Spooky season and shifter romance go hand in hand. Is there anything eerier than a werewolf howling at the full moon?

But though werewolves are, for many people, the OG romance shifter, in the past ten years the term shifter has expanded to encompass everything from dragon shifters to werecobras, hedgehog shifters, and even characters who transform into inanimate objects, like doors and potatoes (no, I am not kidding).

However, like a three-page menu at your favorite pizza place, knowing you have all those options might have you frozen with indecision. Do you go the more traditional route and stick to the werewolf, go quirky and try out an eagle shifter, or forget about animals and mythical creatures altogether and write a romance about rocks?

These shifter romance writing prompts are here to unfreeze you. Choose one and try to write 50 or 100 words–a manageable amount that you can squeeze into even the busiest day. If you find that just 100 isn't enough, keep writing, and as you do, ask yourself what about the prompt appeals to you. Is it the scene, the premise, the shifters themselves? Identify that, and you're on your way to figuring out the foundations of your own spooky shifter story.

1. Tropes: Rejected mate

   Setting: Arctic research station

   Main character 1: Arctic fox shifter

   Main character 2: Arctic researcher

   Prompt: Write the scene when MC1 tells MC2 she's his mate, and finds out that the fated instinct that hit him the moment they met hasn't appeared for her.

   
   

2. Trope: Brother's best friend

   Setting: Coastal Scotland

   Main character 1: Bartender

   Main character 2: Selkie (seal shifter)

   Prompt: Write the dark moment of the soul scene, when MC2 realizes that while breaking up with MC1 might've appeased her brother, it's broken her heart.

   
   

3. Trope: Forced proximity

   Setting: Rural farm in the US

   Relationship dynamic: MMMF

   Main character 1: Sheep shifter

   Main character 2: Goat shifter

   Main character 3: Llama shifter

   Main character 4: Seasonal farm volunteer

   Prompt: Write the scene when MC4 is putting away farm tools and catches MCs 1, 2, and 3 hooking up in a horse stall, and stays to watch.

   
   

4. Trope: Enemies to lovers

   Setting: Yukon

   Main character 1: Mountain lion shifter

   Main character 2: Yukon moose

   Prompt: Write the meet-cute, when the MC2 accidentally encroaches on MC1's pride's land while running and is chased off by MC1.

   
   

5. Trope: Forbidden love

   Setting: New Zealand

   Main character 1: Shrew shifter

   Main character 2: Forest ranger

   Prompt: Write the scene when the forest ranger's boss tells her she has to exterminate shrews in the very area where she met MC1.

Want even more spooky season writing prompts? Next week, I'll be focusing on Halloween, and instead of dishing out tropes, characters, and scenes to start you off, I'll be doing story starters—impactful one-liners designed to spark your creativity.

Until next post, happy reading and writing!