Mystery – October 10

“Life is never as long as we want it to be, and wasted time can never be recovered.”- JD Robb, born this date in 1950 alongside Nora Roberts. Writing prompt: Write a scene describing your protagonist’s perfectly wasted day.

Mystery – October 9

“I’m impossible to direct. I couldn’t get myself to do anything.”- Tony Shalhoub, born this date in 1953. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which the thing that your protagonist considers most annoying competes for her/his attention at a crucial moment.

Mystery – October 8

“Lies! All lies! You’re all lying against my boys!”- Kate “Ma” Barker was born on this date in 1873. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns the brains behind a crook is the crook’s mom.

Mystery – October 7

“Expect the worst and you won’t be disappointed.”- Helen Clark MacInnes, born this date in 1907. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist expects the worst and discovers his/her expectation was a best-case scenario.

Mystery – October 6

“Two men entered his car from the front platform, presented revolvers at either side of his head, took his key, opened the local safe, and rifled it of all moneys.”- The Indianapolis Daily Herald, reporting that the Reno brothers carried out the first train robbery in U.S. history on this date in 1866. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is called to solve the first infraction of its kind ever...

Mystery – October 5

“Grat Dalton and Bill Powers each received mortal wounds before they had retreated twenty steps.”- Newspaper editor David Elliott, who on this date in 1892 witnessed the townspeople of Coffeyville, Kansas shooting the Dalton Brothers to pieces as the gang tried to rob C.M. Condon & Company’s Bank and the First National Bank. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must figure...

Mystery – October 4

“My name is Ed Rivers.”- Talmage Powell — who wrote more than 500 short stories and novels as Robert Hart Davis, Robert Henry, Milton T. Lamb, Milton Land, Jack McCready, Anne Talmage, Dave Sands, and Ellery Queen — was born on this date in 1920. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers that a person of interest answers to several different names.

Mystery – October 3

“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”- Sam Spade, as portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, in The Maltese Falcon, which premiered on this date in 1941. Writing prompt: Write a scene of nothing but dialogue between your protagonist and the person who committed a crime against your protagonist.