15. I hate …

I’ve written many stories featuring things I love, such as marshmallows, robots, explosions and time travel. On the other hand, I’ve also written many stories that include things I HATE, such as long queues in the post office, peeling off band-aids that have been left on for too long, trying to find a toilet in a multi-level shopping centre when you’re busting, and don’t even get me started on brussel sprouts …

‘Brussel Sprouts’ (Just Disgusting!)

A great thing about things you—and/or your characters—hate is that you’ll never run out of subjects to write about.

And chances are that you’ll feel better for having made the effort to put your feelings into words. If your piece is read by others, it might make them laugh. Or cry. Or feel outrage on your behalf. Or perhaps it will simply reassure them that they’re not the only ones who feel that way.

 

Many of the stories in the Just series are powered by Andy’s endless rage against, well, practically everything!

18 Things Andy hates

1.  Jeremy Smart
(‘I hate Jeremy Smart!’, Just Doomed!)

2.  School holidays
(‘I am a robot’, Just Shocking!)

3.  His annoying sister Jen
(‘In the shower with Andy’, Just Annoying!)

4.  Jen’s annoying boyfriend, Craig
(‘Copycat from Ballarat’, Just Annoying!)

5.  Caravan holidays
(‘Shut-up!’, Just Disgusting!)

6.  Brussel sprouts
(‘Brussel sprouts’, Just Disgusting!)

7.  Trying to find a toilet in a multi-level shopping centre
(‘Busting’, Just Stupid!)

8.  Long queues in the post office
(‘Andy’s Handbag’, Just Doomed!)

9.  Brown blobs in the bath
(‘Two brown blobs’, Just Disgusting!)

10.  His neighbour’s scary garden gnome
(‘Wish you weren’t here’, Just Annoying!)

11.  Sitting behind people with big hair at the movies
(‘The last Jaffa’, Just Annoying!)

12.  The Wiggles, his grade 4 teacher Mr Bradley, Macduff the garden gnome
(Just Macbeth!)

13.  Maths
(‘Andy’s Action-Packed Maths Program!!!’, Just Doomed!)

14.  Babysitting his annoying little cousins
(‘Um-mah!’, Just Crazy!)

15.  Not winning the school short-story competition
(‘Kittens, puppies and ponies’, Just Crazy!)

16.  The sound of a snail being stepped on
(‘Snail aid’, Just Stupid!)

17.  Going to bed
(‘Go to bed!’, Just Disgusting!)

18.  Thinking you are a hero putting out a fire only to wake up to find you are actually dreaming and have wet the bed
(‘Busting’, Just Stupid!)

TRY THIS

Make an ‘I hate’ list

Try writing a list of everything you hate—real things, imaginary things … I don’t care, as long as you hate them!

See if you can come up with at least five, and when you’ve got five see if you can come up with ten, and when you’ve got ten see if you can come up with twenty … or more! (Don’t you hate it when I keep pushing you like that?)

Be specific; don’t just say ‘chores’, say exactly which chores you hate.

For instance, things you might hate could include:

•  Certain types of weather

•  A particular food

•  The way some adults speak to kids

•  Certain rules

•  Annoying animals

•  Music

 

… OR THIS

I hate, I really, Really Hate!

Choose one of the things on your list of things you hate and, using the fast-writing technique on page 96, write about it in detail for at least five minutes.

Describe it in a way that makes your reader feel the same way you do about the thing you hate.