Mystery – January 18

“We need to have a talk on the subject of what’s yours and what’s mine.” -Stieg Larsson’s Mikael Blomkvist, born on this date in 1960. Writing prompt: Write such a dialogue between your protagonist and someone who’s unclear on the matter.

Mystery – January 17

Al Capone was born on this date in 1899. His vast criminal empire was brought down by his failure to pay taxes. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your antagonist’s downfall occurs because of something relatively insignificant.

Mystery – January 16

“Artists are always good for conversation, so long as you want to talk about their art.” -Craig Johnson, born this date in 1961. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist tries to have a conversation with someone who wants to talk about anything else.

Mystery – January 15

“A riot is the language of the unheard.” -Martin Luther King, Jr., born on this date in 1929. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a conversation turns violent because one person can’t understand what the other is saying.

Mystery – January 14

“The essence of fascism is to make laws forbidding everything and then enforce them selectively against your enemies.” -John Lescroart, born this date in 1948. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist manipulates the outcome of a conflict by selectively enforcing rules to favor one of the participants.

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.