The Editor
Today’s post is based on a writing prompt I shared in a previous Daily Drafts & Dialogues post: The Editor. Keep reading to see what I wrote, and to access more writing prompts.
What I wrote below is based on the following writing prompt: Write a fictional scene from an editor’s point of view. Or write about what you think makes a good/bad editor, especially if you are one.
The Editor
I was on my third cup of coffee when I came across the headline.
Author Arrested for Multiple Murders
But it wasn’t the caffeine that made my body have a visceral reaction to the bold words taking up a quarter of my screen. It was the mugshot of the author that was taking up the remaining three fourths of the screen. The author with whom I had worked for a better part of the last two decades of my life.
For a split second I barely recognized him. His five o’clock shadow had morphed into a thick beard that covered his angular, always taut jaw since the last time I saw him, months ago. And his blond hair now fell way past the middle of his ears. If it weren’t for those piercing blue eyes of his, I doubt I would have recognized him at all.
I must have stared at the photo for a full five minutes in utter disbelief before scrolling past its damning headline to read what lay underneath.
Bestselling thriller author, Jake Milner, was arrested late last night at his private residence in Long Beach and is currently being held on five counts of murder. There is a scheduled press briefing for Milner’s arrest at 10 AM PST, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, however, an anonymous source at the jail has shared details of Milner’s arrest, linking various graphic scenes in his bestselling novels to the murders he’s currently being accused of committing.
For example, in Milner’s debut novel, Sleep Tight, the protagonist’s second victim is tied and bound to a bed post before being gagged and strangled to death, exhibiting a similar picture to crime scene photos in Milner’s arrest file, glimpsed at by the anonymous source.
Similarly, in Milner’s novel, Gag Order...
I gently placed my phone face-side down on the breakfast table as a wave of nausea rolled over me.
I didn’t need to read the rest of the article to know what those crime scene photos had captured, or what they revealed, because I had been involved in their design.
I had been the one leaving editorial notes like ‘Is there a way to make this gorier?’ and ‘What kind of noises or expressions does she make? I want to feel her fear!’ and ‘Any graphic metaphors we can use here?’ on Milner’s manuscripts for years. And I was the one who had helped him conjure ‘…some of the most disturbing murder scenes available in popular thrillers today!’ as one memorable book reviewer had put it.
Staring out my window overlooking the white expanse of the beach, flashes of blood spatter and flayed flesh and sutured eyes and...
Oh, God.
Should I call the police?
Should I weigh in? Tell them everything I know about Jake?
Wait.
What exactly do I know about Jake?
That he’s a college dropout, recluse? A quiet man who never married or had children and mostly keeps to himself? And detests cherry candy but loves sushi?
Surely Jake couldn’t actually be responsible for—
A snapshot of his piercing, cold blue eyes flashed before the backs of my own as I relived the first time we worked together, when he leaned over my desk and said, “Thank you for the inspiration. Truly, I couldn’t have done any of it without you. I hope you’ll help me with the next one,” then winked.
The epiphany made me bolt upright, out of my seat and straight down the hallway toward the bathroom where I promptly lost my breakfast, along with any and all culpable deniability I would ever allow myself to feel again.
[What happens next? Feel free to share what you come up with in a comment or chat thread so we can discuss it.]
I might revise, edit, or add to this draft in the future. Stay tuned.
Leave a comment to start a dialogue, especially if you also completed this writing prompt. And be sure to see today’s writing prompt below if you’re interested in completing another creative writing exercise like this one.
© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC. The above work is a piece of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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Today’s Writing Prompt
Writing Prompt: The Fall
Write a fictional scene in which someone or something is falling (literal or metaphorical). Or write a journal entry about a recent fall you experienced or witnessed (literal or metaphorical).
Writing Tip
Before you start writing, consider: Who or what is falling? From what or where? What caused the fall? Why? And what happens during and after the fall?
