• Excerpt 1: Cristabel Packs. This is sort of a "nothing" chapter with Crissi rattling on about nothing while getting ready to be shipped off to boarding school. It's actually not particularly bad (compared to some of the stuff from later), but you'll see how the narration flow worked.

• Excerpt 2: The Saunderses Meet Zam. This one's truly horrible. Crissi and Ben meet their first classmate. Unrealistic interaction ensues.

• Excerpt 3: Cristabel Calls Her Mom. After making some disturbing discoveries about the purpose of their "school," the twins decide they want to call their parents and see if they can convince them to let them come home. This one isn't really horrible but it's still pretty bad.

• Excerpt 4: Ben and Cristabel Discuss Her Name. This short conversation isn't bad. Ben asks his sister to justify her desire to be called by her full name instead of a nickname. He makes her a promise. It's kind of sweet.

• Excerpt 5: The Cleaning Lady. This was dumb overall, but I think I thought I was being funny. . . . I think this shows I was never meant to write humor.

If you were amused by this and want to see more old bad writing, be sure and check out the "ancient history" section of my writing page.

If you're curious about my current skills in the long fiction department, check out the novels in my "current projects" section.