Have you dunnit yet?

Have you started writing your Whodunit challenge entry yet? Perhaps you have already submitted one? If not, like me, you may need a little additional boost to your inspiration. If you are proud, or hate the idea of AI with your whole being, you probably don't want to read further.

This article follows on from an earlier piece I wrote about the Vocal Whodunit challenge: Piecing together a murder mystery

If you are still trying to work out your Vocal crime fiction challenge entry, as I am, there are all sorts of things you could do to free up your inner detective fiction author. For example:

Go for a walk

Read a book

Go to a public library and hit the murder mystery section

Visit an art museum

Listen to some music

Have a nice strong coffee, cup of tea, glass of water

Do the washing up (Agatha Christie swore by it)

Ask your friendly AI app

I tried all of these things and they all helped, but none of them resulted in me getting started on my story. None of them, that is, until I went for the weapon of last result. So called 'Artificial Intelligence', aka a natural language computer program. Having agonised for the last week or so about what to write, I finally gave up and asked MS Bing Copilot for some assistance.

The following text is mostly AI generated and I claim no proprietorial rights to any of it. Then again, neither can Microsoft or any other software provider, if a recent judgment from a US federal court is anything to go by. Anyways, if you want to take any ideas from the following, including copying and pasting or noting and adapting anything you read, please do. Text in italics indicates AI-generated. All other text was written by me.

To start off, I asked the question: "Provide a summary of the ten best known crime fiction stories in the English language."

Copilot said:

Certainly! Here are the top 10 crime fiction stories in the English language, according to The Guardian

1. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
2. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
3. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
4. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
5. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
6. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
7. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
8. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
9. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
10. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

I hope this helps!

Given sources:

• theguardian.com
• telegraph.co.uk
• panmacmillan.com

I am not sure how The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a crime fiction story, but there you have it. As it happens, this is the only le Carré novel that I rate but, to me, it is a cold-war Brit noir story, not crime. If you have not read any of the above, you should do so, as these works cover some of the most important modern crime fiction (in this case including spy story) variations in the English language. Read them, or at least read a summary of each, and it might give you some ideas.

Being not entirely satisfied with these suggestions, I then asked: "Suggest the top five detective fiction scenarios with full summary." Here is the answer, AI generated:

I can provide you with some mystery story ideas that you might find interesting. Here are five of them:

1. A woman asks a writer to write the story of her life. Then she goes missing.
2. Murder victims are found buried with some of their worldly goods, Viking style.
3. Three people close to the murder victim have confessed. Each of them swears they acted alone.
4. Notes and gifts from her “Secret Santa” at work take a strange turn.
5. It’s going to be a beautiful wedding at a beautiful destination, but two people in the wedding party have been murdered.

I hope these ideas inspire you! If you would like more ideas, please let me know.

Inspire me? No! At least no more than the last time you gave me this list of not very interesting story ideas. Yes, Copilot, you gave me exactly the same list, verbatim, the last time I asked a similar question. So much for artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, you may be able to adapt one or more of the above ideas into a story for your own purposes. Please go ahead if you care to. Sources for the above were given by the AI as:

1. studysmarter.co.uk
2. owlcation.com
3. panmacmillan.com
4. deadgoodbooks.co.uk

I haven't verified against sources for accuracy.

Not having made much progress with any ideas to develop, I thought I would try a more intelligent approach. Well, for me anyway. My next question focussed on one particular author. "Can you boil down an Agatha Christie crime novel into a simple formula?

Agatha Christie’s detective novels follow a classic formula: a group of people, often isolated from the outside world, find themselves embroiled in a murder mystery. Each character has secrets and motives, and it’s up to the detective (Poirot or Miss Maple) to unravel the truth1. The murder is usually committed in a closed environment, such as a country house or a train, and the suspects are limited to a small group of people. The detective interviews each suspect and uncovers clues that eventually lead to the murderer’s identity. Christie’s writing style is characterized by her use of red herrings, misdirection, and plot twists. I hope this helps!

Please note I did not alter the incorrect spelling of the lead character's name, as I think it says something about AI (RT).

Given sources:

1. bing.com
2. youtube.com
3. blog.karenwoodward.org
4. thebookslist.com

Now, the above explanation was a little more helpful. At least it would have been, had I been keen to model my story along the lines of an Agatha Christie. I was not, but all is not lost. I might use the above descriptive to measure my whodunnit against, when it comes to editing.

Still, if at first one does not succeed, try, try, try again. I thougth I would give it one last shot and, as it happens, it was successful, although not in the way I might have expected. Here is my question: "Can you suggest an original outline for a crime fiction drama, one that has not been used before, or at least would not be easily recognisable?"

Certainly! Here’s an outline for a crime fiction drama that you might find interesting:

Title: The Last Heist

Setting: A small town in the mid-western United States.

Characters:

Lena, a former bank robber who has just been released from prison.

Tom, a young and ambitious detective who is determined to make a name for himself.

Maggie, a single mother who works as a teller at the local bank.

Frank, the bank manager who is struggling to keep the bank afloat.

Jack, a wealthy businessman who has a secret connection to Lena.

Plot: Lena is trying to turn her life around after serving time in prison for a bank robbery. She gets a job at the local diner and tries to stay out of trouble. But when she discovers that the bank where Maggie works is about to be robbed, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Lena teams up with Jack, a wealthy businessman who has a secret connection to her past, to pull off one last heist. Meanwhile, Tom is investigating the robbery and is determined to catch the culprits. As the investigation heats up, Lena and Jack’s relationship is tested, and Lena must decide whether to stay true to her new life or risk everything for one last score.

I hope this idea inspires you! If you would like more ideas, please let me know.

Sources quoted:

1. novel-software.com
2. bryndonovan.com
3. prowritingaid.com

Now we're talking. This is what got me going. This is what set my muse a dancing, got my creative juices flowing and my nine little writing soldiers marching across the QWERTY keys. What? The story idea? NO! Not that. The story idea is pants. What got me going was the one word that reminded me of my own life of crime: PRISON.

I used to work in a prison, many years ago, and more than once I have attempted to write a crime fiction based on the goings on within those wacky walls. So far without success. Now that I have the incentive of a $1,000 prize fund to dip my beak into, perhaps I will do a better job. Then again, who cares, at least I have got a starting point for my story. With all of the hundreds of words generated by Bing Copilot AI natural language app, or whatever it wants to call itself, the one word I needed was this:

PRISON

A big part of my life for the past 17 years and a huge place of learning about people, learning about the good and bad in everyone, learning about myself. What better source of inspiration for a crime fiction story? Thank you Microsoft Bing, thank you Copilot AI. None of the ideas you came up with were particularly helpful but you did generate that one word, that kick up the bum that got me going.

I hope if you are reading this you will have found something in this article to help get you going on your venture into crime.

Further tips and resources: Embarking on a life in crime

AI and the writer

Good luck with the challenge.