-Garth Nix, Frogkisser!To a pot or vessel of brass over a medium fire, add a pint of witches’ tears, two feathers fresh-pulled from a cockatrice’s tail, six pea-sized stones of three-day-old hail from a mountaintop…
Thus begins a very important recipe that sends an intrepid hero off on a quest. It’s by no means the first of its kind: a collection of items that one must collect or actions that need completing to fulfil some great purpose has been part of literature down through the centuries. As with a lot of literary tropes, it’s been reinvented time and time again.
So, it’s your turn: write a story (200 words or more) where the plot is kickstarted by a recipe, list or set of instructions. It can be as fantastical/convoluted or mundane as you like so long as it’s creative.
You’ll earn 20 beans for completing this prompt as well as it counting towards the chance to snag our shiny Quill and Ink award.
There is no deadline as such for these prompts but if you’d like it to count towards your chance of earning the award for a specific year, we’ll need it by the end of that school year. If you’re comfortable sharing, then post below. If not, email your story to us via hol.bookclub @ gmail.com (without the spaces). Oh and remember it’s a good idea to check through your piece carefully for spelling and grammatical errors as they make it harder for people to properly enjoy your work.