August short story prompt: star crossed lovers

August short story prompt: star crossed lovers

I’m a couple days late posting this – just a reminder, it’s not a contest with prizes, but an event where participation helps improve your skills and may also boost your traffic and platform by giving you some visibility. And if I get enough quality short stories I’ll publish as a little anthology.

Romance is and will continue to be a best-selling genre, so let’s focus on it this month.

This is a classic romance theme, Romeo and Juliet: two people who fall in love but have baked in conflict: for example if he’s a firefighter, she’s an arsonist. Think Batman and Catwoman or Superman and Lois Lane – two people who want each other but because of their background or circumstances, it’s a constant struggle. You don’t have to finish the whole story, you could just set the stage and write a really strong beginning. You’re free to continue it and publish the whole thing yourself later.

For me, I’m going to try to hit the first 10,000 words of a novel I’ve been planning for a while.

This is romance, not erotica, so focus on the yearning and conflict… we’ll try erotica later.

Finish by the end of August, post it on your blog, send me the link.

Thanks!

PS) if you know any romance writers, please share this page so they can join.

7 Comments

  • Tony Jones Posted

    Cheers Derek – I’ve not written a romance as such before, though some of my pieces do have a romantic element. Not tried star-crossed before, thanks for the prompt!

    • Derek Murphy Posted

      I haven’t either, but if you find the right point of conflict – a year good backdrop – the rest should be pretty easy (I hope). I’m doing one where Noah’s niece falls in love with one of the fallen angels before the flood.

      • Tony Jones Posted

        I thought my idea was imaginative!

  • Derek Murphy Posted

    Between 5000 and 10000; sure you could just send it as is, if I publish it I would edit it; but get a site up if you can, you can register a domain for just $10, and put up a free wordpress theme right away.

  • Tony Jones Posted

    Leticia – I echo Derek’s comments, get a blog asap. Even if you aren’t sure what to use it for and how often to post you will get better and over time have enough content to be interesting. It can be a long journey but only you can take the first step!

  • Léonard Belmont Posted

    Dereck you wrote something on my birthday that have my interest since im a Romance Writer from a Star-Crossed lovers , always good coincidence with you !

  • Tony Jones Posted

    Just wondered how this was going? I didn’t see a new theme for September so I assume you’re running this for longer.

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