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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!
What Is The Ink Well All About?
The Ink Well is a creative writing community. Here are answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about The Ink Well.
- No novels, chapter stories or multi-part stories
- No poems
- No introduction posts
- No memes
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.
Important tips!
- Among the factors we look at is quality of engagement with others in the community
- Please make sure your story is clearly inspired by the prompt.
- Remember to link your story to the prompt post.
Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement
Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!
Last week's prompt was Light and the skill challenge was to create a vivid story setting in your story. This community really came through with surprising, amazing stories!
Many of our writers created original, memorable stories in response to the prompt. Our selections of this week's winners and honorable mentions reflect how well writers dealt with this prompt and skill challenge.
Update! We are excited to share that in addition to our first place winner, we are awarding a second and third place, in addition to a few honorable mentions. For second and third place we are awarding Hive Basic Income (HBI). The third place winner receives 2 HBI and the second place winner receives 3 HBI.
Here are this week's honorable mentions, all of them written in response to the prompt and skill challenge.
Honorable Mentions
- @innfauno12 with the story The Tree and the Gardener
He took a ladder and stretched a net between the branches of the tree to keep them out of sight and it worked, but suddenly the weather turned grey and the thunder began to rumble, there were strong winds and it began to rain. The leaves piled up in the netting and started to get wet and wet until the netting broke. Thousands of leaves fell everywhere, on the grass, on the road and even on the door of the surgery.
- @merit.ahama with the story A Date at the Lantern
At the Lantern Festival, Phil and Amber couldn't stop feeling happy about writing their wishes together on a yellow lantern before they send it away. Amber was surprised to see that they both had the same wishes and that was to be together all the days of their lives.
- @dianelson with the story Little Tommy
I'm gone but don't cry for me because it doesn't hurt anymore. I saw the beginning part of the game. You were amazing out there. I even caught a smile on your lips. I think Mama is right. I closed my eyes and I could picture it. The lights were so bright I had to squint my eyes. It was really beautiful.
- @riverflows with the story The Catacombs
She moved further forward, away from his insistant tapping, shifting her right knee forward and pressing it hard onto the tunnel floor to propel herself forward. She was glad she bought knee pads and gloves - last time they explored the catacombs, both palms and the inner side of her knees were wet with blood.
- @restcity with the story Hurricane Season
Now, it’s true I grew up closer to the middle of the state, but all the hurricanes I’d been through seemed to be really bad rain storms. The worst thing I had ever seen happen during one of those storms was someone’s tree branch get snapped off.
Third Place: Wins 2 HBI
- @littlepiggies with the story Missed Connections
“Okay, well, we’ll wait for the morphine to kick in, and then I’ll come up and change the bandages. I’ll be down in the parlor cleaning, for when the art appraiser arrives.” She leaned in closely to the bed trying to find the remote control call button that was buried down on the side. “Ah, here it is. Okay, call me if you need me.” She handed Lorraine the remote and started to walk out of the room.
Second Place: Wins 3 HBI
- @kemmyb with the story The Daughter of the Sun
Our ancestors displeased the sun goddess and so the sun went into hiding longer than it should, giving us more of the night and less of the day. This caused bad harvests and a shortage of food supply. Our skins became lighter in complexion and many fell ill.
And the winner of the Light/create a vivid story setting challenge is...@ricardo993 with the story Life in REM Dreams. Congratulations, @ricardo993. You will receive 5 Hive!
I studied during the day how to observe the stars and planets, how to play a role in navigation watches or cargo operations, how the hydraulic valve system on the main deck worked, about leadership, and about making strong decisions, but that was of no use to me. I longed to sail again, even if it was only five more times.
Okay, let's review fiction entries from last week's prompt and launch a new one.
Stories From the Previous Week
@marynn
@officialvictor
@diebitch
@merit.ahama
@pjpavan
@jayna
@lightpen
@seeger
@littlepiggies
@bettyhandayani
@grindan
@bahnhoft
@lordtimoty
@restcity
@kemmyb
@fantom22
@wrestlingdesires
@maryjacy
@balikis95
@billionz
@adhyaksaardaus
@ricardo993
@cool08
@talon12
@tozill
@samsmith1971
@dreemsteem
@royaldiadem
@mrenglish
Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!
This Week’s Prompt
The Ink Well is fortunate to have many members who are eager to write. 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.
At last, the prompt of the week!
This week's prompt is Spirit. Our skill challenge will be to describe an interesting character. You will find a discussion about describing characters in @jayna's essay, Writing Character Descriptions.
In writing for the prompt, you don't have to use the exact word of the prompt. Derive inspiration from it, and let your imagination go to work.
Here are some ideas to help get you started on your story.
- The enemy soldiers broke into the tent and tried to spirit away General Perkins.
- The community spirit was down ever since the river had flooded Main Street.
- Andrea wondered if it was true that spirits inhabited the Morris Mansion.
- It was the custom to drink strong spirits on a cold night. This was said to make the blood flow and warm the body.
- The lawyer gave a spirited defense, although it was obvious to all that her client was guilty.
- The ship was called The Spirit of St. Louis.
- It seemed her step was imbued with a new spirit after she won the blue ribbon.
These are just some ways in which the prompt might inspire a story. You can probably come up with much more interesting ideas of your own.
A week from now, we will select a winning story that demonstrates this skill and utilizes the prompt. 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
- #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
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris and @itsostylish
Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!
We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by @raj808 and @stormlight24 and run by @jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris and @itsostylish.
You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.
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, @zeurich, @felt.buzz, @marcybetancourt, @agmoore, @marlyncabrera, @stormcharmer, @generikat, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @chocolatescorpi, @seeger, @itsostylish, @josemalavem, @morey-lezama, @sayury, @evagavilan2 and @popurri.
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