Romance – January 16

Susan Sontag was born on this date in 1933. At age 17, when she’d already been in college for a year, she met a 28-year-old professor. They married two weeks later, and divorced nine years after that. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your antagonist and someone else fall in love at first sight, and that foreshadows the eventual dissolution of their relationship.

Romance – January 15

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” -Martin Luther King, Jr., born on this date in 1929. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist expects vocal support from a friend and receives instead silence, and the scene that follows.

Romance – January 14

On this date in 1954, Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio. Although their marriage lasted only nine months, DiMaggio had roses delivered to her crypt a few times a week for 20 years after her death in 1962. Writing prompt: Write the scene of the most pointless romantic gesture ever undertaken by your protagonist.

Romance – January 13

Lorrie Moore was born on this date in 1957. One of her characters decides she was not “given the proper tools to make a real life with.” Writing prompt: Write the scene in which your protagonist confronts her/his mother or father, or both, about the tool your protagonist incorrectly  believes s/he wasn’t given.

Romance – January 12

“Whatever it is you’re seeking won’t come in the form you’re expecting.” -Haruki Murakami, born this date in 1949. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes s/he failed to find what s/he was seeking because it came unexpectedly.

Romance – January 11

Rupert Holmes’ Escape — better known as “the piña colada song” — topped the charts on this date in 1980. Writing prompt: Write a personals ad for your protagonist that does not exceed 60...