Hello and welcome to the The Ink Well weekly fiction prompt and prize announcement! The Ink Well is a Hive blockchain-based social media community of creative writers. If you love to write short stories, we invite you to join us! Or just peruse and enjoy the work of our community members.
Special Reminder: Check out our monthly contest for the month of June, 2023, ending June 30! And be sure to honor the countdown timer! 10 Hive to the winner!
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Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement
Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!
Last week's prompt was: "recall". And the skill challenge was to develop a great main character.
Stories From the Previous Week
Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!
- @justiceo
- @marynn
- @m-kay
- @fantom22
- @iyimoga
- @balikis95
- @timix648
- @deraaa
- @marriot5464
- @fashtioluwa
- @lightpen
- @emeka002
- @rinconpoetico7
- @pearlsuddy
- @blessworld
- @mrenglish
- @kemmyb
- @abigail04
- @clemenp
- @cool08
- @jjmusa2004
- @farahikram
- @yuki-nee
- @george-dee
- @amiegeoffrey
- @intishar
- @princess-dara
- @jhymi
- @radenkusumo666
- @inessita
- @marilour
- @phyna
- @gracielaacevedo
Honorable Mentions
Our honorable mentions of the week are:
- @deraaa: The Mistakes
- @jhymi: The Dance of the Heavens
- @balikis95: Daniella
- @marynn: The Burden Within
- @lightpen: My Conjoined Twins
- @emeka002: A New Ray of Hope
The Winners!
All of these authors wrote fantastic stories using the prompt, and did an excellent job with the skill of the week: creating a great main character!
Third Place: Wins 2 Hive
- @jjmusa2004, with the story Stan: A Short Story
Dusk hastily crept around him, beginning to mask his image cast upon the board glass where the result was pasted. It was the best time to check the result when other colleagues would be absent, for he nursed the fear of being laughed at by those he would meet there, even though he knew some others would have purposely checked out his result without him requesting them to do so on his behalf. He could still see in the glass a reflection of himself, doubting if he was actually the one that showed in it.
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
- @yuki-nee, with the story A Different Perception of the World
After living with these creatures for 15 years, Carlos was already used to their presence and would only find them as a slight annoyance. Moreover, occasionally, he would interact with them, telling them not to cause too much trouble to other people. Similar to what he was doing now, where he’s scolding the little goblins for causing too much ruckus inside the store. Of course, he was only doing it because no customer was around. After all, he didn’t want to scare the customers away.
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
- @kemmyb, with the story The Forgotten Twin
The strange girl chuckled beside him. It seemed he was the only one who could see her.
"Why, the good doctor is optimistic," she whispered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I can't let you take my place in this family. You and I know you are a lost cause, yes?" She arched a brow.
Griffin tried to speak but couldn't. He shook his head.
Congratulations to @kemmyb, @yuki-nee and @jjmusa2004!
This Week’s Prompt
FIRST: A COUNTDOWN NOTE
Be sure to submit your entries before the countdown ends.
You must submit before the end of the countdown to be considered for the prizes and honorable mentions.
Please observe the timer below this post. If it's purple, and the COUNTDOWN time is in the future, you can submit and be eligible for prizes and honorable mentions.
If the countdown is gray, and the timer has expired, you can submit, but your story will not be eligible for prizes or honorable mentions.
When the timer expires, we get busy reviewing all the stories, and no further submissions are considered.
Prompt of the week!
WAIT! Did you read the information above about the countdown timer? Okay, proceed!
This week's prompt is: "doorway."
What to do with this prompt? Doorways are wonderful, aren't they? A doorway (or door) can be very scary if it is closed and you don't know what is on the other side. It can also be symbolic of an opportunity for change and for something new. A person can loiter in a doorway, or walk in unexpectedly, surprising everyone in the room. A doorway can even lead to another world. There are many possibilities!
What about the skill of the week?
It's time to put it all together. We will be looking for all of these skills as we identify winners and honorable mentions:
- Great first lines.
- Good settings.
- Well-developed characters.
- Integration of action, dialogue and narrative.
- A conflict that intrigues the reader.
- A "story arc" which results in the resolution of the conflict and brings the story to a satisfying close.
- And of course, we are looking for well-edited stories that are not littered with typos or spelling errors.
To be eligible for prizes, you must write a story based on the prompt (be sure to use the prompt word in your story), and demonstrate the fiction writing skills we have been encouraging everyone to practice.
Ready, set go!
A week from now, we will select winning stories that demonstrate these qualities and utilize the prompt. Good luck! Be sure to read the contest rules below.
If you don't feel inspired by this prompt or the featured image, feel free to peruse any of our past prompts or our collection of idea-generators:
Weekly Prompt Rules:
- Deadline: You have SIX DAYS to write for the prompt, and you must submit your story before the end of the countdown to be considered for prizes and honorable mentions. You can find the countdown timer at the bottom of the prompt post on The Ink Well home page.
- Story link: Post your story in The Ink Well community, and post a link to your story in a comment on this post.
- Hashtags: Please use these hashtags: #fiction #writing #inkwellprompt #theinkwell — as well as #dreemport, if you are also posting your story to the DreemPort site.
- COMMUNITY SUPPORT: Visit the work of at least two other community members and comment on their work.
- Title: The title is up to you. You can come up with any title you wish. You do not need to name it after the prompt or include the prompt word(s).
- Images: Please only use images from license free and creative commons sites, like Pixabay, Unsplash and Pexels. Images you find on the Internet are copyright protected and cannot be used. Be sure to provide all image source links.
- Length: We request that story word counts are a maximum of 1,500 words in length (preferably 750-1000 words). This is just a guideline. Longer stories are okay too, but they tend to get fewer readers. Additionally, The Ink Well admins appreciate keeping to that maximum story length for our time management. Thank you!
Reminders: Be sure to also read our community rules. As always, please avoid violent, gory, bloody, brutal, sexist or racist themes and language, NSFW (not safe for work) stories like erotica, stories with a political or religious agenda, and stories featuring abuse of any kind. (We have a complete article about The Ink Well stance on violence and brutality for more information.)
Here are the past prompts if you would like to use them or refer back to them:
#1: Heart and Soul; #2: The moment when...; #3: Beauty with a twist; #4: The Way Home; #5: A Matter of Time; #6 50 Story Ideas; #7 The Library; #8 All the way to tomorrow; #9 Legend; #10 Three Words; #11 World Building; #12 Childhood Summers; #13 50 Imagination Ticklers; #14 Railroad; #15 Cats - 750 words; #16 Your Birthday; #17 Action, Dialog and Narrative; #18 Change; #19 Tea Time or Tee Time?; #20 Summer Camp; #21 Main Street; #22 Fireworks; #23 Picnic; #24 Run; #25 A word of advice; #26 Winding road; #27 Mirror; #28 Shipwreck; #29 School Notes; #30 Three Words: Scooter, River, Midnight; #31 Flash Fiction Contest; #32 A Fork in the Road; #33 Shadows; #34 Three Words: Island, Witch, Cake; #35 Full Moon; #36 Graveyard; #37 Jack-o-Lantern; #38 Family Ties; #39 Longing; #40 Feast; #41 Gift; #42 Season of Light; #43 Believe; #44 Elf; #45 Holiday; #46 New Year; #47 Unlikely Hero; #48 Inheritance; #49 Under the Light of the Moon; #50 Three Words: Shoes, Mood, Adventure; #51 They're Here; #52 Artist; #53 Headlights; #54 Tomorrow; #55 Lense; #56 Perfection; #57 Making and Breaking Rules; #58 A Reckoning; #59 Blossom; #60 Temptation; #61 Happiness; #62 Footprint; #63 Frequency; #64 Sailing; #65 Fortune; #66 Worry; #67 Adventure; #68 Shadow; #69 Motor; #70 Embarrass; #71 Proud; #72 Guide; #73 Impression; #74 Lost; #75 Wonder; #76 Tear; #77 Splash; #78 Brilliant; #79 Sinkhole; #80 Exhaust; #81 Roll; #82 Wishbone; #83 Chatterbox; #84 Foil; #85 I can't believe you said that; #86 Boo; #87 Midnight; #88 Hunger; #89 Light; #90 Spirit; #91 Fire; #92 Tend/Tender; #93 Cheer; #94 Appearance; #95 Ambition; #96 Trust; #97 Fly; #98 Comfort; #99 Fate; #100 To Create; #101 Vision; #102 Sympathy; #103 A Special Time; #104 Suspense; #105 Bride, stairs, illusion; #106 Reality TV; #107 Things the Go Bump in the Night; #108 First line: Two strange things happened that day; #109 What if that loose floorboard was actually a hidden passageway?; #110 Footsteps; #111 Mess; #112 Cards; #113 Elephant; #114 Crystal; #115 Phone call; #116 Date; #117 Chocolate; #118 Three words: wish, button, sky; #119 RSVP; #120 Objets d'art; #121 Soul; #122 Scuttlebutt; #123 Recall
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish and @grindan
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