I dare all of you mystery writers out there to have a masked villain in a costume, like in the old pulp magazines and movie serials. (The Octopus and Gargoyle from the two Spider serials are good examples, as is Atom Man from the second Superman Serial. And, of course, let's not forget the Scorpion from Captain Marvel!)
Double Bonus Points if you show your villain having trouble collecting a gang of henchmen (and/or henchwomen, of course) because they don't take him/her seriously.
Triple bonus Points if the masked villain is a lone wolf because nobody wants to follow them.
While I'm at it, I also dare you to make the butler the murderer.
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Blackout in Tinseltown 2004 (Winner)
The Door Into No Place 2005 (Winner)
For the Good of the Legion 2006 (Winner)
Bottled in Blonde 2007 (Winner)
Counting Electric Sheep 2008(?)
30,635 / 50,000
Sep 28, 2008 - 16 37
I dare you to give each of your characters elaborate men's hairstyles, from bald to afro, from butch to flattop, from dreadlocks to pompadours, etc.
http://www.ftmguide.org/haircuts.html
http://coolmenshair.com/
91,265 / 50,000
Sep 29, 2008 - 07 50
I dare you to give your main character a stuffed animal sidekick.
Double points if it stays inanimate and doesn't further the plot.
26,707 / 50,000
Sep 29, 2008 - 19 16
I dare all who read this to have your MC smack someone in the head hard enough for it to hurt with an unusual object that shouldn't hurt.
Examples:
A loaf of bread
A paper fan
a rolled up robe
etc.
40,017 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 05 48
I dare all of you to have your crime-solver carry around a spyglass
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34,050 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 11 09
I must say, I'm quite disappointed here. Not one of your dares has anything to do with the genre. The point here, ladies and gentlemen, is to create dares that are relevant to mysteries, so as to help people come up with ideas.
OK, let me give you another example: I dare you to do what I did for my first nano, and intend to do again this year. I dare all of you to write a mystery that doesn't revolve around murder. I double dare you to do what I'm going to try to do: write a mystery with no deaths, not even "...but I thought you were dead..." as a cheat.
37,673 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 13 12
Sideburns, I am just about starting to plot, but I had thought of something like that as well - for a change.
It's not going to be that easy, because with mystery novels, of course it's soo easy to kill off a few minor characters and surprise the readers, enhance the story...
But I think the dare is a good one, so I'm considering it.
I'll come up with a dare in a while, so remind me if I don't!
Cheers,
Barbara
60,525 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2008 - 08 49
Ok, I´m considering to take on dares about the stuffed animal, the loaf of bread of the paper fan and the spyglass. Already I think about places to fit them in.
34,422 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2008 - 10 49
OK, here are some dares:
1) Your detective resorts to a Magical Eight Ball at some critical juncture in the case.
- Extra points if Magical Eight Ball is wrong.
- Double extra points if Magical Eight Ball turns out to be the reincarnation of an ally of the criminal.
2) A key piece of evidence was eaten by an animal and later recoverd from their doo doo.
- Extra points if animal craps directly on the detective's shoe.
- Double extra points if the animal was mistreated by the criminal and ate the evidence on purpose.
3) An eye-witness of the case is a person with Alzheimer's.
- Extra points if the person helps the detective with seeminly nonsensical rhymes.
- Double extra points if the person was faking Alzheimer's for a reason that makes with the plot.
0 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2008 - 13 26
I dare you to...
...write a mystery plot in which no crimes have been committed or are being investigated. (I've thought of at least one way this could be done already!)
...have the main character discover that half their clues were pointing to an ARG or some other puzzle-based scavenger hunt type game, and thus were red herrings. Bonus points if they weren't red herrings after all.
...have a Mexican standoff between the investigators and investigated using weapons that aren't guns. Bonus points for Nerf.
...use no guns at all, especially if you're writing a traditional hardboiled detective story.
26,707 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2008 - 18 41
I have a few more:
- Have the MC consult a psychic at least once.
Bonus points if they are actually related.
Extra bonus points of they use something other than tarot cards and palm readings (rune stones, smoke, bones, etc.)
- Have the MC kiss a co-worker, if only to shock them into shutting up long enough to think.
Bonus points if they follow the MC like a lost puppy.
Extra bonus points if said co-worker is of the same gender.
Super extra bonus points if it was in front of multiple witnesses.
- Have some kind of decisive evidence be sabotaged.
Bonus points if more than one was destroyed.
Extra bonus points if the room said evidence was in blows up.
Super extra bonus points if someone on the case other than the MC was responsible.
34,050 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2008 - 22 31
Your first dare is a slam-dunk for me. My MC has a friend who's a vampire, and techno-mage. Doc Sideburns can sometimes tell the future, but he's not always right. BTW, does this count for the Magic 8-Ball dare as well?
26,707 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2008 - 08 28
Hm.... I don't really know. It's definitely different! Go ahead and count it if you want!
30,635 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2008 - 01 01
Ah, but any of these dares COULD have something, everything to do with the mystery, or with solving it!
33,970 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2008 - 00 46
Raymond Chandler, discussing the difference between Hammett's hardboiled writing and the more traditional cosy styl eof murder mystery:
"Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means at hand, not with hand-wrought duelling pistols, curare, and tropical fish."
You challenge - to include hand-wrought duelling pistols, curare, and tropical fish in the story.
Bonus points if someone is actually killed with one of the above.
Double bonus if all three are used to commit murders.
Special insanity bonus points if the murder has no reason, other than someone trying to use the means mentioned by Chandler, for the Hell of it.
Other things Chandler envisages which could used as dares:
"But fundamentally it is the same careful grouping of suspects, the same utterly incomprehensible trick of how somebody stabbed Mrs. Pottington Postlethwaite III with the solid platinum poignard just as she flatted on the top note of the Bell Song from Lakmé in the presence of fifteen ill-assorted guests"
DARE - Have a character called Mrs. Pottington Postlethwaite III, have her killed by a solid platinum poignard in the circumstances mentioned.
"old ladies jostle each other at the mystery shelf to grab off some item of the same vintage with a title like The Triple Petunia Murder Case, or Inspector Pinchbottle to the Rescue. They do not like it that "really important books" get dusty on the reprint counter, while Death Wears Yellow Garters is put out in editions of fifty or one hundred thousand copies on the news-stands of the country"
DARE - use one of these titles as the title of your nano and make it fit.
" It would be fun to read it, even if I did have to go back to page 47 and refresh my memory about exactly what time the second gardener potted the prize-winning tea-rose begonia."
DARE - make the timing of the potting of the prize-winning tea-rose begonia by second gardener somehow important. Intergalactic Cutulu Victory points if you can make this happen on page 47 of your manuscript.
28,388 / 50,000
Oct 11, 2008 - 04 44
"Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means at hand, not with hand-wrought duelling pistols, curare, and tropical fish."
You challenge - to include hand-wrought duelling pistols, curare, and tropical fish in the story.
Bonus points if someone is actually killed with one of the above.
Double bonus if all three are used to commit murders.
Special insanity bonus points if the murder has no reason, other than someone trying to use the means mentioned by Chandler, for the Hell of it.
Other things Chandler envisages which could used as dares:
"But fundamentally it is the same careful grouping of suspects, the same utterly incomprehensible trick of how somebody stabbed Mrs. Pottington Postlethwaite III with the solid platinum poignard just as she flatted on the top note of the Bell Song from Lakmé in the presence of fifteen ill-assorted guests"
DARE - Have a character called Mrs. Pottington Postlethwaite III, have her killed by a solid platinum poignard in the circumstances mentioned.
"old ladies jostle each other at the mystery shelf to grab off some item of the same vintage with a title like The Triple Petunia Murder Case, or Inspector Pinchbottle to the Rescue. They do not like it that "really important books" get dusty on the reprint counter, while Death Wears Yellow Garters is put out in editions of fifty or one hundred thousand copies on the news-stands of the country"
DARE - use one of these titles as the title of your nano and make it fit.
" It would be fun to read it, even if I did have to go back to page 47 and refresh my memory about exactly what time the second gardener potted the prize-winning tea-rose begonia."
DARE - make the timing of the potting of the prize-winning tea-rose begonia by second gardener somehow important. Intergalactic Cutulu Victory points if you can make this happen on page 47 of your manuscript.
That last dare sounds amazing.
I'll try and fit it in, although I can't make too many promises about that one ^^;
Although, now I seriously considering re-naming my novel "Death Wears Yellow Garters" because I can see how I'd make it fit...
31,586 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2008 - 13 54
1) Your detective resorts to a Magical Eight Ball at some critical juncture in the case.
- Extra points if Magical Eight Ball is wrong.
Hah, I like that. It'd be a cute quirk for my sleuth to have. Totally doing it.
34,050 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2008 - 15 04
I've just decided to (more or less) take one of my own dares: although I'm planning on avoiding any murders, I've decided that the person my MC is hunting will turn out to be named Samuel J. Butler.
19,514 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2008 - 21 03
This thread is win; I'll take the 8-ball dare, the psychic dare, and the NO BODIES dare. Nope, no murder in my mystery....everyone's already dead. ;) >.> <.<
32,425 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2008 - 22 14
...use no guns at all, especially if you're writing a traditional hardboiled detective story.
Done. I hadn't planned on any guns at all - in fact while the cops will naturally be wearing them, they probably won't even be mentioned.
Diann
ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø
ML in Temecula, CA
42,666 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2008 - 18 45
"1) Your detective resorts to a Magical Eight Ball at some critical juncture in the case.
- Extra points if Magical Eight Ball is wrong.
- Double extra points if Magical Eight Ball turns out to be the reincarnation of an ally of the criminal."
Love it! I have got to work this somehow. I absolutely LOVE IT!
103 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2008 - 23 34
I'm hesitant to do this one, because I'm afraid that it might torpedo some poor fool's novel, but here goes.
No watering hole.
this includes a bar, tavern, drinking circle, or anything even bearing a semblence to one. you are not to allow your character that secure place where he/she/it goes to chat with friends/contacts/the bartender over a drink.
bonus if they're clean shaven and not a recovering alcoholic.
115,824 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2008 - 00 28
this includes a bar, tavern, drinking circle, or anything even bearing a semblence to one. you are not to allow your character that secure place where he/she/it goes to chat with friends/contacts/the bartender over a drink.
bonus if they're clean shaven and not a recovering alcoholic.
Oooh, yes please! Although that might be slightly cheating on my part, as I'm writing a cosy...
50,000 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2008 - 05 44
Ok...
I dare you to:
Have the detective be wrong at least five times about who did it. Have them arrest/gather everyone together/have a confrontation with supposed villain and then place all of their evidence only to be proved wrong at the last moment by some inconsequential character.
The final time this happens (when they are correct) have everyone turn to the inconsequential character to check that they're right.
Bonus points if in the end the inconsequential character is actually the bad guy,
Double bonus points if the seemingly inconsequential character who was actually the bad guy only helped the detective along because s/he hates it when people are incompetent.
(this would work really well if the butler did do it)
4,100 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2008 - 07 38
this includes a bar, tavern, drinking circle, or anything even bearing a semblence to one. you are not to allow your character that secure place where he/she/it goes to chat with friends/contacts/the bartender over a drink.
bonus if they're clean shaven and not a recovering alcoholic.
Would it be a cheat if I choose this one, considering my sleuths are 15 years old?
I loved the Raymond Chandler dares, and I might try one or more another time.
18,067 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2008 - 07 35
OK, let me give you another example: I dare you to do what I did for my first nano, and intend to do again this year. I dare all of you to write a mystery that doesn't revolve around murder. I double dare you to do what I'm going to try to do: write a mystery with no deaths, not even "...but I thought you were dead..." as a cheat.
My mystery involves time travel and stolen babies. Murder isn't even a sub-sub-sub plot. Death is a possibility, a high one, but no murders.
Sandra Regina
Hope Springs Eternal
22,284 / 50,000
Oct 25, 2008 - 16 54
My mystery wasn't going to involve any murders either. The MC investigates insurance fraud, so not all of his cases involve murder.
I'm new at all of this, but maybe this is an acceptable dare:
I dare you to have your detective investigate a crime in a locale where the natives have a unique pronounciation for some place name that is confusing to outsiders. (That is, it's not pronounced the way it is spelled, or the accented syllable is unexpected.)
Double bonus points if the detective has difficulty interviewing witnesses because he/she keeps forgetting to use the native pronunciation.
Triple bonus points if the solution to the crime hinges on someone who is supposedly a native mispronouncing the name.
And the Wahoo! Award if at the end of the story the detective somehow discovers that the origin of the native pronunciation is based on a deliberate mispronunciation by some long ago detractor of the region who intended it as an insult.
I was just thinking about this because 18 years ago I moved to LANK-uh-ster, PA and learned quickly to pity the poor wretch who comes to town and pronounces it "Lan-CAS-ter." The reason for the accent on the first syllable is shrouded in mystery since the standard explanation is that it's the correct pronunciation of the town based on the way they say it in England; but that's largely been disproven by people who have visited England and discovered otherwise. If I was guessing, I'd guess that it may have been the fashionable pronunciation in England back in the late 1700's but that over time it's changed there but not here, but that's just a theory.
34,050 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2008 - 22 41
I live near LA, and my mystery takes place there. Southern California has lots of places with spanish names, many of which are hard to pronounce if you're new to the area: Tujunga, Cahuenga and La Jolla are just a few examples. One that's not spanish, but confuses people for some reason is Pacoima. Alas, none of this will affect my detective, because he's an Angelino, born and bred.
1,105 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2008 - 15 50
I dare you to:
Have the detective be wrong at least five times about who did it. Have them arrest/gather everyone together/have a confrontation with supposed villain and then place all of their evidence only to be proved wrong at the last moment by some inconsequential character.
The final time this happens (when they are correct) have everyone turn to the inconsequential character to check that they're right.
Bonus points if in the end the inconsequential character is actually the bad guy,
Double bonus points if the seemingly inconsequential character who was actually the bad guy only helped the detective along because s/he hates it when people are incompetent.
(this would work really well if the butler did do it)
Taken. Totally taken, along with the psychic dare, the 8 ball dare, the stuffed animal dare, and the costume/henchmen dare. This is gonna be a great book.
1,616 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2008 - 21 54
Unfortunately death, guns and booze are completely too enticing to be avoided... but I'm definitely naming it, "Death Wore Yellow Garters"!
If I can find a way to include dueling pistols, curare, and tropical fish, I'm "in" on that one too!
1,252 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2008 - 05 56
Aw man, Death Wore Yellow Garters is a deliciously aweseome name. Too bad my novel takes place today...
Here's a dare for you:
Name your novel "Death Wore Yellow Garters" and make the garters in question belong to a man.
Double points if he's not a practicing cross-dresser.
Triple points if they're the key to the whole mystery, and discovered by another man.