My living situation

I’ve just begun a Masters of Creative Writing at Sydney’s University of Technology. The subject first up is Creative Non-Fiction.

I thought I’d share a little of my writing that I have to submit week-to-week. Why not?

Describe your current living situation in factual detail. Do not use any emotional language.

The house is cold as it is old. In the winter, the bricks and stone are starved of sufficient sunlight to warm the interior. A series of strategically placed heaters and air conditioners must do the work that nature cannot.

The front room belongs to another couple — the original inhabitants of the house. In the morning their room is bathed in light. Our room, located adjacent, is dark and cold, though somewhat redeemed by an out-of-commission fireplace surrounded by decorative tiles.

In the hallway two finely-crafted faces emerge from supporting beams. They stare at one another with full cheeks, their mouths upturned in a slight smile that has remained frozen on their pale faces for more than a century.

Write a dramatised scene which typifies your current living situation. Again, avoid using emotional language.

I fumble again at the front door, my cloned key never quite seeming to fit the lock it was cut for.

As I enter I find the door to the front room shut tight. Muffled voices and electric light seep out from underneath the wood.

My steps echo down the hallway. As I reach its end the door opens like clockwork, granting passage to the regent prince of the household, a small poodle-cross, who has come to demand his daily tribute. I comply, kneeling down so the dog can place its front legs on my thigh to receive his due. He soon tires of the attention and returns to the master bedroom, the door closing behind him.

In the lounge I pass one of my housemates. With dark and downcast eyes he fails to register my presence — or actively shrinks away from it. He retreats dinner in hand to the same secretive front room.