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: "Holiday Memories":
- @abrarhussain
- @chm-writes
- @rdsmas
- @princess-dara
- @quan45
- @iskawrites
- @litguru
- @marriot5464
- @samiwrites
- @cinygirl
- @olykas23
- @daveyjones8
- @gabmr
- @lightpen
- @abigail04
- @mrenglish
- @omolayo
- @wrestlingdesires
- @osomar357
- @kei2
Author Shout-outs
We'd like to call out a few stories that got high marks from our curators.
@litguru
Curator comment:
@litguru writes a perfect Christmas story, perfectly set in setting and psychological motifs. A university professor travels by train to a family gathering and as she gazes at the snowy landscape she relives her childhood and feels the effect of having belatedly accepted that Father Christmas doesn't exist. It is then that someone dressed in red with grey hair sits down in front of her and ends up giving her a ring. This text is a gift for any reader. Don't miss it!
@rdsmas
Last Holiday Memory Before the Blackout
Curator comment:
@rdsmas writes a beautiful fiction about a man spending the day with his father who has Alzheimer's. He tugged on every heartstring inside this curator. I wanted to cry both with laughter and joy. I think many people will be able to relate to the heartache shared in this piece and the absolute joy that those precious moments of lucidity can bring. And even those who don't relate directly will enjoy his story as it draws them in and holds them captive. I won't spoil it. Just go read it!
@kei2
Curator comment:
kei2 takes us on a journey to youth. As the story opens, the narrator is filled with longing for lost joy and creative energy. She feels no holiday spirit, none of the inspiration that one time allowed her to write. Then, she takes a walk, and in a moment of magic reexperiences a moment of mystery from her childhood. Is it magic? Is it a subjective experience, imagined? We don't know and it doesn't matter. The moment brings back to her the joy of youth. It's a sweet story, well told.
@rinconpoetico7
Curator comment:
@rinconpoetico writes the most charming Christmas story for the fiction prompt. His memory involves discovering that Santa was his father in disguise. He was awakened on Christmas Eve by noises he thought were being made by a thief only to find his dad placing the presents under the tree. His fond memory makes him phone his father to announce a visit. Really cute!
Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week
This week's prompt is: "Resolution."
What to do with this prompt?
You can do whatever you wish, as always! As long as your story is inspired by the word "resolution," and you include it in your story, it's fine.
But what is special about this word? And how might it inspire a story? Well, as many are aware, this is the time of year for New Year's resolutions. A New Year's resolution is essentially a promise one makes to oneself to change a habit, or take on some course of self-improvement, or focus on something important that will enhance life and happiness.
So, perhaps your character truly wants to lose weight, or stop smoking, or find a life partner. Or maybe your character has made the same resolution each year and this year has a resolution to come up with a new and more meaningful resolution.
And of course the word means other things too, like the resolution of an argument. And in fiction we often talk about the resolution of conflict as an important story element. Conflict resolution is a powerful driver of the best stories! Hopefully those thoughts inspire 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.) And do NOT use AI tools to write your stories. You must provide your own unique content.
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; #147 Delight; #148 Anticipation; #149 Holiday memories
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, @selftheist, @marlyncabrera, @stormcharmer, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @timix648, @samsmith1971, @jackdeathblack, @josemalavem, @riverflows, @generikat, @mineopoly, @hazmat, @treasuree, @innfauno12, @kingsleyy, @popurri, @nancybriti1, @marynn, @jjmusa2004, @universoperdido, @juniorgomez, @rinconpoetico7, @nathy33, @marriot5464, @morey-lezama, @evagavilan2, @moneykeep, @mrenglish, @stuartcturnbull, @marilour, @funshee, @amiegeoffrey, @balikis95, @cool08, @rukkie, @raymondpeter, @emreal, @tomiajax, @osomar357, @ricurohemi28, and @benwesterham.
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