I was
attending a writers’ group in Oldham for a while, a couple of years
ago. We’d warm up for the sessions with a written exercise at the
beginning of the meeting. As a group we’d look for writing
competitions and writing prompts in magazines and on websites. On one
week, a group member found a competition in a TV Times magazine, who
were looking for new crime-writing talent. The weekly mag wanted
short story submissions in the crime genre that must begin with this
opening line:
In
my experience, those who beg for mercy seldom deserve it.
We
used this prompt phrase as an exercise, and spent a few minutes
developing our stories. Here's my attempt.
--
In my
experience, those who beg for mercy seldom deserve it. The theory
behind this is, if you know you’re not guilty, you don’t have to
beg. After all, who begs if you don’t have to?
The
alibi saw the attacker fleeing in a red waterproof. The team had
scoured the CCTV and on that day there were two people captured on
camera matching that description. Made them both guilty as hell, one
after the other. We bent the rules a little- circumstances dictated
it- and told each man they were the only suspect.
Michael
Bishop, a distressed young man, sat in the plain room looking at the
floor.
I took
a chair. “You think any lawyer is going to pluck you out of this?”
I tried to ask as calmly as I could, suggesting I was presuming his
guilt. I wasn’t presuming anything.
“Well,
yeah,” he said. “And he’ll help me to sue you for defamation of
character.”
“Give
it your best shot. I look forward to see you in court.”
*
Later,
with Mr. Bishop counting the bricks in his cell and joking arrogantly
with the officers, we dragged Robert Neild into the interrogation
room, the cameras watching his every move.
He was
shaking as he slumped in the chair. “Look,” he said. “Yes, I
was on the street.”
I’d
not even asked him a question.
“You
can’t do this to me. I was provoked. He was gonna kick me head in.
I was just, um… pre-empting it.”
I
raised my eyebrows, encouraging him to continue.
--
I
think in order to write a realistic police story, you’d need
knowledge of police procedure. I don’t have it. That’s one of the
reasons I never developed this, and it sat in an ageing notebook in
my cupboard for a couple of years.
However,
if you're looking for more inspiration try Writing Magazine and
Writers' Forum: two good publications for authors and poets. The
magazines often feature competitions and prompts that could be used
by writing groups as opening exercises. Find them in WH Smith and
other outlets.
For
more creative writing prompts online, see here.
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