Image source: Pixabay
Dear community, Welcome to Prompt #12 in our creative nonfiction initiative. Thank you to everyone who contributed a nonfiction story last week! In case you missed the announcement about The Ink Well opening up to nonfiction stories, you can see it here. Here's a quick overview of how it works: Each week, we will provide a creative nonfiction prompt. You are also welcome to post other creative nonfiction pieces that are not based on the prompt. See the guidelines below. To be curated, your content should follow our guidelines, be at least 350 words, be written in English (or another language as well as the English translation) and — as much as possible — free of errors. There are many guides and resources online for getting to know this wonderful genre. It is truly about storytelling. The simple difference between creative nonfiction and fictional stories is that the story is not made up. We like this definition from an article on creativenonfiction.org: Simply put: Creative nonfiction is true stories, well told. With creative nonfiction, you are using the literary and storytelling tools of a fiction writer to craft stories from real life experiences. Set the scene. Give the details. Profile the characters. Give us the dialog, as best you can remember it. Ideas and inspiration: Creative nonfiction stories can be snippets from your life autobiography — moments in time you want to capture in words, whether they were frightening, enlightening, bittersweet, or life-altering. They can be observations about life, about a time you connected at a profound level with a perfect stranger, or something you have learned along the way that made you a better person. Do you love podcasts? One of the greatest sources of creative nonfiction is The Moth Radio Hour. Listen to a few of the stories from The Moth, and we guarantee you will be inspired. Here are some additional resources for learning more about the creative nonfiction genre: Check out this list of creative nonfiction stories. For example, one of the stories is about a funeral for a lizard named Rango. We hope you are inspired! Here are some examples of what we are looking for: In other words, tell a story from real life. And illustrate the ideas you share with real world experiences, memories and observations. Here’s what we are NOT looking for: What will be muted: Thank you to all who participated in last week's prompt: New Year! Our honorable mentions for last week's prompt are: Our third place winner is @arduilcelebren, with his story, New Year's Resolution Go to More Camping. I was very impressed to realize how much our lives have changed with my friends. To be honest, not knowing about it too much affected me more because some of our friends had clearly made the wrong decisions. We had to talk for a couple of hours to convince them. We are a group that normally consults each other when making such decisions. Fortunately, we managed to solve the problem and now everybody is well and everybody is mentally healthy. Our second place winner is @stuartcturnbull, with his story, A Rare Argument. We lived in Edinburgh at the time. Our home was a flat (apartment) on Easter Road. The B&Q was on Newcraighall Road. The distance between the two is more than an 8 month pregnant woman would want to be walking (especially as this was late-December or early-January). And walking was the only option as Lizza had left her purse in the car, so had no cash or card - this being the 'before days' when mobile phones were rare and apps non-existent. If you had no cash or card you couldn't pay for a taxi or bus, and we didn't have a mobile phone so she couldn't call friend or family. Our first place winner is @grindan, with her story, My most memorable New Year's Eve as a Waitress. This was my life for over a decade. Each New Year's Eve, we made the night happen. My restaurant people know what I mean; it's part of this overlap where a job becomes a lifestyle. You see your coworkers on more holidays than your family, because that's where the money is. Of course, those are also the days customers act the worst. Holidays bring unhappy people out to the bars in flocks, and who do you think they share that spark with? The people who handle their food, bold move there. Congratulations, @grindan, @stuartcturnbull and @arduilcelebren! While some very fortunate people know their passions and what they want to do with their lives at a very young age, others search, wander and wonder. They might get sidetracked by a big life challenge, by an overbearing parent, an all-consuming relationship, or a lack of focus. Sometimes ones "sense of self" seems elusive — difficult to find or nonexistent. Here are some ideas for what to do with this prompt: We look forward to reading your stories. Have fun! Please use the tags #creativenonfiction and #inkwellprompt on these posts. And please remember to add your post link to a comment on this post! NOTE: Please refrain from providing advice, guidance, or suggestions to others about their life choices in your post. Creative nonfiction is about storytelling. Prizes! Deadline You have a week, until the next prompt is posted, to post your creative nonfiction story in The Ink Well community. See you in The Ink Well!
What Is Creative Nonfiction?
-- Reedsy blog: What is Creative Nonfiction? The Unputdownable Truth
-- Writers.com: Understanding Creating Nonfiction: What It Is and How to Write ItGuidelines for Creative Nonfiction Articles in The Ink Well
Last Week's Creative Nonfiction Winners
Honorable Mentions of the Week
Third Place: Wins 1,000 Ecency points
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
The Ink Well Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompt #12: In Search of SELF
Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!
We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by @raj808 and @stormlight24 and run by @jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo @yaziris and @itsostylish.
You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.
We welcome delegations! These support our community in many ways, including helping us to provide support to quality content creators through curation and contests.
@jayna, @felt.buzz, @zeurich, @marcybetancourt, @agmoore, @marlyncabrera, @stormcharmer, @generikat, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @chocolatescorpi, @seeger, @samsmith1971, @grindan, @itsostylish, @josemalavem, @morey-lezama, @sayury, @evagavilan2 and @popurri.
Click banner to visit our community page
Find us on twitter by clicking the banner above.