Flashers on the Ralla

It's the last sentence that's really brilliant!

Yes, it reads like an anecdote told in a Scotty Road pub. Loved it. A dark twist to the old coming of age story.

I like what I've seen so far of her writing, the way her sense of humour comes through even though she's describing an injustice
Not Drunk and Disorderly

yes the last sentence is great as it hints what the follow up stories could be about!

Scary. I hate to bring my ABC politics into this, but this is where I see Chant's third person drive idea coming in. I think this kind of dark story would be better incorporated into a fictional form - autobiography has always influenced writers, but most find it to their advantage to distance themselves from real life experiences by putting a character in their place. Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' being a famous example. Short autobiographical anecdotes are fine for this site, but I see potential novels in this work. Anyone agree?

Yes. Then what happens is that you take a germ of personal experience and fictionalise it and people think its all you - take "Youre a good girl aren't you?" - on my set NO I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THE LINK -the bookshop was real but the rest totally made up - and if the whole novel ever makes the light of day SOMEONE will say urrgh did you really do all those horrid things? and the answer will be yes and no. But if you write autobiography you have to take the flack or bland it down I prefer embellishing and using my imagination and i think leela should think about turning it into a 'story'. i would buy it.

It reminded me of Willy Russells "The Wrong Boy"... I liked it. I only read that this summer.. it was entertaining.

Thanks everyone. I was just telling it like it was. I take the points about incorporating real life into fiction, although I'm not that confident in my fictional writing ability yet. But I think part of the appeal of autobiographical pieces is just the fact that they are true.