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Brenda Liddy

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

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One Fine Day

Write a story about a voyage on a boat One Fine Day I was brought up on a farm in County Derry and we did not have lakes. There was a well on the farm and a few streams but no lake. The nearest seaside town, Portstewart was about twenty-five miles away. So earth, rather than water was the main element in my life.  For the first twenty or so years of my life I was never on a boat. In my Irish class our teacher taught us a song about a boat.  Báidín Fheilimí d’imigh go Góla, Báidín Fheilimí is Feilimí ann. Báidín Fheilimí d’i...

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The Truth is Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Oscar Wilde

Write about a character pretending to be someone they’re not. The Truth is Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Oscar Wilde  In fairy tales, there is no room for ambivalence: As Bettelheim wrote: “The figures in fairy tales are not ambivalent-not good and bad at the same time, as we all are in reality. But since polarization dominates the child's mind, it also dominates fairy tales."  Cinderella is good—her stepsisters and stepmother are wicked through and through. There is no possibility that the wicked characters will ever have ...

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Common Things That Are Suddenly Special

Start or end your story with a character noticing the beauty in something they've seen hundreds of times. Common Things That Are Suddenly Special  The Pillow Book, by Sei Shōnagon She was a Japanese author who served as a court lady to the Empress Teishi in the mid-Heian period around the year 1,000 during which time she composed her pillow book which was in effect a collection of observations, impressions, opinions on everyday life in the court, including the highs and lows of aristocratic life. After reading the book a few ...

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Giant Steps Are What You Take

Weekly Contest #105

Write your story from the perspective of a side character. Giant Steps Are What You Take  On July 20th 1968, When Commander Neil Armstrong stepped out of the Lunar Module Eagle and stepped onto the moon and said the iconic words – ‘one small step for man one giant leap for mankind’, the people on Earth held their breath’s because they could not quite believe that at last a human being had actually walked on the moon.  J. Patrick Lewis, poem ‘First Men on the Moon’ celebrated the landing on the ‘Eagle’:  These are the f...

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Pink-eyed Pimpernels and Peacocks

Weekly Contest #103

Write about a character looking for a sign. Pink-eyed Pimpernels and Peacocks  The word ‘sign’ means a ‘gesture or motion of the hand,’ and comes from the Old French signe, meaning ‘sign’ or ‘mark’ and from the Latin signum, meaning, ‘identifying mark, token, indication, symbol’. It also means ‘proof, military standard, ensign, a signal, an omen, sign on the heavens, or constellation’.  I grew up on a farm in County Derry, and I suppose from an early age, I heard my father talking about the weather. A farmer needs to be in ...

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Climb Into His Skin and Walk Around in It

Start your story with a metaphor about human nature. Climb Into His Skin and Walk Around in It In Harper Lee’s brilliant novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus gives this advice to Scout: “First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.  The Native Americans have a saying which echoes this advice—don’t judge anyon...

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Over My Dead Body

Weekly Contest #101

Write a story in which the same line recurs three times. Over My Dead Body: The Rule of Three Boris Johnson has reiterated his promise that businesses in NI will enjoy unfettered access to GB after Brexit, declaring that “there will be no border down the Irish Sea – over my dead body”. (13.08.20) Tayto Crisps are one of the most popular and well know snacks in the North of Ireland—even Liam Neeson and Rory McIlroy are fans. You could almost say Tayto enjoys a regal status because the factory in which they were made was actually a ca...

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The Orpheus

Weekly Contest #100

Start or end your story with two characters sitting down for a meal. The Orpheus  When John Murphy attended the University of Ulster’s Art College in York Street Belfast, his favourite building on the Campus was the iconic Orpheus. In this building, his father and mother had sat down for their first meal together.  This building was constructed in 1932 by Samuel Stevenson and it was a fine example of Art Deco.  Orpheus was regarded as the most brilliant music player in Ancient Greece. Orpheus and Eurydice had a doomed ...

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How the Heavens Go

Write about the longest day of the year, or a day that never seems to end. How the Heavens Go  On June 21st the summer solstice is celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere. In Ireland, the sun will rise at 4.47 am and set at 21.57, and we will have 17 hours of daylight. In the early sixteenth century, Copernicus, the Polish astronomer created a stir when he claimed that the earth was not static but in fact it orbited around the sun. Prior to that, people believed Ptolemy, who declared that the earth was at the centre of the univer...

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Titanic

Weekly Contest #98

Start your story with a character having a premonition, but no one believes them. Titanic No mortal eye could see The intimate welding of their later history My grandmother had a premonition that the Titanic would sink on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. But no one believed her.  If you ever visit Belfast, you will probably go to Titanic Belfast, which is one of the most famous tourist attractions in the world. The attraction documents the place where the Titanic was designed and built and then describes its maide...

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A Window of Opportunity

Weekly Contest #97

Set your story within a window of opportunity, when a character finally has the chance to do something. A Window of Opportunity  ‘The great bay-window was Spawning snow and pink roses against it’ The word window came from the Old Norse word vindauga which means ‘wind-eye’.  An opening was cut in the wall in order to allow air in and smoke out. In 1618 a word was invented called defenestration, which means the ‘action of throwing out of a window’. Two Catholic deputies were tossed out of a window in a cast...

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A New Light

Weekly Contest #96

Write a story about strangers becoming friends, or friends becoming strangers.  A New Light I did not decide to come to Ireland willingly but was brought here as a slave in the early fifth century. It was the worst day of my life. I had heard my father Calpurnius saying, ‘Irish pirates have been carrying out raids over the last few months. Not only are they stealing livestock but children as well to herd the animals.’ His mother Conchessa replied, ‘We will need to be extra vigilant’. I listened but was not overly concerned because...

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The Dilemma

Weekly Contest #95

Start your story with someone being presented with a dilemma. The Dilemma  The word dilemma comes from the Latin dilemma via the Greek word dilemma meaning ‘double proposition’. Di means ‘two’ and lemma means, ‘premise, anything received or taken’. And the root word is lambanein which means to take. The biggest dilemma Billy ever faced in his life was whether to vote to stay in Europe or to leave the union. He lived in a small farm in County Down and he was not an overly politically ...

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A day Without Work is a Day Without Food

Weekly Contest #94

End your story with someone finally conceding to another’s point of view. A day Without Work is a Day Without Food Baizhang (720–814) was a famous Zen Master who lived in China during the Tang dynasty. In a famous collection of koans called The Gateless Gate there is an intriguing story called The Wild Fox Koan. It sounds like a folktale. Basically an old man used to listen to Baizhang’s sermon every day.  Baizhang’s growing curiosity led him to question the old man.  It transpired that the old man had ...

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The Other Side of the American Dream

Weekly Contest #93

The Other Side of the American Dream (inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby) Bob Scott and Betty O’Malley worked at Gatsby’s mansion in West Egg, Long Island. Basically they were part of the team who were responsible for keeping the mansion spic and span and who tidied up after Gatsby’s lavish parties. They could not believe how such refined people could leave such a mess. They saw the other side of the American dream when they picked up the champagne glasses and empty bottles, the plates, the cutlery—the half eaten baked h...

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