Enemies to Lovers Writing Prompts and Story Ideas

Looking for angsty yet fluffy enemies to lovers writing prompts and story ideas? You’ve come to the right place!

Read on for prompts like two poker players who accuse each other of cheating, a vampire scammer who’s enthralled with one of their victims, and many more!

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Enemies to Lovers Definition
- How do you write a good enemies-to-lovers plot?
Enemies to Lovers Writing Prompts
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Enemies to Lovers Definition

Enemies to lovers is a literary trope involving a pair of antagonistic characters who are forced to work together to achieve a common goal before coming to respect one another in the process, building slowly to a sexual relationship.

Often employed in romantic or erotic literature, this trope typically involves a lot of bickering and unresolved sexual tension between the characters after the pair is being brought together through unusual circumstances.

Some of the most common plots that are used to enforce the enemies to lovers storyline are:

– The arranged marriage trope
– The sex pollen trope
– Accident involving amnesia
– The soulmate trope
– Having the same mission or goal

How do you write a good enemies-to-lovers plot?

A great care should be taken when writing enemies-to-lovers plot. The story progression must be such that mutual respect slowly grows between the two antagonistic characters, to the point that the begin to have feelings for each other.

What’s the difference between enemies to lovers and plain toxic relationship?

A good enemies-to-lovers story include a believable progression that starts with mutual hatred or antagonism between the two main characters. Then, thrown into a situation that forces them to work together, the characters should start to see each other in a different light, and eventually grow to respect one another, which then evolves into a mutual attraction where each genuinely cares about the other’s well-being.

On the other hand, in a toxic relationship, there’s no mutual respect between the people involved, and the interaction between the two are rarely motivated by genuine care for the other’s well-being. If you’re looking for some writing prompts in the subject of toxic relationship, head to my posts Detective Noir Writing Prompts, Psychological Thriller Writing Prompts, or Dark Romance Writing Prompts!

Enemies to Lovers Writing Prompts

If you’re you amped up already, let’s dive in for some delectable enemies to lovers writing prompts and story ideas!

For the sake of originality, I won’t list ideas that have anything to do with arranged marriage, sex pollen or soulmate tropes because I feel that they’ve been done to death already.

Here they are, enjoy.

Please note that the genders in these starters are just placeholders and are not meant to enforce any hurtful stereotypes nor offend anyone.

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Enemies to Lovers Picture Writing Prompts

A picture speaks a thousand words, so here are some enemies to lovers writing prompts and story ideas inspired by a picture. Please click on each picture to learn more about it.

1. Two astronauts are on a secretive mission, but one of them is a mole from another country. The fact unravels following an incident that not only threatens to jeopardize their mission but also their lives, and it forces them to work together despite their antagonism towards each other.

(Please click on the image for more information about it.)

2. A vacationing woman rents a motorcycle to explore the sleepy beach town she’s visiting. When it starts raining, she accidentally crashes into a house, only to find that the owner of the house is the smooth-talking a taxi driver who swindled her earlier in the airport.

(Click on the image for more information about it.)

3. Two professional poker players have histories of accusing each other of cheating. Then, one casino owner hires one of them to spot cheaters at his casino, but unbeknownst to the casino owner, his partner hires the other poker player for the same job, during the same time. What kind of chaos and shenanigans would happen?

(Please click on the image for more information about it.)

4. A religious person starts corresponding with an atheist columnist in an attempt to change the latter’s mind, with the latter being firm on their views. When the two end up sitting next to each other in a flight, only for the flight to be delayed due to bad weather that gets them stuck in the airport together, is it serendipity or is it God’s intervention?

(Please click on the image for more information about it.)

Enemies to Lovers Dialogue Prompts

Banters and sharp dialogues are essential in enemies to lovers stories because they illustrate a stage where the characters are almost out of their antagonistic phase and don’t really want to hurt each other anymore, and yet they still want to channel some snark through their words. Here are some more enemies to lovers dialogue prompts and banters to spice up the narrative.

1. “Don’t try to charm your way out of this.” “… You think I’m charming?”

2. “Bite me.” “I thought you’d never ask.”

3. “Why didn’t we do this sooner?” “You were too busy trying to look mean.”

4. “This isn’t over.” “Oh, I’ll make sure of it.”

5. “I don’t hate you. I just don’t care about you.” “Keep talking, I’m diagnosing you.”

6. “I believe there’s someone for everyone. For you, there’s a mental health professional.” “Well, I put the hot in psychotic.”

Other Enemies to Lovers Prompts

Here are some more enemies to lovers writing prompts and story ideas involving vampires to clowns to bakers so there’s bound to be something for everyone!

1. A medieval physician, who’s secretly a vampire, swears by the practice of bloodletting, which is a ruse for him/her to get an easy access to blood. What happens when he/she drinks blood from a patient and becomes specifically addicted to that patient’s blood? (From Vampire Romance Writing Prompts.)

2. A hired clown at a child’s masquerade birthday party creates a great connection with an adult guest, but when the party ends and the masks all come off, it turns out that they’re rivals at work! (From How Characters Meet: 25 Non Cheesy Meet-Cute Ideas.)

3. When a popular senior guy starts a new after school job in a restaurant, he never expects to find that the owner’s daughter is his archenemy at school. (From High School Romance Writing Prompts.)

4. When a baker runs into a significant problems with the bank that might threaten the proclivity of her bakery, she had no choice but to turn to a mobster’s leader for help. The only problem? She’s been rejecting his advances for years. (From Intriguing Mafia Romance Story Ideas.)

5. A baker/seamstress/mechanic is a witch who uses his/her magic to excel at what they do. What happens when one day, an enigmatic tattoo artist/florist/painter moves next door to their shop, and strangely, they begin to lose all their power? (Originally appeared in my post 22 Spellbinding Witch Story Ideas.)