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.

SciFi/Fantasy – July 9

“More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way.” -Glen Cook, born this date in 1944. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist commits an evil deed for what s/he believes is the right reason.

Literary – July 8

18-year-old Ernest Hemingway was wounded on this date in 1918 by an Austrian mortar while serving in Italy during World War I. Writing prompt: Write the scene from earlier in your protagonist’s life when the injury that defines him/her occurs.

Romance – July 8

“After all those years as a woman hearing ‘not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,’ almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, ‘I’m enough.’ ” -Anna Quindlen, born this date in 1952. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a loved one makes your protagonist feel s/he is not enough.

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:...

SciFi/Fantasy – July 8

On this date in 1947, the Roswell Daily Record reported that a UFO had crashed near Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico on July 2. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist tries to convince her/his community that a highly unlikely event occurred, and succeeds in convincing only those members that your protag would rather not have associated with her/his energies.