The Typewriter's Cold Cases
After purchasing an old typewriter from a garage sale, a crime novelist starts receiving typed notes on their doorstep that describe unsolved cases from the 1950s. Initially seeing it as fodder for their stories, the novelist begins to suspect that the typewriter itself holds the key to solving these cold cases.
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.
- Limit it to one location and one night.
- Let the most helpful witness be the one with the most to hide.
- Tell it from the point of view of a suspect who is lying about something else.
Writing mystery books
Who did it? You get every clue and a fair shot at the answer.
A mystery opens with a puzzle, usually a death, and closes with the solution. In between, a detective (professional or not) gathers clues and suspects while the reader tries to get there first. A mystery looks backward, at a crime that has already happened.
What readers expect
- A crime or puzzle early on
- Clues, suspects and red herrings
- A detective the reader follows
- A solution that is surprising but fair
A tip before you start
Play fair. Every clue your detective uses should appear on the page first, ideally hidden in plain sight.
More Mystery and Crime prompts
- The Officer's First CaseOn the eve of retiring, a seasoned police officer stumbles upon an old, unsolved file that turns out to be the first ever case they worked on.…
- The Birthday Case FileA retired detective receives a mystery birthday gift: an old, unsolved case file from his past, now with a new clue enclosed. As he dusts off his…
- Murder at the Writers' RetreatA famous crime novelist attends a writer's retreat and becomes unwittingly embroiled in a real mystery when one of the attendees mirrors the murder…
- The Letter Before the CrimeA renowned detective receives an anonymous letter predicting a crime that will occur in 24 hours. The letter details are vague, pointing only to a…
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