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

04 October 2025

Posted by Susan L. Edser

Scriptwriting

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 went full steam ahead on the next stage of creating their plays by learning how to scriptwrite. Ali discussed the style and form of a script and provided one of her own plays to demonstrate how it is presented. To help this process with their plays, she had taken the storyboards from the previous week and converted them into a basic script format. This included a cast list, stage direction and prompts for dialogue. The children and young people formed into their groups and went to work on filling in the gaps and developing their stories. 

The Junior Writers worked on three scripts: Fear of Fur, Aliens and Fear of Flying. Ali and I supported each group by reading through their scripts with them and discussing how the dialogue could advance the story. We also discussed group work and how to respect each other’s voices by listening and encouraging each person to contribute.  

The Young Writers worked on two scripts: The Psychopath Next Door and The Ghostfather. The teams took on the task immediately and divided into subsets to work on specific parts. They read their scripts to each other, and Ali made some suggestions, such as introducing a new character to enter the corner shop and considering how to foreshadow future events. 

This week, there were no prizes for an individual writer of the week, but everyone’s collaboration was recognised and appreciated. Writing a script that will be performed by actors is a big feat for anyone, and our Junior and Young Writers are doing themselves proud.

I also had an important announcement. After 18 months as Ali’s assistant, I will be leaving to lead a new writers' group. My last session with the Junior and Young Writers will be just before the half-term holiday, on 18th October. ArtfulScribe’s new apprentice, Amelia, will be the lucky person to join the Saturday morning writing groups.

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