David Maybury | Blog

Not too long ago I let slip that Patrick Ness was running a competition on through the Guardian. He set the task of writing a story that began:

A bell rang and I opened my eyes. I thought, ‘Oh, no, not him, anyone but him’.

and ended with:

Then she let go of my hand, and I fell and kept falling.

The competition was open to anyone under 16 and living in the UK  (that exludes me anyway…) but some smart who-be-wots-its did enter and managed to win a prize or two.

16 year old Lauren Stokeld managed to win the  overall prize (a whopping £50 book ­token, a signed copy of Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go and a set of 10 children’s ­fiction books from Walker) The winning story is up over on The Comic page along with the two runner-up stories, by Megan Humphrey and Callum Puttock. Congrats!

Go on, have a read.