Mystery – October 17

“Integrity is something you sell the public.”- Walter Chalmers in Bullitt, which premiered on this date in 1968. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a superior orders your protagonist to violate your protagonist’s integrity.

Mystery – October 16

“The human mind is capable of greatness, but we have been trained to process information with efficiency, which can sometimes mean superficially. We grab on to salient identifiers, often at the expense of devoting attention to more nuanced details.”- Alafair Burke, born this date in 1969. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is invited to a home from which every single thing has been...

Mystery – October 15

Melanie Daniels: On Mondays and Wednesdays I work for the Travelers Aid at the airport.Mitch Brenner: Helping travelers?Melanie Daniels: No, misdirecting them. Salvatore Lombino — better known as Evan Hunter, Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, Ezra Hannon, Richard Marsten, and Ed McBain — born this date in 1926, wrote these lines in the script for Hitchcock’s The Birds. Writing prompt: Write a scene in...

Mystery – October 14

“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”- Hannah Arendt, born this date in 1906. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes the person who committed a horrible transgression has no idea why s/he did it.

Mystery – October 13

“I was like you once. I didn’t know who to trust. Then I chose another path . . . another life, another fate.”- Fox Mulder, born this date in 1961. Writing prompt: Rewrite your favorite scene from your work in progress or a recent writing exercise from the perspective of another character in the scene.

Mystery – October 12

“When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonora, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.”- James Crumley, born this date in 1939. Writing prompt: Write an opening line to top that one.

Mystery – October 11

“You never know what somebody might tell you,” Chris said, “when they think you’re somebody else.”- Elmore Leonard, born this date in 1925. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns something unexpected because s/he is mistaken for someone else.

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.