I’ve just found an old notebook that contained my first set of scribbles about the Scream Street series.  Made around four years ago (October 2006), the notes show my early ideas for the characters and stories – most of which had changed a great deal by the time Walker Books acquired the series a year or so later, and even more so when the first Scream Street books were published in October 2008.

Luke Watson was there at the beginning, although his parents were Mike and Della (later Mike and Sue).  The family were moved to Scream Street by GHOUL – Government Housing of Unusual Lifeforms – which, according to the notes, was headed by Otto Chillchase.  By the time I’d finished the first draft, the head of GHOUL had gone, but I obviously liked the name, because Zeal Chillchase later became a GHOUL Tracker in Scream Street 6: Claw of the Werewolf.

Cleo and Resus were in the original notes (although there was an extra ‘h’ in Rhesus back then).  Cleo’s surname – now Farr – was Himpotep and her dad was Ramses (later changed to Niles).  Interestingly, Cleo also had a cat, called Asp!

Here are a few of Scream Street‘s other regular characters along with the names I originally planned to give them…

Eefa Everwell was going to be Myrtha Everwell

Sir Otto Sneer – either Sir Grady Moore or Sir Wanton Moore (I remember wanting to make him sound greedy)

Mr & Mrs Crudley (bog monsters) – Marcus and Wilma Pendegrast (no idea where those names came from!)

Doug, Turf and Berry (zombies) – Rocky, Thunder and Flint (oh dear!)

Dr Tarsal Skully – Dr Ribton Scully (OK, I can see that one…)

In my original plot notes, I had decided to make the poltergeist attacks that plague Scream Street in the first book purely a phenomenon that affected Luke’s new home, number 13.  They would, I shudder to admit, actually be a horde of goblins that moved too fast for the human eye to detect them.  They’d been put there by Sir Grady Moore to try and scare the residents away as he planned to sell the land Scream Street was built on.  I even toyed with the idea that Luke’s dad would have died several years earlier and now be a ghost.

I’m so glad I developed the series further!

Tommy

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