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20 March 2026

Posted by Andreina Cordani

Junior & Young Writers Week 9: Eldritch Horror

Both groups were enthusiastic about this week’s theme and everyone arrived eager to unleash the weirdest, wildest side of their imaginations.

They started by describing their week as a sea creature – from angler fish to Nessie, and then both groups warmed up with Buzzy Bees. The Junior Writers came up with some ideas for a haunted house, filling the rooms with the scariest possible furniture, including a sofa made of ice and a night-stand drawer that makes whatever is inside it vanish. There were suggestions that if your hand got trapped in the drawer somehow, that would vanish too.

The Young Writers did a monster-swap exercise, writing descriptions of their own eldritch creature then swapping with another writer to make a sketch. Tentacles and multiple eyes were a recurring theme, even before we looked at one of HP Lovecraft’s characters, Hastur.

Frankie explained some of the themes of Eldritch Horror – including forbidden knowledge, strange creatures, science and discovery. We also discussed the theme of madness, the idea that seeing such horrors could affect the mind, or that you might be considered mad because of what you claim to have seen.

The writers took some of these themes and wrote a piece in a setting of their choice. In the junior group there was a darkly funny Under The Sea (think Lovecraft meets The Little Mermaid) and a tale of a kid who could make monsters with her mind. The Young Writers came up with a strange landscape that turned out to be a living creature, and a visceral tale of being swallowed by a monster then escaping, only to be picked up and swallowed again. The writing was very sensory, with plenty of soft, damp, sticky and gooey textures. There were also quite a few lava mountains. Not to be confused with volcanoes.

Finally Frankie set a challenge, to write a scene from the point of view of the monster itself and these went in all kinds of different directions. One monster started out with a heartfelt apology that slowly morphed into extended bragging. A cursed book, which had caused a brutal death-by-chicken-nuggets, defended itself with the words: “It’s not my fault if my small print is so small it looks like it’s been written by ants. I just tell the truth.”

Proof that writing builds empathy for just about anything!


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