Young Writers Society

She only had herself to sulk with. Screaming was just shouting at the walls, who didn't really care that a perfectly good story had been ruined. Su left the pastel-coloured confines of her attic bedroom, climbing down the rope ladder that connected her room to the rest of the house.

'Dad! Dad!' Her voice seemed to hang around in the empty rooms.

Probably in another meeting. There seemed to lots of meeting to attend, and who was a daughter to stand in the way of success? Su wasn't bitter about her father's career. She just wondered who would end up regretting it one day...

The living room was bitterly cold, and the chill seemed to run up her spine and hide on the back of her neck. She took a blanket from the sofa and wrapped it around herself until she was in a snug turquoise shell. Shuffling forward to the buzzing television, Su reached out and turned the dial. A vivid, black and white image seemed to slide from the dark screen and filled the room.

'And now, on BBC1, here it is, the latest adventures of Detective Barnaby West and his assistant Thelma Dewdrop.'

The only thing more fun than writing her stories, was watching the TV show that she'd based them on. The rugged detective with his pinprick stubble, sharp suits, and a hardened edge to his chocolate brown eyes. Unfortunately, there was Thelma too, a blonde rake of a woman with all the personality of a hat stand. Su didn't like Thelma, especially the longing looks she gave to Barnaby.

In Su's stories, Thelma was rarely seen. Only occasionally, to fall over or get used as bait. She has been replaced by the brunette bombshell that was Marie Greystone, a young private investigator with a feisty attitude and legs to die for.

Su became enveloped in the program, blinking only when her eyes threatened to explode. She imagined how Marie would've been pasted into the episode, and imagined the scenes she might've been. The half hour was over before she knew it, outside the sky was darkening and the streetlights were emerging as if from nowhere. He still wasn't back.

There was always the issue of food. Marie's favourite dish was a cheese and mushroom pasta accompanied by a glass of wine. Maybe Su would have chips.

**********

School was a scary place. It just seemed to loom over the buildings that surrounded it, condemning them to shadows while it claimed all the light. Victorian and riddled with moss, it made no attempt to be welcoming and friendly.

Su had been going to Stoneley Comprehensive School for three years and her stomach still knotted itself into a balloon animal every time she caught sight of it. Su stood at the gates, engaged in her daily staring competition with its dark, metallic doors. They always won.

Someone handed her a flyer at the entrance. She barely noticed, only examining it once she was in the corridor. It read 'School Dance '76- Be there!'

There was a dance on? She wouldn't go anyway. Full of new faces and judging eyes. For all the negative things that could be said of televisions, they never judged.

*****

(Thanks for all comments so far. Still not very fantasy-ish yet but we're just about to get there)

Hi there!

Su smiled faintly at the memory, though the memory was merely a flicker on the screen of her mind.

channeling her mind

with a royal blue ink, [s]with[/s] and the

Snoopy is middle name...

Hey there Gazza,

The problem with this piece is that some of the ideas are rather vague and under developed. For example:

Su Grey had never wanted to write. She had just picked up a pen and started doing it. Her first story had been about a talking cat called Arthur. The teacher had told her to stop writing, as it made the other children look bad. So in the next installment Arthur had eaten a teacher. Whole.