The Crossword Tipster
Develop a story set in a bustling metro police department where officers must solve a crime involving an anonymous tipster who communicates only through cryptic crossword puzzles published in the city’s daily newspaper.
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.
- Tell it from the point of view of a suspect who is lying about something else.
- Give the victim a secret the reader learns before the detective does.
- Start with the confession, and make the story about why it's false.
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 Police Procedural prompts
- The Handler's Cold CaseAt the retirement party of an esteemed police dog handler, a retired German Shepherd reacts in an unexpectedly aggressive way towards a guest.…
- The Memento in the AlleyA notorious gang leader is found dead in an alley, and the first officer on the scene takes a personal memento from the crime scene - a decision that…
- The Evidence Room CluesDuring a routine audit of the evidence room, a young detective notices irregularities with the items logged from a decade-old unsolved case. Explore…
- The Detective's Last CaseA notoriously dedicated small-town detective, set to retire in a month, stumbles upon a series of cryptic notes left in random locations around town.…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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