ABSTRACT This study sought to discover if drama were a particularly useful tool for developing children's skills in imaginative writing and for motivating them to write. The imaginative writing of children who had experienced drama was compared with that of similar children who had taken part in discussion work. Would the experience of drama help the children to meet the writing task more effectively in areas such as lexis, structure, voice (writing‐in‐role) and expressing ideas and emotions?. Reasons for these results might involve the nature of drama work—here‐and‐now involvement, the role of the teacher and reflection after working in role, for example.