Writers block

The First Chapter: A Fantastic Idea

Charlie Maloney held her pen over her notepad, unsure of what to write next. She liked to write and attempted to do it every day, but the muses appeared to have deserted her recently. She sighed as she crumpled the sheet and put it into the overflowing trash can. Nitra, the world she had imagined on the drive home that week, was wonderful. It was filled with castles, dragons, and a terrible king. Charlie had been bursting at the seams with eagerness to write about it. When she sat down, though, her mind went blank.

She exhaled deeply, flipped back to the first page of her notepad, and began again. She chose to start with the foundation of every story: The Setting.

Nitra is a mountainous area that is home to nine kingdoms: Eadlynne, Sephya, Marlowe, Ethyne, Ximernyne, Diorra, Lestionne, and Fierton. The largest kingdom is Eadlynne, followed by Diorra and Sephya.

"Charlie, it's supper time!" Her mother called from the basement.

Charlie groaned and slid her ringed notepad closed. It had originally belonged to her sister. It had the scent of her fruity perfume. Everything is perfect! She used to loathe it with all her heart, but it was all she had left of her sister. Diana Maloney was killed in a vehicle accident three years before. Charlie climbed down the dizzying spiral staircase, into the kitchen, where her mother was cooking their lunch, grilled chicken and noodles, clutching the tiny book.

"Not this again!" She complained. "We had the same thing last week."

Her mother ignored her protests and placed two plates on the table. Charlie ate her meal without saying anything. Despite the meal's boredom, she was ravenous. She started walking back up the stairs when she completed her plate, but her mother objected.

"Aren't you going to tell me what you did today?"

"Uh, sure." She bowed out. Since Diana's death, talking about each other's days had become an unavoidable part of her routine. "I, UH ... received a B+ in math today."

Her mother shook her head. "In math, Diana always received straight A's."

"All right, so I got an A+ in English..." Charlie elaborated.

"English-Shminglish. Writing fairytales will not get you into college." Her mother spits venomously at her.

Charlie grumbled and turned to mount the stairs, oblivious to her mother's barrage of invective. Nitra was all she could think of. Oh, she had the most amazing characters to populate her universe. Thade, as well as Waverly and Mae...

And then there's the story twist... Oh, the plot twist. It was incredible, heartbreaking, and dreadful. As were most story twists.

She was nearly aching to write in that thin, leathery diary by the time she had seated at her desk. She took out the journal and stroked her fingertips over the soft material for a few moments before unclipping the clip that held the book together and opening it to a page titled characters. She began taking notes on the colours of her eyes and hair, as well as imperfections and perfections. The strange part was that the characters acted more like buddies than humans. She could build them herself, determining whether they were friends or foes.

The pages of her notepad began to flip unexpectedly. And it wasn't her who flipped them, but rather a blast of wind. But... the window was shut. Charlie felt herself fading into oblivion as her sister's perfume filled the room. The room gradually faded away until there was nothing left of it.