Lena Dunham Is Writing an Interactive Romance Novel During Coronavirus Social Distancing

Morgan Smith
Updated ·3 min read

If you’re looking for a new book while social distancing, Lena Dunham has got you covered.

The actress, 33, is “writing an interactive serialized romance novel” for Vogue and dropping a new chapter on their website every day.

Verified Strangers follows Ally, a frustrated singleton who navigates the dating scene in Los Angeles. The first chapter was posted on Vogue.com Monday.

RELATED: Love Is Blind‘s Lauren and Cameron Give Advice for Dating During Coronavirus Social Distancing

“I know it can get a little stir-crazy, and I think the best way to keep community is through shared storytelling,” Dunham said in an Instagram post announcing the project.

View this post on Instagram

Right now, we should all be using our unique skills and passions to make this period of time feel a little less lonely. My humble dream is to lift your spirits while we're #socialdistancing (heck, I want to lift my own) and storytelling is the tool I know how to use. So I'm writing an interactive serialized romance novel for @voguemagazine. It’s a fictionalized modern love story called #VerifiedStrangers - A chapter a day, Monday through Friday, for as long as it takes... and you can vote via poll which direction it should go next! First chapter is up now! Read along and let me know which way you want it to go (polls are up on Vogue’s IG stories every Tuesday and Friday) and you will ultimately decide who (if anyone!) our protagonist, Ally, ends up with. I hope you are all safe and sound. Sending love and hopefully some happy entertainment. The link to read along is in my bio! Oh - and ask me questions with the hashtag #VerifiedStrangersOnVogue and I’ll answer some on IG stories and in comments too! Will you tell me what moments made you laugh, cringe or relate? Does Ally remind you of yourself?

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Mar 23, 2020 at 5:04am PDT

Readers have a say in how the story ends, too: you can choose what Ally does next by voting on Vogue’s Instagram polls every Tuesday and Friday.

“A romance novel is the pulpiest and most distracting fun you can have and a medium I’ve long wanted to work in (probably since I stole Forever by Judy Blume out of my babysitter’s backpack; it’s not Danielle Steele, but it was the sexiest thing I’d ever read.),” Dunham tells Vogue.com. “So let’s create one together. I’ll write, but you’ll be able to vote and your vote counts. Together let’s try and urge Ally toward the right lover — and connect to each other in the process.”

RELATED: Josh Gad Helps Kids and Parents amid Coronavirus Outbreak by Hosting Reading of Children’s Book

Dunham is currently living in London to prepare for her next movie, according to Vogue.com. She moved to Wales last summer to shoot the new HBO series Industry about the “cutthroat world of international finance,” she announced at the time.

Earlier this week, the actress shared her list of “ideal isolation activities” on Instagram, including reading long-form articles, painting, meditating and learning the dance from Miley Cyrus’ Black Mirror episode.

As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments and visit our coronavirus hub.