#Lovember romance writing challenge 2024

Welcome to the first #Lovember writing challenge! This is a romance writing challenge taking place every November where you can write your heart out.

#Lovember is all about love and romance: self-love, romantic love, platonic love, familial love, and more. While romance is the main genre focused on, anyone can use the #Lovember prompts to inspire a story, no matter the genre they’re writing in.

There are 30 word prompts, one for each day of November, as well as 5 storyline prompts and 7 character prompts. Every prompt is optional – do as many or as few as you like.

Participation in #Lovember is, and always will be, free to participate in. It will not be an organised event. It will inspire people to write and create community. There is no website to visit, though prompts will be posted annually on my blog and you can find a landing page on my website too.

As a 30-day romance writing challenge, #Lovember seeks to inspire writers all over to write more.

#Lovember writing prompts 2024

Below you can find the 30 word prompts for the #Lovember romance writing challenge as both a shareable graphic and as a table you can copy from. There are additional prompts for storyline and character inspiration further down.

#Lovember storyline prompts

Here are the #Lovember 2024 storyline prompts. You might want to use these prompts as extra inspiration for a novel, or as the concept for a short story or writing exercise.

Each year, there will be 5 storyline prompts, so you can choose to use them as a weekly writing challenge instead.

• Your characters bump into each other at the opening of a new bookshop.                     
• It’s your character’s perfect idea of a proposal: romantic, exciting, and special to them.
• On their second date, your character has something to confess.                                       
• After opening their relationship, your characters search for the perfect third partner.             
• Your character plays “loves me, loves me not” with a bouquet.

#Lovember character prompts

Here are the #Lovember 2024 character prompts. These could inspire a background character, protagonist, or just a piece of writing on their own. You can mix-and-match as you like!

Each year, there will be 7 character prompts, one for each day of the week.

• A barista who loves to speculate on customers dating.                                         
• A book lover searching for the perfect person to swap books with.                     
• An excitable character who’s just moved from the countryside.                                          
• A character who’s always harboured a secret love for their best friend.                           
• A character whose dream ending is Babies Ever After.                                                           
• A character embraces the LGBTQIA+ community and explores their gender identity with loving support.                                                                 
• Having recently left a controlling relationship, a character searches for freedom and companionship.

The #Lovember hashtag and community

If you’d like to share your progress, some inspiration, or encouragement with other writers, you can use the #Lovember hashtag on most social media platforms. There’s a great many writers out there, and writing challenges can be difficult when you’re alone.

Make the most of #Lovember by connecting with other participants of the romance writing challenge using the hashtag.

You’ll also find the prompts posted from @HNossProofreads on Instagram and H Noss Proofreads on Facebook. A topic is also set up on Threads.

Here are some ideas of how to get involved with the community for #Lovember:

• Tell the #Lovember community what you’re working on! You don’t need to share much, but you can connect with other writers even more by sharing what genres or tropes you like writing. Search for other writers the same way, and get talking.
• Share your word count throughout the month, whether daily word count progress, weekly progress, or for the whole month. You can make fun graphics for this or just post it on its own. This is a great way to stay accountable and show others that you’re taking part.
• Share inspiration – images you’ve found, words and their meanings that you’re using, or even ideas for how to interpret different prompts. Your post might just inspire someone else when they’re stuck.
• Share encouragement for others. Writer’s block is difficult, and even harder to deal with when alone. Share some affirming and positive encouragement with the hashtag to help foster community.
• Ask for advice – if you’re stuck, or feel like you need some support, tag #Lovember and invite other writers to add in their thoughts. You might want to ask for writing inspiration or even some advice on what to write.
• Ask for recommendations. If you’re writing about something new, feel free to ask for recommended resources. You could even ask for and share song recommendations to inspire you further.

Top tips for taking part in a writing challenge

Writers usually participate in a writing challenge to write more, but it can get overwhelming quickly. There’s no right way to do a writing challenge, and completing one doesn’t necessarily mean writing every single day.

Before we get into top tips, you need to decide what you want to get out of this writing challenge.

Do you want to write something every day? Great! That doesn’t mean you have to write a novel or 30 individual short stories. Instead, consider using the prompts as warm-up writing exercises before getting into the project you really want to complete. Or maybe you want to write 30 pieces of flash fiction, between 100 and 1000 words? That’s also great!

Do you want to set a word count target? Then you can – but make it one you feel good about. 50,000 words is the traditional November writing challenge word count, but it isn’t for everyone. For some people, just writing 200 words a day can make a big difference. If your goal is increasing the amount of words you write, you don’t have to do it every day either. You’re allowed to take breaks.

Do you just want to dip into the romance genre and get some practice in? Pick a few prompts that stick out to you and work on those and nothing else. It’s better to write 3 short pieces of writing and feel like you’ve accomplished a goal than to stop at 27 days of writing and feel like you’ve just missed out.

Because this is formatted as a 30 day challenge, you can also use it to begin a daily writing routine without worrying about what you’re committing to.

While Lovember is a romance writing challenge, that doesn’t mean you have to write romance or even write like it’s a challenge. You can take a prompt and run with it whenever you like. There’s no time limit to participating.

Once you’ve decided what your writing goal is, keep these tips in mind:

• Find the software that works for you. For some people, it’s Word or Docs. For others, it’s Scrivener or 4thewords.
• Figure out the best writing routine for you. Maybe you write better in the morning or evening, or maybe you only have time to write during your lunch break or commute.
• Make sure to encourage yourself, and others. A few words of support, even a “Good luck!”, can make a big difference to writers. Share some encouragement and make sure to seek it out yourself. You can use affirmations for writers to help you too.
• You don’t have to write in order. You choose what prompts you write and when.
• When you’re stuck, try going for a walk, taking a breath of fresh air, or putting on some music. If it still doesn’t work, take a proper break. You can come back to it whenever you’re ready.
• There’s no pressure to share what you’re writing. You don’t have to share anything at all! But if you would like to share your writing, remember that everyone has personal preferences. Not everybody will react to your writing the way you want them to, but you still have readers out there, waiting to discover you.
• There’s no way to lose. You either participate or you don’t. You’re in control of how you ‘win’ this month – whether it’s reaching your goal or just trying it out. There will never be a showcase of winners, because participating is a personal choice.
• If these prompts don’t work for you, try my Christmas romance writing prompts.

Best of luck and happy writing!