Budding Authors Club
Budding Authors is an invitation-only club run by Mr. McMahon which meets after school each Thursday in the school's computer room. Many members are talented writers but the most important quality is a love for writing stories and poetry. Pupils are encouraged to enter competitions (both internal and external to the school) and to work on their own projects during free sessions. Most club nights, however, involve the completion of specific writing tasks designed to boost the children's understanding of what constitutes an effective piece of creative writing: atmosphere, tension, focused vocabulary, advanced description, thoughts/feelings of characters, effective dialogue, etc. etc.
Once a term there is a short story competition which all members are encouraged to enter. Sometimes these competitions have a theme and/or word limit. Our most recent competition, Christmas 2023, challenged the children to write a complete, standalone story of exactly 100 words. The winner was Louis Fruchard with his story "Death". Honourable mentions go to Freddie Cooper for his "Emerald Trinket" and Seb Bridges for "Up". All three of these stories may be read below.
If a child wishes to join Budding Authors, they should ask Mr. McMahon for an application form.
“Death” by Louis Fruchard - 1st place
The fire roared and crackled. Destroying everything in its path. Trees, buildings and cars. However, no one knew about it. It was night and everyone was asleep.
They went on sleeping without knowing that death was just waiting outside their front door.
The heat from the fire was intense like a furnace or kiln but instead of baking clay it was burning properties, gardens and monuments. And while all this was happening people were dreaming.
The fire then crept into houses. People began stirring due to the heat and staring at the horrific sight.
They screamed. Nothing could be done.
"The Emerald Trinket" by Freddie Cooper - Runner-up
I mined the minerals, I struck a green gem. Nothing. No spark, crack or movement.
Was this jewel invincible?
I excavated around it before yanking it out. It had a weird green luminosity - I felt energetic, powerful, indestructible yet oddly disorientated at the feeling.
The next day, I took the rock to a geologist who seemed awestruck by the sight of it. "This," he stammered, flabbergasted, "is an infinite source of energy to anything it touches."
My jaw instantly fell and my eyes grew with excitement.
There was only one thing in my head - I am going to be famous.
"Up" by Seb Bridges - Runner-Up
My palms sweated as I gripped the bars. I look sideways to another person who is relentlessly wailing, that gave me no comfort whatsoever, so I turned the other way and faced the void that awaited until it could swallow me whole. It climbed and climbed.
I felt a strange sensation rising up inside me, I wasn’t going to cry and I knew that but another feeling rose, a better feeling – a more powerful feeling that was coming from my heart a soul that has never been released . I made a cry of happiness as I raced down the rollercoaster.
