Spies on Maple Street
Write about a rookie spy assigned to surveil a mundane suburban neighborhood, only to uncover a network of spies from various countries all living next door to each other. They have to figure out why this neighborhood was chosen without blowing their cover.
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.
- Make the person helping your hero the one to worry about.
- End a scene on a phone call, a knock or a name.
- Let the reader know something the hero doesn't.
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
- 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.…
- The Singer's Hidden MicrophonesWhile cleaning an old attic in Vienna, a retired opera singer discovers a hidden collection of microphone-equipped vintage props. Suspecting they…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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