Relationship Thesaurus Entry: Imaginary Friend and Child

Successful stories are driven by authentic and interesting characters, so it’s important to craft them carefully. But characters don’t usually exist in a vacuum; throughout the course of your story, they’ll live, work, play, and fight with other cast members. Some of those relationships are positive and supportive, pushing the protagonist to positive growth and helping them achieve their goals. Other relationships do exactly the opposite—derailing your character’s confidence and self-worth—or they cause friction and conflict that leads to fallout and disruption. Many relationships hover somewhere in the middle. A balanced story will require a mix of these dynamics.

The purpose of this thesaurus is to encourage you to explore the kinds of relationships that might be good for your story and figure out what each might look like. Think about what a character needs (good and bad), and build a network of connections for him or her that will challenge them, showcase their innermost qualities, and bind readers to their relationship trials and triumphs.

The following is just a sample of the content available for this relationship. To see it in its entirety (along with 45+ additional relationship entries), check out our Description Thesaurus Collection at One Stop For Writers.

Imaginary Friend and Child

Description: Up to sixty percent of children construct an imaginary friend, either by assigning a personality and attributes to a stationary object (like a stuffed animal, doll, or action figure) or by creating an invisible one from the fabric of their imagination, so this can be a good element to being into your story. The child’s behavior and relationship dynamics between the character and this imaginary other is different in each case. A tangible object friend tends to become something they care for and protect (a parental or caregiving relationship) while an invisible friend is a companion the child treats as an equal. This latter type can be a person, animal, or…

Negative Outcomes of Friction
Shouting at the imaginary friend and having them become “mad” (when the child’s regret kicks in and they realize they acted poorly)
Having hurt feelings if the friend’s imagined personality takes on a life on its own and they say or do something cruel in response
When parental pressure to give the friend up causes the child to feel self-doubt and insecurity, and this manifests in a fight with the other over their role or by questioning their importance

Ways This Relationship May Lead to Positive Change
The child gains confidence through care-taking and mentoring
A child who had a hard time advocating for herself may learn how to do so through advocating for her friend
Having someone to share trials with leads to gained courage

Themes and Symbols That Can Be Explored through This Relationship
A Fall from Grace, Alienation, Family, Freedom, Friendship, Innocence, Instability, Isolation, Loss, Love, Perseverance, Rebellion, Teamwork

Other Relationship Thesaurus entries can be found here.

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