Image source: sandid on Pixabay
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 peruse the work of our community members.
Note: We always launch our prompt posts with important information. So be sure to check it out first! Then we invite you to read on and see what we have in store for this week's prompt.
Important FAQs about The Ink Well!
Here are answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about The Ink Well.
What Is The Ink Well All About?
The Ink Well is a short story community. This means we only accept short fiction. (Fiction means stories that came from your imagination, not from real life.)
It also means:
- No novels, chapter stories or multi-part stories
- No poems
- No introduction posts
- No essays or other non-fiction
- No memes
Just fictional short stories!
The Ink Well is all about creativity, quality, community, and engagement. As such, we ask the following:
- Please take the time to get to know the community and read other writers' work. Everyone who posts in The Ink Well is expected to read and comment on at least two other stories for each piece you post.
- See our catalog of fiction writing tips and make use of our resources. (Many of our writers are developing awesome skills, and you can too!)
- Put effort into your posts. Review and edit your content for errors before publishing.
What are the community rules?
You can find our community rules at the top of The Ink Well community (right side of the page).
Please read the rules before posting in The Ink Well, as we outline the "do's and don'ts." If you can't find them, you can read them here.
Our community rules are designed to make our community a safe, welcoming, plagiarism-free space for self-publishing original short stories. We do not allow stories depicting violence, brutality, or abuse of women, children or animals. If you have questions, please read this article explaining our stance on violence.
What does it take to get rewards in The Ink Well??
We refer you to the above description of what The Ink Well is about. If you are not getting great rewards, it is likely for one of the following reasons:
- Your story has many grammatical errors. (This is easily fixed with the tips in our post, Help for the Grammatically Challenged.)
- Your story lacks some important elements of good fiction, such as character development, dialog, scene details or a story arc. (See our catalog of fiction writing tips for information on these important aspects of short stories.)
- Your story lacks originality or does not follow our community rules.
Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement
As we announced in our February newsletter, we are now running a weekly challenge to generate some fun and excitement while also helping our members to work on the different skills involved in story telling. Last week's challenge was to work on story setting.
You guys are amazing! There were some really amazing, vivid story settings. This is a great skill to develop. The setting of your story makes the narrative 'real' for your readers. It allows them to place themselves in the story. Because this is such an important skill, we'd like to include a few good examples of establishing a story's setting. Here are this week's honorable mentions:
@storygoddess38 Love in the Air
His eyes shifted to the diners by his left, they were holding hands and having a tete-a-tete. The man looked deeply into the eyes of his woman as he spoke, and a broad smile spread across her cheeks as she listened.
Timini shifted his gaze from them and it hovered over the rest diners; everyone was with their partners except him. The chair in front of him was empty, Tosin was yet to arrive.
The great trek began for Udoka, he walked from street to street, looking for where he would find a house to help work or a cook (chef). As he walked, he looked high into the sky, some tall building, the first time he was seeing them.
Tiny feet moved one at a time in a flurry, leaves crunching in their wake. The woods came to life as the sun rose, birds chirping, singing harmoniously against the fit of giggles that travelled with the wind.
The rain had come to a halt. Only the sounds of falling droplets from the leaves, birds and crickets chirping could be heard. It was Coal dark and cold. The people of Suhr were usually all cooked up beside a fireplace in their various huts by this time. Only Winona the village seer would be seen in the rain making incantations.
The decade of the 1890s was ending and the impetus for change was running through the cobblestone streets on the backs of horses buffeting the steam of the machines that came after them. And just as a candle flame flickers, all certainties wavered before what time brought in its belly
And the winner of the Creating a Setting challenge is... @diebitch, with her story Finding Home. Here's an excerpt from the story:
The white marbled floor sparkled like a floor cleaner advertisement as it competed with the pristine white of the walls. The bright blue couch looked brand new as if someone had never sat on it. The coffee table was without any small scars from drunken spills or careless scratches.
Congratulations to @diebitch, who will receive 5 Hive as the winner.
Okay, let's review fiction entries from last week's prompt and launch a new one.
Stories From the Previous Week
Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt, Blossom.
Here are the week's stories. Be sure to read and support these authors for their work.
The Shattered Dreams by @rayt2
Piece of Heaven by @ipexito
Death by @nasfyneboy92
One Shot by @alovely
Lagos, Here I Come by @mrenglish
Will You Stay With Me Forever? by @davidbright
The Way Up Is Down by @henry.ndubuisi
Blossoming Against the Odds by @samsmith1971
The Last Good Banker by @egboncass
Reckoning of the Chief Rufus by @raymonpeter
Love in the Air by @storygoddess38
Found by @merrymay22
On the Arms of Grace by @boscohage
Smile by @mrnightmare.net
Destiny by @ddb688
Okonkwo, My Love by @kingobonnaya
Angles in Disguise!? by @restcity
Il mio amore e come un fiore! by @lordtimoty
Life Without You by @emeka002
Blood Tie by @joalheal
Should I Trust Him With My Heart? by @maryjacy
One More Time by @young-boss-karin
Fancy Restaurant/Restaurante de lujo by @soyamelia
Not a Faded Love by @princessbusayo
The Perfect Timing by @zyzymena
I Just Made Love With My Best Friend's Sister by @chincoculbert
Jemima's Agony by @hopestylist
A Blossom Moment by @abigail04
The Lepre-Con by @stormcharmer
Turning 25 by @zellypearl
Never Enough by @joydukeson
The Rise of a Young King by @cool08
My Success Story by @yhuddee111
Blossom by @repayme4568
The Evil Fairy by @brujita18
The Home of Troubles by @cool08
Johnson Family by @camerafanatic
A Dream of Love by @zeraton
Love and Fear by @egboncass
The Universe of Good Hearts by @pawpawcat
The Cherry Blossom by @khaleesii
Deep Waters by @dwixer
The Mysterious Mask by @ayin
The Surprise by @kingobonnaya
Don't You Go Away by @storygoddess38
The Perfect Technique by @kirlos
Embrace What's Next by @restcity
My Neighbor and I by @merit.ahama
Sancho's Adventure by @hazmat
No New Spring by @victorkachi
First Date by @camerafanatic
One More Time... by @young-boss-karin
Isolated Place by @ayin
The Wanderers by @kelseyimoh
More Than Friends by @restcity
The Dystopian Nightmare by @atyourservice
Oluwakemi by @didiee
Backwater by @soyamelia
Hope on the Way by @iyimoga
My First Love by @rayt2
Blossom of Friendship by @adaopara
Fate Unites Again by @ricestrela
The Grant by @temileke
Blossom by @kassywally
The Slap of Joy by @luckydrums
Fate by @danladi
The Search for a New World by @youngelder
Searching for the Light by @popurri
Small World by @hazmat
City of Manila by @mrnightmare89
A New Life by @milezofplay
The Chicken War by @kuwalski
Daredevil by @deraaa
Destiny by @fantom22
Icy Springs Adventure by @wrestlingdesires
Lily by @kei2
My Mother's Wings by @cinygirl
When the Day Breaks by @arthursiq5
Small World by @kingogonnaya
A Space in Time by @itsostylish
Drunken Saving Grace by @preshtrump99
The Cherry Blossom of Remembrance by @kemmyb
The Healing Unicorn by @idspecial17
Advice From a Former Rebel by @theawesononso
Finding Happiness in Love, Lies and a Cheating Beau by @juanvegetarian
Miss Joyce by @joalheal
Dolu Hasn't Changed a Bit by @rayt2
Old Life by @camerafanatic
Finding Home by @diebitch
Karma by @egboncass
The Blossoming of the Century by @trashyomen
Veracity by @ayesha-malik
Blossom of Hope by @perochukwu
The Secured Ticket by @jmis101
Bleeding Lights by @daniella619
Lavender the Blossom Queen by @blackalbino1
The Spell by @heskay
I Missed My Birthday by @the-last-elf
Break the Chain by @hazmat
Love Always Finds a Way by @godwin200
My People in Pain by @offia66
Brothers Apart by @mrenglish
Love Storm by @milezofplay
If you didn't shouted at me, I wouldn't have met my son: A story of Rude manager by @halleluyah
The Hunt for the Pot of Gold by @raymondpeter
My Dreams by @smilejerry
Redemption by @mrenglish
Patriotic Family by @fantom22
An Enchantment by @itsostylish
The Black Dot by @victorkachi
The Missing Girl by @ayingprince
The Three Immigrants by @katleya
False Accusation by @cool08
The Bond by @boscohage
The Left Behind by @cool08
The Substitute Wedding by @kingobonnaya
St. Patrick's Day by @artworks
Stepmother by @fantom22
My Cherry Is Blossoming Again by @farahikram
A Fluke by @hazmat
What a great collection of stories. Thank you, everyone!
This Week’s Prompt
The inkwell is fortunate to have many members who are eager to write. However, the curation team does not have infinite resources. In order to be fair to all writers, we have decided to ask our members to publish one, only one story per week. If members choose to publish more than that, they may. However, only one story will be curated.
It would be wise to use talent on the best story you can write so you can receive the optimal curation. Remember, Quality over Quantity. Moving forward the Ink Well Team believes this will provide a better experience for writers and curators.
At last, the prompt of the week!
This week's prompt is Temptation. And your skill challenge is to create a character who is faced with desire in the face of danger. To get a better understanding of this challenge, read @jayna's essay, Writing Fiction Is Like Weaving in the InkWell's Catalog of Fiction Writing Tips.
What should you do with this prompt? And what does this skill challenge mean? Here are some additional details:
Temptation: You may use this as a verb (to tempt), as an adjective (in its gerund form, tempting) or as a noun (temptation). Temptation is part of life and provides a great deal of the tension we experience. Does temptation lead to envy in your character? Does it lead to action? Does it lead to internal conflict? Does it lead to tragedy?
A character who is faced with desire in the face of danger. If you think about it, every story has a character who is faced with a challenge: something desired and obstacles to achieving that thing. This tension becomes the basis of a story's essential conflict.
For example:
- A character has to feed her family in a time of food shortage. How does she overcome the obstacles? What role might temptation play in this drama?
- You want to compete in gymnastics on a national level, but your family believes this is not a wise course for you to follow. How do you overcome their objections without alienating them?
- You are cold. You need wood for the stove, but in the forest that surrounds your house there are wolves. What do you do?
If you read @jayna's article, you will learn how essential this tension between desire and danger is in a story and why it is important to understand how we use it when we write.
A week from now, we will select a winning story that shows a character who deals with desire in the face of danger. Of course we will also be looking for overall quality in the winning story. Good luck!
Note: As always, please avoid violent, gory, bloody, brutal, sexist or racist themes and language, erotica and other NSFW (not safe for work) content, and stories featuring abuse of women, children or animals. (We have a complete article about The Ink Well stance on violence and brutality for more information.)
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 a week to write for the prompt, until the next one is posted. (Note: You can write for any of the prompts anytime. This is just a guideline to be included in the weekly round-up in the next prompt post.)
- 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 and #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.
- 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 the source link.
- Length: We request that story word counts are a maximum of 1,500 words maximum 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!
Reminder: Be sure to also read our community rules. The reason for the repeat reminder is that we see many stories describing brutality of women, children, or animals, or that have excessive gore or violence, and we must mute them. Please do not post these stories in The Ink Well. We want our community to be a safe and comfortable place for all readers.
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
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo, @wrestlingdesires and @yaziris
We would like to invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by @raj808 and @stormlight24 and run by @jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo, @wrestlingdesires and @yaziris.
We also invite you to follow The Ink Well curation trail on the Hive blockchain, at https://hive.vote/. Simply navigate to the curation trail section and search for theinkwell (all one word with no @ symbol) and our trail will pop up as an option.
Similarly delegations are possible on Hive using the fantastic https://peakd.com/ Hive Blockchain front end. If you wish to delegate to @theinkwell, you can do this from the wallet section of https://peakd.com/
@jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo, @iamraincrystal, @generikat, @marlyncabrera, @preparedwombat, @marcybetancourt, @zeurich, @stormcharmer, @adncabrera, @josemalavem, @morey-lezama, @sayury, @evagavilan2, @bertrayo, @deraaa, @rayt2 and @fantom22.
Click banner to visit our community page
Find us on twitter by clicking the banner above.