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Dear community, Welcome to Prompt #9 in our creative nonfiction initiative. Thank you to everyone who contributed a nonfiction story last week! In case you missed the announcement about The Ink Well opening up to nonfiction stories, you can see it here. Here's a quick overview of how it works: Each week, we will 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, be written in English (or another language as well as the English translation) and — as much as possible — free of errors. 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: Avocation! Our honorable mentions for the growing up prompt are: Our third place winner is @kemmyb, with her story, An Avocation That Stimulates My Imagination. As dawn broke over my state of residence, my family and I were up and about, preparing for an eight-hour road trip to our hometown during the summer holiday. I was ten years old then. I was happy exams were over and we were on a long vacation. There was so much excitement in the house the night before because we had never embarked on a road trip as a family. That was our first. We looked forward to all the fun of a leisurely road trip unlike the inconveniences of commercial road transport. Eleven years ago, I was playing Tetris in a small computer shop near my secondary school. I was smashing it, turning every piece so they would create a perfect plane of my design. My wins are stacked and it felt so good! Suddenly, a guy, Ding is his name, came and sat beside me. He also played Tetris. My heart sank when I saw he had a higher rank than me. The attention left me and sided with him. What an insult to my being! Back then, in our mid-twenties, we young women were in the US for a three-week holiday. I only knew Vegas from TV series, but I hadn't given it much thought, even though we all knew that a big show awaited us there. The many hotels and casinos, the artificial buildings, fountains and monuments all seemed exaggerated and grotesque to me, and the obvious replicas of other earthly places and sights seemed ridiculously attention-seeking. Congratulations, @erh.germany, @cloflo and @kemmyb! Many people exchange gifts this time of year, under the auspices of different holidays and traditions. Here are a few ideas for what to do with this prompt. We look forward to reading your stories. Have fun! Please use the tags #creativenonfiction and #inkwellprompt on these posts. And please remember to add your post link to a comment on this post! Prizes! Deadline You have a week, until the next prompt is posted, to post your creative nonfiction story in The Ink Well community. 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 1000 Ecency Points
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
The Ink Well Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompt #9: Gift
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