Mystery – January 13

“Nouns and verbs are the guts of the language. Beware of covering up with adjectives and adverbs.” -A.B. Guthrie, Jr., born this date in 1901. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist suspects a person is covering up a crime because of that person’s flowery language.

Mystery – January 12

“It was a great game, and exciting and dramatic and even at times tragic — but funny it emphatically was not.” -John Cecil Masterman, author of An Oxford Tragedy and several other acclaimed mystery novels and head of the Twenty Committee, the group that ran all of Britain’s double agents in WWII, born on this date in 1891. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails to find any humor in...

Mystery – January 11

Raymond Chandler met Dashiell Hammett on this date in 1936 at a dinner for contributors to Black Mask. Writing prompt: Write a scene that foreshadows a rivalry between two great talents.

Mystery – January 10

The Sopranos premiered on this date in 1999. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist catches a bad guy who’s more concerned about a minor detail of her/his family life than the fact that s/he’s just been busted.

Mystery – January 9

Stuart Woods was born on this date in 1938. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist finds among a collection of family mementos an antique law official’s badge spattered with dried blood.

Mystery – January 8

Wilkie Collins was born on this date in 1894. He wrote 30 “sensation novels,” the precursor to modern detective and suspense fiction, and his work famously highlighted social challenges of the time. Writing prompt: Write a scene revealing your protagonist’s response to a social issue that s/he believes too many people ignore.

Mystery – January 7

On this date in 1964, The Pink Panther premiered and introduced the world to Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a total fool infuriates your protagonist until the fool causes your protag to discover an essential fact.

Mystery – January 6

On this date in 1854, Thomas (or, perhaps, William) Sherlock Scott Holmes was born on the farmstead of Mycroft, near Sigerside, in the north Riding of Yorkshire. To Holmes, one woman was so significant in his experiences that he described her always as “the woman.” Writing prompt: Describe your protagonist’s “the” woman or man from the point of view of your protag’s best...