The Cleaner and the Crime
Your protagonist is a crime scene cleaner who discovers evidence that the police missed at a murder site. Choosing to investigate on their own, they unwittingly become entangled in the local underworld. Detail their secret double life, juggling normalcy by day, and delve deeper into the crime by night.
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.
- 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.
- Make the detective wrong at the midpoint, for a good reason.
Writing crime fiction
Not who did it, but why, and whether they'll get away with it.
Crime fiction covers any story built around a crime, and it's often told from the criminal's side. Where a mystery is a puzzle, crime fiction is about people: the pressures that lead to the crime, and what it costs everyone involved.
What readers expect
- A crime at the heart of the story
- Moral gray areas
- Criminals as real people
- Tension over who gets caught
A tip before you start
Give your criminal a reason the reader understands, even one they'd never act on themselves.
More Crime Fiction prompts
- The Crime Novel Comes TrueA crime novelist witnesses a crime that eerily mirrors a scene from one of their unpublished manuscripts. Using their deep understanding of crime…
- Pieces of a Coastal CrimeWrite a story set in a small coastal town where everyone harbors secrets. A local journalist starts receiving pieces of a shredded photograph that…
- The Librarian’s Crime NotesA small town librarian discovers a series of notes hidden inside various books that predict local crimes before they happen. Write a story about how…
- Fires in the Wealthy DistrictDuring the hottest summer on record, a series of fires sweep through the wealthiest neighborhoods, leaving devastation in their wake. A rookie…
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