Mystery – February 22

“If someone really interests you, you’ll learn about them yourself.” -Richard North Patterson, born this date in 1947, in his Edgar-award winning debut novel. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist sets out to learn about someone who really interests him/her after their first encounter.

Mystery – February 21

“He dreams about being wanted and desired. So he changes people into beings who want and desire him.” -William Petersen, performing as Will Graham in Manhunter (Hannibal Lecter’s first film), who was born on this date in 1953. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is laughed at for explaining a transgressive person’s true motive.

Mystery – February 20

“One is what one has the nerve to pretend to be.” -Alan Furst, born this date in 1941. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s nerve to pretend to be someone else fails half-way through the bluff.

Mystery – February 19

John Frankenheimer was born on this date in 1930. One of  film history’s greatest directors of mystery thrillers, he once said, “I have gotten to a point in my life where I don’t want to have dinner with someone I don’t like.” Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protag must share a meal with someone s/he dislikes.

Mystery – February 18

“If the storytellers told it true, all stories would end in death.” -George Pelecanos, born this date in 1957. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist tells an untrue story to avoid hurting a vulnerable crime victim.

Mystery – February 17

On this date in 1847, Edgar Allan Poe was awarded $225 in damages — plus 6 cents for legal costs — in a libel case in which Thomas Dunn English called him “thoroughly unprincipled, base and depraved … not alone an assassin in morals but a quack in literature.” Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must defend her/himself from charges about her/his character that are...

Mystery – February 16

William Katt was born on this date in 1951. Writing prompt: Write a scene from your protagonist’s childhood in which s/he first pretends to be the superhero your protag want to be when s/he grows up.

Mystery – February 15

TV-show Batman’s The Joker, Cesar Romero, was born on this date in 1907. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist encounters a “bad guy” s/he’s confronted too many times to count.