Suspicion at Thirty Thousand Feet
Create a tale about an airplane passenger who overhears a suspicious conversation between two fellow travelers. Initially dismissed as paranoia, a series of strange occurrences during the flight forces the protagonist to act, even though their own past may not withstand scrutiny.
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.
- Let the reader know something the hero doesn't.
- Cut every scene the moment the tension drops.
- Put a clock on it: the hero has until midnight.
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 Thriller and Suspense prompts
- Messages from the CabinOn the night of a total lunar eclipse, a hiker finds a satellite phone in an abandoned cabin deep in the woods. The phone begins receiving bizarre…
- The Librarian's Winter DriveDuring a severe winter storm, a small-town librarian finds a hidden USB drive inside a returned thriller novel. The drive contains unexplained…
- Threat Above the AtlanticConceive a plot centered around a flight attendant on a transatlantic flight who overhears a suspicious conversation that points to an imminent threat…
- Codes in the ClassifiedsWrite a story where a small-town journalist discovers a series of coded messages in the classifieds section of their local newspaper. The journalist's…
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.