Mystery – October 19

“You just don’t know writers. They’ll use anything, anybody. They’ll eat their own young.” -Philip Marlow in The Singing Detective as portrayed by Michael Gambon, born on this date in 1940. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist gets embroiled in a dispute between an authority and the authority’s...

Mystery – October 18

Lee Harvey Oswald was born on this date in 1939. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers that someone who everyone thought capable of nothing except screwing up has actually pulled off the crime of the century.

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 protag’s integrity.

Mystery – October 16

Alafair Burke was born on 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 stolen.

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 the prolific Ed McBain — born this date in 1926, wrote these lines in the script for Hitchcock‘s The Birds. Writing prompt:...

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.