A Mystery Story Starter

This story starter is set up to challenge you to write a mystery story. In the boxes below, you will see an unexpected event, the characters who experience the event and where it takes place. Your job is to work with what you're given and come up with a short story. Fill in lots of details about what happened, what the characters are like, what they do to solve the mystery, and the ultimate explanation of it all.

1. Here's the unexpected or mysterious event.

2. Here are the main characters who experience the event.

3. Here's where the event takes place.

To get yourself started, try to think about .

Then, in the big box below (or on a sheet of paper or your computer's word processing program) sketch out a story line using the elements shown above. Try to think out some details about how the characters work together (or against each other) to solve the mystery. After you have typed out your idea you can use the Highlight All button to select your text to copy it it to Word or some other program to grow your story.Click on the links below to see some hints that may help you think up the details.