They did this on Strobist once. Hard light, B&W, and your typical detective melodrama feel. You don't even need strobes. A bright lamp with a good shade can produce enough of a feel to it.
as november is about to start, what about "cold" as a subject?
quite broad but could be challenging.
it won't give many chances to take new ones to anybody from the southern hemisphere tho...!
Hey people in the southern hemisphere have things that are cold. Like you said it is a broad topic but creativity will help them get a good subject for the topic. Great idea.
How about ANY vehicle next to a body of water.... Car, Truck, Motorcycle, tank, hay bailer, (sorry had to throw that in) ... but any kind of vehicle in general.