Welcome to the Weekly Writing Prompt from The Ink Well
We provide one weekly writing prompt for short story writers. You may choose to use the prompt to write a fictional story (made up from your imagination) or a creative nonfiction story (based on your real life experiences).
IMPORTANT: To be considered for curation, you must include one of these tags on your post:
You must also read and comment on the work of two other community members. Remember: We look for this when we curate your story. If we don't see this engagement, we will either provide a reminder or skip curating your post.
It is also very helpful to the admin team when authors add Fiction or Creative Nonfiction (or CNF for short) to the story title!
Before You Post in The Ink Well
Be sure to check out our community rules before posting in this community. You can find them at the top of our home page. They also appear at the top of a new post window.
Please also check out these additional helpful resources:
Peruse our collection of great writing resources on everything from character development to how to write dialogue in our catalog of storytelling tips.
Remember that we are always about quality first. Never about quantity. To achieve awards in The Ink Well, take the time to write quality stories and check them for errors. See the topic of the month, "Don't Miss This Step" in the March 2025 newsletter to learn about using tools (and using them properly) if you are not already doing this. We do notice when you don't take the time!
@henryjnrr writes about two brothers who lost touch with each other. One brother experiences a downturn in business. Just at that moment the other brother calls on the phone. The second brother takes an interest and teaches his brother how to use social media to drum up business. Not only does the business improve, but the two brothers grow close again. Nicely developed story.
As we go through life, there are many times when the morning after an experience or event seems like a new beginning. Or it is a time when a person gains a new perspective.
Here are some events and experiences that might lead to an important revelation or perspective the next morning:
After a bad marital disagreement, the wife tells her husband "it's over!" and returns home to her parents' house.
Two people meet at a party, get very drunk, and decide to get married in a civil ceremony before the night is over.
Late at night after drinking a few beers, a young man decides to text his ex-girlfriend.
If you want to write a creative nonfiction story, consider times in your life when you woke up in the morning to realize that you have regrets about choices you made the night before. Or perhaps you have had an experience where you feel that things in your life are not going well, and you feel despair. But with the dawn of a new day, you have a fresh perspective and new energy to solve your problems.
There are many more ways to interpret the prompt, "the morning after." Here are some story ideas from ChatGPT to inspire your creativity.
The morning after winning the lottery, every ticket in town has vanished.
The morning after the wedding, the groom wakes up alone in a town where no one remembers the ceremony.
The morning after a hurricane, one untouched house contains a stranger who insists it's always been his.
The morning after the funeral, the deceased leaves a voicemail.
The morning after retirement, a lifelong detective receives the one case he can't refuse.
The morning after the blackout, everyone remembers a different version of the previous night.
The morning after moving into an old farmhouse, every family photo has changed.
The morning after confessing a secret, the wrong person thanks you for your honesty.
The morning after graduation, your diploma bears a name you've never heard before.
The morning after a prison escape, the escaped inmate is back in his cell with no memory of returning.
The morning after the first snowfall, mysterious footprints lead to a house that doesn't exist on any map.
The morning after deleting your social media, strangers keep thanking you for posts you never wrote.
The morning after saying goodbye forever, your ex knocks on the door asking why you disappeared.
The morning after a small-town election, every ballot has been replaced with handwritten confessions.
The morning after a camping trip, one member of the group is missing—and no one else remembers they ever came.
The morning after adopting an elderly dog, it leads you to a decades-old crime scene.
The morning after the meteor shower, every mirror reflects tomorrow instead of today.
The morning after a neighborhood block party, every house has quietly swapped occupants.
The morning after a failed robbery, the thief discovers someone else stole the loot first.
The morning after a perfect first date, the other person has completely vanished from public records.
The morning after the ceasefire, soldiers on both sides receive identical anonymous letters.
The morning after a child wishes for a new life, everyone calls them by a different name.
The morning after the power returns, one family's clocks refuse to leave yesterday.
The morning after an argument, your spouse acts as though you've been happily divorced for years.
The morning after opening an old time capsule, the objects inside begin disappearing from history.
The morning after a shipwreck, every survivor tells the exact same impossible dream.
The morning after the neighborhood cat dies, it appears on every doorstep with a different gift.
The morning after the AI takes over routine jobs, one obsolete profession becomes the most valuable in the world.
The morning after a masked ball, no one can remove their masks.
The morning after the world's last broadcast, a single radio station continues to report tomorrow's news.
What ideas come to mind for you? We look forward to reading the product of your imagination or your personal experience!
Good luck! And of course, you are welcome to use AI to generate ideas and images, but the writing must be your own! We do not accept stories that are AI-generated or heavily edited by AI. Only use tools like Grammarly to fix spelling and grammar issues.
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 — please use the free Grammarly tool for grammar and spelling checks (and not AI writing or rephrasing tools for revising)
Accepted content: Remember that we only accept short stories (fiction or creative nonfiction). We do not accept advice columns, personal development articles, reviews, chapter stories, recipes, etc. We also do not accept posts about violent, gory, bloody, brutal, sexist or racist themes, NSFW (not safe for work) stories like erotica, stories with a political or religious agenda, or 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 or manipulate your stories. You must provide your own unique content.
Post link: Please be sure to publish your story in The Ink Well community, and post a link to your story in a comment on this post.
Images: Please only use images from license free and creative commons sites, like Pixabay, Unsplash and Pexels. You can also generate them with AI tools. 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" and they tend to be missing important character development. See the "story length" topic of our September 2025 newsletter for resources on how to improve and further develop your stories.)
Translations: If you post a story that has been translated from another language, please include the English version first, followed by content in the original language.
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.
Past Prompts
After 241 straight weeks of fiction prompts (and nearly as many creative nonfiction prompts) we have started a fresh new series! If you'd like to see the full list of previous fiction prompts, you can find them at the bottom of fiction prompt #241.
Note: The Ink Well pays out curation rewards to our delegators!
How to Delegate to The Ink Well
We welcome delegations! These support our community in many ways, including helping us to provide support to quality content creators through curation and contests.
