Mystery – July 14

Dave Rudabaugh — the only man known to have crossed paths on both sides of the law with Dave Mather, Bat Masterson, Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday (whom he taught to use a pistol, and from whom he learned to gamble) — was born on this date in 1854. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns a valuable skill from an accomplished criminal who is notably less...

Mystery – July 13

Writing prompt: Write the scene of your protagonist’s most paralyzingly terrifying mistake during high school.

Mystery – July 12

“Who’s a boy gonna talk to if not his mother?” -Donald E. Westlake, born on this date in 1933. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist tells his/her mother of a proud moment and is surprised to learn mom disapproves.

Mystery – July 11

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.  It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.  You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” -Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, published on this date in 1960. Writing prompt: Write a scene in...

Mystery – July 10

“It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” -Sir William Blackstone, born this date in 1723. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must choose between letting a person your protag knows to be guilty go free or implicating a person your protag knows to be innocent.

Mystery – July 9

“Sometimes there is no darker place than our thoughts, the moonless midnight of the mind.” -Dean Koontz, born this date in 1945. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist, amid a crowd, is alone with her/his most horrifying thought.

Mystery – July 8

“Like art, love, and pornography, noir is hard to define, but you know it when you see it. For the purposes of the book and my longtime working understanding and definition of it, noir stories are bleak, existential, alienated, pessimistic tales about losers — people who are so morally challenged that they cannot help but bring about their own ruin.” -Otto Penzler, born this date in 1942. Writing prompt:...

Mystery – July 7

“Government takes away a certain amount of liberty and in some countries it takes away all of liberty. And it will, everywhere, if people who fight government do not fight government any longer.” -William Kunstler, born this date in 1919. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns that someone your protag knows is guilty will get away with the crime because the government violated...