Welcome to the Weekly Fiction Prompt
Hello community members. As we mentioned recently post, we are phasing out the weekly contests and converting them to writing prompts. So here we go!
Stories from the Previous Week
Thank you to who posted a story for last week's prompt: "Intuition":
- @germanandradeg
- @marriot5464
- @zyzymena
- @iskawrites
- @loveah
- @tomiajax
- @ayokunlehenry
- @wrestlingdesires
- @jessicaossom
- @rammargarita
- @nancybriti1
- @rinconpoetico7
- @abigail04
- @lightpen
- @nftseller19
- @balikis95
- @marynn
- @jjmusa2004
- @samiwrites
- @seki1
- @inessita
- @reblogme
Author Shout-outs
We'd like to call out a few stories that got high marks from our curators.
@balikis95
The Premonition: The Third Generation
Curator comment:
@balikis95 writes a highly tension-filled story (missed by the bot two days ago), in which a girl is having a strange, dreamlike, out-of-body experience. She comes to with a scream as she feels a touch. She is in a coffee shop with her friend and explains that she had a sense that death was imminent... for someone. Excellent writing! We are drawn in completely. Sadly, it turns out that her premonition is true and that her mother was a victim of a hit-and-run accident. Her friend drives her to the hospital, but her mother has passed on. Her father explains to her that she is part of a long lineage of people with "the gift." When she comes to accept it, she vows to use it for good.
@iskawrites
I Think Someone's Stealing Our Birds
Curator comment:
@iskawrites delivers a delightful story. This author has talent that in time may take her to great heights. I hope so. She seems to 'see' her characters and she brings them alive on the page. A memorable child is created in young, 'lazy' Joey. The paragraphs that introduce this character are topnotch. His mother 'pushes' him out during birth on the barn floor. The father also emerges, subtly but clearly. This is the central challenge in the story, the relationship between father and son. Very subtly drawn. In the end the author ties a tight little bow on this conflict. Despite very minor style issues, the writing soars.
@wrestlingdesires
Curator comment:
@wrestlingdesires writes a great story that in places has the feel of being a professionally written piece. He responds to the intuition prompt by featuring a character that has ESP. With this extraordinary ability, the character is able to help a friend who is looking to do something desperate. The friend needs money, and our ESP character has a vision that points the way to a sensible solution. Tight arc. Great dialogue. Vivid characterization.
@nftseller
Curator comment:
@nftseller19 is a skilled writer. The story turned in as a response to the intuition prompt shows grace of form and holds our attention. A young woman dreams of a mystery woman. She traces the figure to a home far away, in England, and discovers a connection with a woman from another time. All well described, but one question remains: Why this woman? Why this connection? Nonetheless, a great story.
Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week
This week's prompt is: "Delight."
What to do with this prompt?
In our challenging world, it sometimes seems that delight is not on our minds, and joy is hard to find.
Tell us a story in which — in spite of the odds, or life challenges, or emotional turmoil — your character experiences delight. It could be that your character is mired in indecision, or feelings of loss, and has forgotten how to experience this amazing emotion... until a particular event. Or perhaps your character has seen a lot of pain, like a soldier who has been through a devastating war, but is reminded somehow that delight is to be found in everyday things — in the giggle of a baby, or the sight of the sun rising again on a new day.
Let's see where your imagination takes you!
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:
Writing Prompt Guidelines:
- See The Ink Well FAQ: Before you post in The Ink Well, we ask that you read our FAQ post to familiarize yourself with our important community rules and guidelines.
- Story link: Please be sure to 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: When you post in The Ink Well, please be sure to 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. Please do use the prompt word(s) within the story.
- 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 and a *minimum of 350 (ideally 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!
- Translations: If you post a story that has been translated from another language, please include both the English version and the translation.
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.)
Tips for Getting Curated by The Ink Well
There are some important elements of storytelling that make a story stand out, and make people want to read it, and keep reading. These include:
- 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 conclusion.
- And of course, we are looking for well-edited stories that are not littered with typos or grammatical errors.
You can find more on all of these topics in the catalog of fiction writing tips.
Past Prompts
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; #124 Doorway; #125 Beacon; #126 Seagull, Market, Box; #127 Window; #128 Terrified; #129 Dance; #130 Two endings; #131 Ghosted; #132 Treasure; #133 Taste; #134 Reunion; #135 I miss you; #136 Wonder; #137 Ruins; #138 Beach memories; #139 There was something in the wind; #140 Mask; #141 Halloween; #142 [Photo album]; #143 Dreams; #144 Crayon box; #145 Back of beyond; #146 Intuition
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @samsmith1971 and @agmoore
Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!
You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.
Note: The Ink Well is now paying out curation rewards to our delegators!
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, @itsostylish, @agmoore, @marcybetancourt, @marlyncabrera, @selftheist, @stormcharmer, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @timix648, @samsmith1971, @jackdeathblack, @josemalavem, @riverflows, @generikat, @mineopoly, @hazmat, @treasuree, @innfauno12, @kingsleyy, @popurri, @nancybriti1, @marynn, @jjmusa2004, @universoperdido, @juniorgomez, @morey-lezama, @evagavilan2, @moneykeep, @mrenglish, @stuartcturnbull, @marilour, @rinconpoetico7, @funshee, @amiegeoffrey, @balikis95, @cool08, @rukkie, @raymondpeter, @emreal, @tomiajax, @ricurohemi28, and @benwesterham.
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