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.

Mystery – October 13

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 along with Nora Roberts on this date in 1950. Writing prompt: Write a scene describing your protagonist’s perfectly wasted day.

Mystery – October 9

Tony Shalhoub was born on 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

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.