![pexels-freestocks-318378.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/theinkwell/23wqs66pHWkFiMHH4ELHxYf8wJH4bD3LBPhj36xcKrJ7cwBrNhwb7p9LfHRP3DHXVWJgZ.jpg) _{Source: [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/happy-friends-with-arms-outstretched-in-city-during-winter-318378/)} ## 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: * Fictional stories: #fiction * Creative nonfiction stories: #creativenonfiction It is also *very* helpful to the admin team when authors add Fiction or Creative Nonfiction (or CNF for short) to the story title! ![TheInkWell Section Seperator.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/theinkwell/X4DfQH87-TheInkWell20Section20Seperator.png) ### 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](https://peakd.com/c/hive-170798/created). They also appear at the top of a new post window. Please also check out these additional helpful resources: * Learn more about our community and the expectations of community members in our [FAQ post](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/important-faqs-about-the-ink-well-dos-and-donts-rules-and-tips) and our [treasure trove of tips and guidelines](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-treasure-trove-of-tips-reminders-and-guidelines). * Peruse our collection of great writing resources on everything from character development to how to write dialogue in our [catalog of storytelling tips](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/catalog-of-fiction-writing-tips-from-the-ink-well). * Learn more about creative nonfiction, how it differs from fictional stories, and tips for success in [our post on creative nonfiction tips](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/creative-nonfiction-what-it-is-and-tips-for-success). * 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](https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-walking-alone-on-a-field-in-dense-fog-16254468/) 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!** ![TheInkWell Section Seperator.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/theinkwell/X4DfQH87-TheInkWell20Section20Seperator.png) ## Last Week's Winning Story of the Week Thank you to everyone who shared a story for the last prompt, "[Vacancy](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-inkwell-combined-writing-prompt-18--fiction-or-creative-nonfiction)"! Each week we pick one of our favorite stories of the week and award the author 5 Hive. And we have a winner! Congrats to @marriot5464 for his story [*The Digital Vacancy*](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@marriot5464/the-digital-vacancy). Here's what our curator had to say: > @marriot5464 writes a Sci-Fi story that takes place in 2099. The protagonist rents out space in his head. Never does the author lose us as he describes this complicated experience. The renter tries to take over the life of the protagonist, but in the end fails in this effort. It is a very clever idea (reminds me a little of Philip K. Dick), and well realized. Congratulations, @mariot5464! ![TheInkWell Section Seperator.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/theinkwell/X4DfQH87-TheInkWell20Section20Seperator.png) ## Short Story Writing Prompt of the Week This week's prompt is: "**Valentine**." Valentine's Day is coming up in a few days. This prompt gives you an opportunity to write a story — a creative nonfiction story from your own life experiences, or a fictional story from your imagination. Feel free to use this prompt or any aspect of Valentine's Day to fuel your story. You could write about some young women who have not yet found the life partners celebrating "Galentine's Day" together. Or write about an anticipated offer of marriage on Valentine's Day that doesn't come... for some reason that the story reveals as an interesting plot twist. Here are some fictional story ideas generated by ChatGPT: **The Last Valentine in the Drawer** *While cleaning out a deceased relative’s home, a character finds an unopened Valentine’s card dated decades earlier. As they imagine why it was never given, the story unfolds as a quiet reconstruction of a love story marked by fear, timing, or social constraints.* **Everyone Gets One Except Him** *In a near-future town where every citizen receives a state-assigned Valentine guaranteeing emotional compatibility, one man is skipped—no explanation, no apology. As he searches for answers, he begins to question whether love can exist without official recognition, or if being overlooked is its own strange kind of freedom.* And here are some AI generated ideas for creative nonfiction short stories based on this prompt: **The Valentine That Never Arrived** *A reflective essay about waiting for a Valentine—real or metaphorical—that never came. The piece explores how expectation, comparison, and silence shape our understanding of love, tracing a shift from longing for external validation to recognizing quieter, less performative forms of affection.* **Buying Myself Flowers on February 14** *A personal narrative centered on a specific Valentine’s Day spent alone by choice or circumstance. Small, concrete moments—grocery-store flowers, a solo meal, an overheard conversation—become a meditation on self-worth, autonomy, and redefining romance outside traditional narratives.* We hope those ideas inspire you! Use this prompt as you wish in a fictional story or a creative nonfiction story. As always, you do not need to actually use the prompt word(s). They are here to inspire your creativity! We look forward to reading the product of your imagination or your memories! 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) You can find more on all of these topics in the [catalog of storytelling tips](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/catalog-of-fiction-writing-tips-from-the-ink-well). 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: - [50 Loglines](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-writing-prompts-50-story-loglines) - [50 Story Ideas](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-fiction-prompt-6-50-story-ideas) - [50 Imagination Ticklers](https://peakd.com/fiction/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-prompt-13-50-imagination-ticklers) ## Rules: 1. ***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](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/violence-and-brutality-in-fiction-the-ink-wells-stance) for more information.) And do NOT use AI tools to write or manipulate your stories. You must provide *your own* unique content. 1. ***Post link***: Please be sure to publish your story in [The Ink Well](https://peakd.com/c/hive-170798/created) community, and post a link to your story in a comment on this post. 1. ***Hashtags***: Use the #fiction tag for fictional stories and the #creativenonfiction tag for creative nonfiction stories. You can also use #writing, #inkwellprompt and #theinkwell. 1. ***Images***: Please only use images from license free and creative commons sites, like [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/), [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/) and [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/). 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. 1. ***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](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/september-2025-updates-and-monthly-fiction-contest-from-the-ink-well) for resources on how to improve and further develop your stories.) 1. ***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. 1. ***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](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-inkwell-fiction-prompt-241). Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well! @jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @agmoore, @samsmith1971, @itsostylish and @yaziris. ![TheInkWell Section Seperator.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/theinkwell/X4DfQH87-TheInkWell20Section20Seperator.png) #### Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive! **Join [here](https://hiveonboard.com/?ref=theinkwell) at Hive Onboard** Already a Hive member? Click **Subscribe** at the top of [The Ink Well community home page](https://peakd.com/c/hive-170798/created). *_{Questions? Ask The Ink Well on [Discord](https://discord.gg/Bng7mMsaQj).}* ![TheInkWell Section Seperator.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/theinkwell/X4DfQH87-TheInkWell20Section20Seperator.png) We invite lovers of creative writing to visit [The Ink Well](https://peakd.com/c/hive-170798/created), a Hive community started by @raj808 and @stormlight24 and run by @jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @agmoore, @samsmith1971, @itsostylish and @yaziris

How to Follow Our Curation Trail

You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button. ***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. |50 HP|100 HP|500 HP|1000 HP|5000 HP| |---|---|---|---|---| |click here|click here|click here|click here|click here **A big thank you to all of our delegators:**
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Creative Writing Project, Fiction