RECITING the poems she wrote when she was just 14, tears well up in her eyes. Each word is a painful reminder of the torment she suffered through her school years – just because she is lesbian. School bullies called her names, tried to push her off her bike and even harassed her online leaving her so low she tried to take an overdose.

But now Victoria Munro, 17, is celebrating after having her first novel published – and she now hopes to face the homophobic bullies by raising awareness of the effects of their actions.

Kiss Chase, published by an American company and available online, is about a teenager called Joanna who is coming to terms with her sexuality after the sudden death of her mother.

“She’s worried about what people think and she wants to fit in and appear normal”, Victoria said. “My biggest battle has been people’s reactions to me. My experience at secondary school was very negative. I felt I was victimised because of my sexuality and I wanted to write a book so teenagers could identify with it.

“I want people to read it and say “that’s how I feel” to know they are not a freak for being a lesbian. “You have to stand up for what you believe in and I hope through being open about my experiences I can help other people.”

For Victoria the revelation she was lesbian came when she was just 12. She said: “It was at Christmas and a girl, my friend, gave me a Christmas card. “She smiled at me and it was like an epiphany, it was like something from a film.

“I had a diary at the time and I wrote in there ‘I fell in love today but I can’t tell you who it is.’

From that moment the teenager’s understanding of her sexuality changed. At first she wasn’t sure whether she had feelings for all girls. But she gradually came to realise and accept she was a lesbian and two years later decided to tell her family and friends.

Her mum – and best friend Carol was among the first people she told. The Totton College student, said: “I told mum in a letter – I said something along the lines of ‘I have known I’m not straight since I was 12, I hope you aren’t too shocked that I don’t like boys, and that you can love me still’.

"I was staying at my dad’s house that night so left it under her pillow and the next day we went to the beach, it was summer 2009, August, and I remember we were lying on the beach and she turned to me and said “I got your letter” and I burst into tears, and she said she loved me no matter what.

“She was shocked because you think a stereotypical lesbian may have been a bit of a Tom boy but my room is pink and I have always been really girly. I have always loved Barbies, and dresses and pink things.

“We have always been quite close but the fact that she has accepted me and helped me so much with my sexuality has brought us a lot closer and I feel I can tell her anything now, and she is my best friend.”

But the support she experienced at home was cruelly contrasted by bullying at school. And it became so relentless she thought about taking her own life.

“No one thought about how it was affecting me and making me feel. None of the teachers were particularly helpful either and I even overheard one teacher say to another ‘If she didn’t want to be bullied, she shouldn’t have come out.’ “It made me feel worthless and I hated myself.

“I tried to take an overdose because I found out my ‘friends’ had set up a fake Facebook account. They told me you are useless, you are worthless, you are nine on the ugly scale.”

The savage bullying was soon overpowered by a tremendous sense of standing up for herself – and others’ rights. She set up an online support group and decided to put pen to paper and in just two months wrote the novella, which is available in libraries across Hampshire.

Victoria, who has plans to publish more books in the future and go on to study English and creative writing at university, said: “Homophobia is a big problem in schools and I think we need to talk about it more.

“If someone reading this is going through what I went through and thinking they are a freak I guess the message is you are not. Once you have accepted yourself and told people, it is not as bad when you are thinking about it and it is all building up inside.

“Be true to yourself. Don’t pretend to be someone you are not and if you are a parent of someone who is gay don’t think it is a choice, no one would chose to be gay because all the stuff that comes with it.”