Those who beg for mercy...

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.