The Bankruptcy Paper Trail
During a high-profile bankruptcy case involving a once-prominent construction company, an intern at a law firm discovers a pattern of transactions that suggest a large-scale money laundering operation. With only her astute observational skills and a moral obligation, she must convince her superiors to take action, finding herself navigating a maze of threats and deceit within the shadows of corporate power.
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.
- Put a clock on it: the hero has until midnight.
- Trap your hero in one place they can't easily leave.
- Raise the stakes from personal to public halfway through.
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
- 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…
- The Lawyer and the Laundered MillionsWrite about a corporate lawyer who uncovers evidence that the multinational corporation he works for is laundering money through international banks…
- The Judge's Secret SyndicateIn a city where crime rates are at an all-time low, a renowned judge is accused of being the leader of an underground crime syndicate. A…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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