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Welcome to Week Two. All October long, we’ll be exploring the terrifying, the uncanny, and the strange. This week, Jessica continues our series with Agatha Christie's novel Hallowe'en Party. Try the prompts, and let the terror fuel your writing until next Friday.
You can order from Bookshop.org or read for free online here.
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Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie
Welcome back from our jaunt, dear writers. I hope you managed the trip without losing your mind to the vastness of space and time, but if you didn't fare well against King's existential dread, you can breathe easy: this week's haunting is far less visceral. In Hallowe'en Party, Agatha Christie’s deliberate investigator Mr. Hercule Poirot examines a truly dreadful murder of a young girl and reveals what his adult companions fear the most: teenagers.
I would tell you so much more about that, but then I would be depriving you of my favorite Hallowe’en Party synopsis of all time. May I present the effortlessly hilarious but resoundingly sound podcast stylings of the best Agatha Christie podcast to grace the internet: Poirot Pals featuring Caitlin Morris and Chad Lind! Caitlin makes up one third of our intrepid team here at Lemon Grove Writers, and Chad is a podcaster, improviser, and writer. Here’s episode four of their first season, a pre-read for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet.
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And here’s episode five, the full debrief. Something I’ve always loved about this podcast is the way that Caitlin and Chad are able to balance a tremendous amount of research with wit, warmth, and humor. What can I say? I’ve got talented friends. I’m lucky that way. |
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See what I mean? They’re just delightful. And if you want a touch more Poirot Pals on your fine Friday, here’s a bonus episode about Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting In Venice, his film based on Hallowe'en Party. There’s even a cameo from yours truly, talking about Branagh’s Poirot the only way I know how: late at night, deliriously exhausted, in a mall parking lot with Caitlin, twenty-four hours post Beyonce concert. But I digress.
On to the prompts!
(SPOILERS AHEAD! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!)
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Writing Prompts inspired by Hallowe'en Party
- "You want beauty,” said Hercule Poirot. “Beauty at any price. For me, it is truth I want. Always truth.” Make a list of five things your character would want at any price.
- “There is always a brave new world,” said Poirot, “but only, you know, for very special people. The lucky ones. The ones who carry the making of that world within themselves.” Write a poem or a scene about the world you would create if you were brave enough.
- Throughout Christie's novel, the adult characters show us that there is nothing they fear more than what they don't understand. Write a monologue from the perspective of someone who fears something benign simply because they can't relate to it.
- Rowena Drake gives herself an alibi by purposefully spilling a vase down her front. Create a character's alibi for something they haven't done yet, but are planning to do very soon.
- Poirot's mustache is integral to his characterization. Focus on one of your character's physical features and write its history. How did they come to look that way?
- “The past is the father of the present.” Use this infamous Hercule Poirot quote as the last line of a poem or scene.
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That’s it for this week’s installment. Stay tuned for next Friday’s dive into another unsettling text. In the meantime, mark your calendar for Saturday, October 18th, when we’ll gather on Zoom for a live writing sprint followed by an open mic. Bring something spooky (or not) to share, or just come listen.
Sign up to read at the Open Mic here! |
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Tag us on Instagram or email us anytime. We'd love to hear how the writing is going!
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