The Fairground Dance
Every year at the local community fair, there's an old-fashioned dance contest. This year, a professional dancer whose career was cut short by an injury decides to participate to prove to themselves that they've still got it. They partner with an inexperienced but enthusiastic local, and as they practice, both finetune not just their dance steps but their understanding and feelings for each other.
Suggested length: A short story: 1,500 to 5,000 words, or flash fiction under 1,000
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- Give them a deadline: the contest, the wedding, the last train.
- Let a secondary character see what's happening before either lead does.
- End on the first honest conversation, not the first kiss.
Writing romance books
Not whether they end up together, but how.
Romance puts a love story at the center and promises a happy ending: happily ever after, or at least happy for now. Readers know where it's going. The pleasure is in the obstacles, the banter and the moment the two leads finally stop fighting it.
What readers expect
- Two leads the reader roots for
- Obstacles that keep them apart
- Emotional growth, not just attraction
- A happy ending, guaranteed
A tip before you start
The happy ending isn't optional. Without it you've written a love story, and romance readers will tell you so.
More Contemporary Love Story prompts
- The Marriage PactTwo best friends make a pact to get married if both are still single by 30. Now the deadline is a month away, and one of them has just started dating…
- Friends at the Community CenterImagine a story where two childhood friends lose touch but serendipitously reunite while volunteering at a community center in a city far from their…
- Notes from the Dog ParkWrite a story about two people who meet at a dog park every day, each unaware that their dogs have been swapping notes between them. They start to…
- The Dogs at the ParkWrite a story about two people who meet at a dog park every morning. Though they've never spoken, they've noticed each other because their…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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