My latest novel, The Deathbed Confessions started off as a dare. I was challenged to see if I could come up with the idea to a story and write the first 2-3 paragraphs cold with no preparation.

The rules were simple, I would have 10 minutes to come up with an idea, and write the paragraphs. The main rule was that it had to be something I came up with on the spot. Not something I'd been thinking about previously.

I had recently read a newspaper article about a convict making a clean confession on his deathbed and inadvertently solving some crimes. At the time, I had wondered about what happens when the convict instead wants to take his confessions to the grave with himself.

I didn't give it a lot of thought, but after our discussion, (in which I won the dare), I couldn't forget about the premise. The result was a pretty deep excursion into psychological crime and the greying of the lines between truth and lies, and what happens when its a race against time.
mdn