switch midway from their usual narrative style to write in an Austen manner. The group managed this shift well, especially Tilly, who did a sterling job adapting her story from one era to another. She won the top ‘Writer of the Week’ spot for it. Splendid, Tilly!

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Aliens and Austen