The Spy's Last Mission
Write a story about a retired spy who is forced back into one last mission to save an old colleague thought to be dead. As the truth unravels, it becomes clear that nothing and no one is as they seem, including their own memories.
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.
- Open with the threat already in motion, not the setup.
- Make the person helping your hero the one to worry about.
- End a scene on a phone call, a knock or a name.
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 Spy Thriller prompts
- Spies on Maple StreetWrite about a rookie spy assigned to surveil a mundane suburban neighborhood, only to uncover a network of spies from various countries all living…
- The Stolen Cybersecurity AlgorithmAfter a top-secret algorithm capable of breaching advanced cybersecurity is stolen, a cybersecurity expert with a shadowy past is recruited by an…
- Spouses on Opposing SidesDevelop a narrative where a spy's personal and professional lives collide disastrously when they discover their spouse is also in the espionage…
- The Spy’s Birthday CardYour character is a retired spy who's pulled back into the game when they receive a cryptic message hidden in a birthday card from their grandchild.…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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