30 Writing Prompts for November

The See Jane Write November Writing Challenge begins today! We’re writing every day for 30 days. We’re doing this Choose Your Own Adventure style, and you can do one of the following:

Steady Scribbler: 200 words/day (last year’s pace)

Bold Builder: 300 words/day (the official pace)

Page Turner: 500 words/day (for the overachievers)

Joyful Journaler: Journal every day for 15 minutes.

You can learn more about the challenge and officially sign up HERE.

See Jane Write is a community for multi-passionate writers. So participants may be working on novels, short stories, essays, blog posts or journal entries. So our prompts for the challenge are two-word prompts meant to spark an idea that you can just run with in any way you’d like.

Why Two-Word Writing Prompts Work

Two-word prompts are powerful because they’re both specific and open-ended. A single word might feel too broad (“Harvest”), while a long phrase might feel too limiting (“Harvesting corn at sunset”). But a two-word phrase — like Autumn Glow— gives your imagination just enough to grab onto without dictating where the story, journal entry or essay should go.

Two-word prompts invite you to explore multiple interpretations. “Empty Basket” could inspire a short story about loss, a poem about longing, or a personal essay about gratitude. “Family Feast” could lead to a scene in a novel, a food blog post, or a memory from childhood.

They’re the perfect balance between structure and freedom, and that’s why they work so well for writers of every genre.

How to Use Two-Word Prompts

You can use these prompts in a variety of ways depending on your writing goals:

Journalers: Use a prompt each morning or evening to reflect on your day, your goals, or your personal growth.
Creative Writers: Let a prompt inspire a scene, character, or setting. See how many different directions two words can take you.
Poets: Use the rhythm of the two words to guide the mood or structure of your poem.
Content Creators or Bloggers: Use prompts as inspiration for seasonal blog posts, newsletters, or social media captions.

Pro Tip: Don’t overthink it! Set a timer for 15 minutes, write the two words at the top of your page, and just start writing whatever comes to mind.