Brenda Liddy

“Chiaroscuro” by Brenda Liddy

Write a story that begins in the light and ends in darkness, or the other way around. Chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro is the ‘disposition of light and dark in a picture’. It literally means ‘bright-dark’ and it comes from the Italian ‘chiaro’ which means ‘clear and bright’ and ‘oscuro’ from the Latin ‘obscurus’ meaning ‘obscure’.  In art, chiaroscuro means the contrast between light and and dark and the technique was developed by famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-161...

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“Common Things That Are Suddenly Special” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #91

Write about a character stumbling upon a library book that changes the course of their life, for better or worse. Common Things That Are Suddenly Special When I was studying for my teaching degree at the University of Ulster, in 2007, I came across a wonderful book called The Pillow Book, by Sei Shōnagon. I was in the university library at York Street and I was supposed to be working on one of my assignments on learning styles and VAK self-assessment questionnaires. I decided to browse the bookshelves and I just happened to pic...

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“Portrush: The Neptunists and the Vulcanists” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #90

Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery. Portrush: The Neptunists and the Vulcanists Jennifer Quinn had been listening to the news in Ulster Television about the upcoming golf championship known as The Open. She heard that it had been played at the Royal Portrush in 1951, and it was won by an Englishman, Max Faulkner. There was an air of feverish excitement and sound bites about this being Northern Ireland’s biggest sporting event and the organisers were con...

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“A Leap of Faith: ‘The place to leap from, the horizon to leap into, and the emptiness that lies between’ ” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #89

A Leap of Faith: ‘The place to leap from, the horizon to leap into, and the emptiness that lies between’  In his book Poetic Leaps in Zen’s Journey of Enlightenment, Yong Zhi discusses the term ‘leap’ as a metaphor for a breakthrough in Zen practice:  The term leap is both a philosophical notion and a vivid metaphor for the experiences of enlightenment, the breakthrough in Zen practice. The term implies both the interruption from the disclosed (the leaped-from) and the coming to the horizon (the leaped-into), which ...

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“New Wine in Old Bottles ” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #88

Write about an author famous for their fairy tale retellings. New Wine in Old Bottles  Angela Carter was born in Eastbourne in 1940. She has been described as one of the most brilliant and innovative writers of the 20th century. In 1979, she published The Bloody Chamber which was a collection of subversive fairy tales. She said that, ’I am all for putting new wine in old bottles, especially if the pressure of the new wine makes the old bottles explode’. She wanted to tell the stories from a feminist point-of-view. Cha...

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“A Piece of Cake or Humble Pie?” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #84

A Piece of Cake or Humble Pie? Marie said to her friend Jane, "I am going to order a face shield from Amazon as I think it will give me more protection." Her friend, a social worker said, "I hate wearing a face mask, when communicating with my elderly clients". And she added, "I don't think I will ever get used to it".  Marie was not expecting to get a call from her co-ordinator at the College in Belfast a week before term commenced so she wondered if something was wrong. “We want you to deliver the module online” John said. “T...

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“We Must Bid You Adieu ” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #83

Write about someone who’s lived on a tropical island their whole life and is leaving it for the very first time. We Must Bid You Adieu Maria had never heard of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate change activist nor has she ever heard of the shrinking ice caps and the loss of habitat for polar bears. She has not seen the poignant images of polar bears on ice floes searching for food. But she knows something is seriously wrong with the climate. In her village of Tebontebike, in Abaiang she is photographed standing beside an uprooted cocon...

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“Information is Power” by Brenda Liddy

Write a historical fiction story about someone working at a company that helped revolutionise early computers. Information is Power ‘Information is power’ is a well-known saying. Nowadays we can get news at the click of a button and we do not have to rely on newspapers or radios in order to find out what is happening in the world. If we want information on a topic, all we have to do is enter the word or the term into Google Search. If you typed ‘what is a computer?’ into the Google search engine, you would get this definition: A comput...

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“Alone Under the Moon” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #81

Alone Under the Moon Lorna knew that her husband’s career meant he would have to spend time away from her and the children. In fact, she had met him in NASA and she knew what marrying an astronaut would involve in terms of long absences from earth. But she was sure they could cope with these separations. One of the astronaut’s wives called Alison said, “You will get used to these separations. Just make sure you have your hobbies and interests and don’t let yourself get into a rut”. And Lorna did have a few hobbies and she was close to Alis...

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“Good Friday’s Children ” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #80

Write about a child witnessing a major historical event. Good Friday’s Children   My name is Patrick Sweeney.  I was born on Good Friday 1998. Sometimes I wonder if it was a good Friday. In Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer Huck remembers that it’s Friday, an ‘unlucky’ day, and they put off treasure-hunting until later. Sometimes I wish I had been born on a Sunday because ‘the child who is born on the Sabbath Day is bonny and blithe and good and gay’. A funny thing happened today. Our English teacher was filling in our...

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“Cutting the Ties ” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #79

Write about someone who decides it’s time to cut ties with a family member. Cutting the Ties  Jim and Brian were brought up on a farm in County Antrim in the 1950s. The ‘Troubles’ had not started officially but beneath the calm exterior, there was trouble brewing.  Their parents, Angela and James Quinn were a hardworking couple who owned a small farm. They had ten cows, a few sheep and some chickens. The brothers enjoyed helping out on the farm after school and they soon learned how to rig up the milking machines in the ...

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“There is More than Glass between the Snow and the Huge Roses. Louis MacNeice ” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #77

When she was at primary school, Carmel learned about the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter. Her teacher, Mrs Bennett was a creative sprite and she used to get the children to draw pictures of each season and Carmel enjoyed these lessons. She came from a local farm, in South Derry and from an early age she was aware in the spring, the fields were ploughed, the seeds were planted, and in the autumn the crops were harvested.  When she went to Queen’s University, in 1975, she stayed in Aquinas Hall which was student accommod...

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“Prometheus: the Fire Bringing God” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #70

Write about someone who’s so obsessed with a goal that it leads to the destruction of their closest relationship Prometheus, was the Titan God of ‘forethought’. He had a brother called Epimetheus which means ‘afterthought’. Prometheus was an important figure in Greek mythology and his story shows that even mythological Gods can become so obsessed with a goal that they forget that their actions have consequences. But before Prometheus became possessed with his obsession, he played with his brother Epimetheus. Before their serious mil...

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“My First Journey Into Space” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #67

Write a space adventure story that features a visit to an alien marketplace. My First Journey Into Space The year is 3020 and I am writing this log to record my first journey into space. I had applied for this trip over the past few years but I had been knocked back. I was turned down by the selection board because I was deemed too valuable at Mission Control because of my technical expertise. I was one of the team of flight dynamics officers who communicated with the astronauts and for too long I checked their coordinates, planned their...

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“Nel Mezzo Del Cammin di Nostra Vita/ Midway Along the Journey of Life’” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #66

A Character Who Makes a Dramatic Life Change to Pursue a Goal They’ve Secretly Always Wanted Nel Mezzo Del Cammin di Nostra Vita/ Midway Along the Journey of Life’ Sarah was a middle aged woman and she was in a rut. She had attended a meditation retreat and she had been struck by the quotation from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy which was about waking up ‘midway along the journey of life’ and finding yourself in a dark wood, because the speaker had ‘wandered from the straight path’. As she was driving home to her apartment in Belfast, s...

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