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Dear community, Welcome to Prompt #17 in our creative nonfiction initiative. Thank you to everyone who contributed a nonfiction story last week. Here's a quick overview of how it works: Each week, we provide a creative nonfiction prompt. You are also welcome to post other creative nonfiction pieces that are not based on the prompt. See the guidelines below. To be curated, your content should follow our guidelines, be at least 350 words (but ideally 750 -1500 words), be written in English, or another language as well as the English translation, and — as much as possible — free of errors. We also expect everyone who posts stories in The Ink Well to read and comment on the work of at least two other community members for each story published. (Thank you!) There are many guides and resources online for getting to know this wonderful genre. It is truly about storytelling. The simple difference between creative nonfiction and fictional stories is that the story is not made up. We like this definition from an article on creativenonfiction.org: Simply put: Creative nonfiction is true stories, well told. With creative nonfiction, you are using the literary and storytelling tools of a fiction writer to craft stories from real life experiences. Set the scene. Give the details. Profile the characters. Give us the dialog, as best you can remember it. Ideas and inspiration: Creative nonfiction stories can be snippets from your life autobiography — moments in time you want to capture in words, whether they were frightening, enlightening, bittersweet, or life-altering. They can be observations about life, about a time you connected at a profound level with a perfect stranger, or something you have learned along the way that made you a better person. Do you love podcasts? One of the greatest sources of creative nonfiction is The Moth Radio Hour. Listen to a few of the stories from The Moth, and we guarantee you will be inspired. Here are some additional resources for learning more about the creative nonfiction genre: Check out this list of creative nonfiction stories. For example, one of the stories is about a funeral for a lizard named Rango. We hope you are inspired! Here are some examples of what we are looking for: In other words, tell a story from real life. And illustrate the ideas you share with real world experiences, memories and observations. Here’s what we are NOT looking for: What will be muted: Thank you to all who participated in last week's prompt: Friendship! We enjoyed reading about the meaning of good friends. Writers who joined in the fun: Our honorable mentions for last week's prompt are: Our third place winner is @dianelson, with her story, For Not So Ever. We became inseparable after that. You couldn't see her without seeing me. Our names couldn't have been more different but people sometimes confused the name for one another. It finally happened. I found my person. That one person that existed in my tiny bubble with me. We did the silliest of things like walk under the rain, dress to match, sit on flyovers instead of walking across it. I think my favourite part was when we would stay awake and laugh into the night for no reason in particular or when we would go to her grandma's place, visit the stream and place our head in the water. I've never felt more at peace with my life than in those moments. Our second place winner is @nkemakonam89 with her story An Act of Kindness. Sometime in January 2020, I was pregnant with my last child, and my family and I needed to relocate to another area still in Lagos. If you have relocated from one location to another with properties, you will understand the stress that is usually involved. I thought of how to pack all our family luggage with pregnancy and I knew it wasn't going to be easy for me considering how busy my husband can be. I was sitting on my sofa when I heard a knock at the gate, I peeped and saw Stella. I welcomed her and we got talking, I informed her of our sudden relocation and how I am not finding it easy to start packing our loads. She immediately blamed me for not calling on her when such an update came up. She asked if she can begin immediately helping out and I said yes. Stella didn't want me to bend down to pick any properties, she would always stop me if I try to assist her. In her words, she said, "please do not stress that unborn child while I am here". Our first place winner is @jetta.amaya, with her story, Sonia's Thorns. Sonia Rosas was the name of that girl with whom I shared my confidences, my early anguish, my moments of games and laughter, my trips to the movies and the overwhelming demands of school. Her beauty was simple, fine brown hair, soft brown skin, short stature, slim build, small eyes subtly drawn; just as her last name presumed, a rose in the garden of my youth. But roses have thorns and she had some in store for me. Congratulations, @dianelson, @nkemakonam89 and @jetta.amaya! Our days are full of some combination of chores, family, work, relaxation, and activities or projects, like hobbies, crafts or posting on Hive. "A day in the life" is an expression that means: the typical things that happen in your day. For this prompt, there are several possible approaches you could take. For example: Have fun and good luck! We look forward to reading your stories. Please use the tags #creativenonfiction and #inkwellprompt on these posts. And please remember to add your post link to a comment on this post! NOTE: Please refrain from providing advice, guidance, or suggestions to others about their life choices in your post. Creative nonfiction is about storytelling. Prizes! Deadline You have a week, until the next prompt is posted, to post your creative nonfiction story in The Ink Well community. However, note that we are going to be posting one day earlier next week, on Friday. So you have just six days. See you in The Ink Well!
What Is Creative Nonfiction?
-- Reedsy blog: What is Creative Nonfiction? The Unputdownable Truth
-- Writers.com: Understanding Creating Nonfiction: What It Is and How to Write ItGuidelines for Creative Nonfiction Articles in The Ink Well
Last Week's Creative Nonfiction Winners
Honorable Mentions of the Week
Third Place: Wins 1,000 Ecency points
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
The Ink Well Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompt #17: A Day in the Life
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