Think noir is dead? Think again, gumshoe. Strip away the fedoras and trench coats, swap in burner phones and bad coffee, and you’ve got a gritty tale just waiting to be written. Your detective has a Spotify playlist of regrets, a browser history full of mistakes, and a murder that won’t solve itself.
✍️ Fiction Writing Prompt:
Your main character is a private investigator with a past they’ve paid to have erased. When a suspiciously analog note shows up in their PO box—the kind only someone from the “before times” would send—it forces them to reopen a cold case that got someone killed… maybe even them.
Starting Example:
The coffee tasted like regret and stale hope—just the way he liked it. My office was the back room of a failing yoga studio, and my newest client wore Chanel and desperation. She handed me a note written in cursive, which meant either she was serious or psychotic—possibly both.
🧠 3 Deep-Dive Questions:
- What is your detective hiding from, and who still remembers the truth?
- How does technology complicate justice in a world already short on it?
- What moral line will your character cross—and will they regret it?