The Lawyer and the Tech Magnate
A rookie lawyer accepts a high-profile case defending a tech magnate accused of a massive privacy breach. However, the deeper she digs, the more she suspects her client may be a pawn in a much larger conspiracy involving national security. Write about her journey as she battles foes both seen and unseen, her legal skills tested to their limits along with her moral compass.
Suggested length: A short story: 1,500 to 5,000 words, or flash fiction under 1,000
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- Raise the stakes from personal to public halfway through.
- Open with the threat already in motion, not the setup.
- Make the person helping your hero the one to worry about.
Writing thriller books
Something terrible is coming. Can they stop it in time?
Where a mystery looks back at a crime, a thriller looks forward at a threat. The reader often knows more than the hero, and the tension comes from watching danger close in. Short chapters, high stakes and a ticking clock are the tools of the trade.
What readers expect
- A clear, escalating threat
- A hero under pressure
- Twists and reversals
- Pace: little time to breathe
A tip before you start
Put a clock on it. A deadline the reader can count down turns every scene into a race.
More Legal Thriller prompts
- The Last Human Defense LawyerA legal thriller set in a futuristic society where AI serves as the judge and jury, and human lawyers are virtually obsolete. The protagonist, one of…
- The Bankruptcy Paper TrailDuring a high-profile bankruptcy case involving a once-prominent construction company, an intern at a law firm discovers a pattern of transactions…
- Letters Before the VerdictWrite a story about a retired judge who receives threat letters aimed at influencing his final, landmark verdict. As he tries to unravel the source…
- The Courthouse Murder FileA small town lawyer stumbles upon a decades-old case file hidden in an abandoned wing of the local courthouse. The file contains details of a…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
Chapterly gives a draft somewhere to grow: chapters, daily word goals, and readers when you're ready.
Plans from $9.99 a month. Cancel any time. Your words are always yours.