Welcome to the Weekly Fiction Prompt
Hello community members! Thank you for joining our weekly writing prompt! If you're new, be sure to check out our community rules before posting in The Ink Well. (You can find them at the top of our home page. And you will find all kinds of great resources for fiction writers in our catalog of fiction writing tips.
Stories from the Previous Week
Thank you to who posted a story for last week's prompt: "Dreamcatcher":
- @treasuree
- @zino01
- @imasolo
- @jazclassic
- @hadianoor
- @somuchgrace
- @menace123
- @tommyik
- @supernova004
- @fantom22
- @universoperdido
- @loveth97
- @alovely
- @nancybriti1
- @littlepiggies
- @lightpen
- @cheeamaka
- @rinconpoetico7
- @rare-gem
- @oyebolu
- @abigail04
- @teknon
- @jjmusa2004
- @moaz-sabir
- @balikis95
- @zyzymena
- @seki1
- @emreal
- @phyna
- @wrestlingdesires
- @mrenglish
- @bipolar95
- @kei2
- @kristowe
Author Shout-outs
We'd like to call out a few stories that got high marks from our curators.
@kei2
Curator comment:
@kei2 writes A fictional story so imaginative and well executed that it may have the potential to become a saga. Anisa is a great protagonist who has the gift and heritage to become the best defender of dreams. The dreamcatchers are her evil counterpart.
@loveth97
Curator comment:
@loveth97 writes a creepy and suspenseful tale for the dreamcatcher prompt in which an evil sorceress blackmails the maker of dreamcatchers in the village to create new ones for every family with a young child that are tainted with evil powers. The plan is cleverly thwarted by the town seer and good spirits who secretly replace all of the dreamcatchers with good ones from a neighboring village, and on the night of the cursed moon when the sorceress is going to carry out her plan, she is captured and sent to the netherworld instead.
@littlepiggies
Curator comment:
@littlepiggies made my day. She writes for the dreemcatcher prompt. This is a wonderful story about a mouse, an owl, and two sisters - lives intertwined in a seemingly never-ending cycle. Nocturnal events seep into the subconscious of a sleeping child to form the elements of dreams and nightmares which her dreamcatcher can differentiate, dissipating all negative thoughts, and retaining only the good ones. This was a wonderful read. It is a nicely textured and clever story, well-conceived, and tightly written with good structure. I loved the circular theme. We are left wondering which occurrence might have started the continuous cycle of events, as each appears dependent on the one before. A MUST READ!
@rinconpoetico7
Curator comment:
@rinconpoetico7 writes a compelling and imaginative fantasy story about a magical dreamcatcher that transports the main character to a land where he is "the chosen one" and a warrior. He doesn't believe it, but then events transpire that call his power forth and he saves the people from a sinister king. Nicely told with plenty of action.
Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week
This week's prompt is: "In mother's house."
For this prompt, we're providing a song for your inspiration, titled "There Was Music in My Mother's House." It is a sentimental song about what it is like to remember the family home and the music the mother brought into the home in the form of wind chimes, songs, and a grandfather clock. There is something so powerful about memories of home, whether it is the aroma of cooking, the beauty of a garden, or the memories held in photobooks and scrapbooks — and most often it is the mark of a mother and homemaker.
What story will you tell? Perhaps your character has been away for a very long time traveling. Or maybe your character has grown up, gotten married, and has not found time to visit. But when returning home, the memories flood back in, perhaps with some sadness or nostalgia. And of course, it's possible your character waits too long to return to the family home... and then it is too late to express appreciation for all that was good.
Those are just ideas! You can do anything with this prompt that you wish, as long as your story includes the prompt, "in mother's house." Maybe being in mother's house was not memorable in a good way. Maybe it always smelled of onions and okra and your character couldn't stand those aromas. Or perhaps it was always dark in mother's house because she had chronic migraines. Tell us a story!
For inspiration, visit this page and listen to one of the versions of the song. There are many to choose from!
Remember, as always, we are looking for the elements of story. 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.
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 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. (Note: We generally consider stories less than 750 words "too short!")
- 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.
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; #150 Resolution; #151 Bicycle; #152 Flight; #153 Time Travel; #154 A trip to the fair; #155 Don't sell me a dog; #156 Gravity; #157 Love, wheelbarrow, dog; #158 Stealing; #159 Sportsmanship; #160 Toast; #161 Pickle; #162 You only live once; #163 Ring; #164 Hope; #165 Dreamcatcher
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @samsmith1971 and @agmoore
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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, @blueeyes8960, @agmoore, @marcybetancourt, @marlyncabrera, @stormcharmer, @juniorgomez, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @timix648, @samsmith1971, @jackdeathblack, @josemalavem, @riverflows, @generikat, @mineopoly, @hazmat, @treasuree, @innfauno12, @kingsleyy, @popurri, @nancybriti1, @marynn, @universoperdido, @rinconpoetico7, @nathy33, @iyimoga, @marriot5464, @morey-lezama, @evagavilan2, @moneykeep, @mrenglish, @stuartcturnbull, @funshee, @amiegeoffrey, @balikis95, @cool08, @rukkie, @raymondpeter, @emreal, @tomiajax, @kushyzee, @jjmusa2004, @rare-gem, @ricurohemi28, @benwesterham, and @shakavon.
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