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 just peruse and enjoy the work of our community members.
Special Reminder: Check out our monthly fiction contest for the month of July, 2023, ending July 31! And be sure to honor the countdown timer! 10 Hive to the winner!
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We ask that you read our FAQ post to familiarize yourself with our important community rules and guidelines.
Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement
Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!
Last week's prompt was: "beacon". And we encouraged authors to integrate all of the storytelling skills that make stories compelling and readable.
Stories From the Previous Week
Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!
- @cool08
- @iyimoga
- @mrenglish
- @kilvnrex
- @marriot5464
- @rinconpoetico7
- @seki1
- @emeka002
- @seunruth
- @fashtioluwa
- @lightpen
- @balikis95
- @eliany
- @popurri
- @kingsleyy
- @jhymi
- @lizizoo
- @inessita
- @kei2
- @innfauno12
- @rammargarita
Honorable Mentions
Our honorable mentions of the week are:
- @seunruth: Beacon of Hope
- @lizizoo: Daddy Why?
- @lightpen: Beacon of Hope
- @seki1: The Light
- @kingsleyy: Night with Aliens
The Winners!
All of these authors wrote fantastic fiction using the prompt, and did an excellent job with the storytelling skills we look for in the best-told stories!
Third Place: Wins 2 Hive
- @kei2, with the story The Ancient Flute
She dropped the flute and began to speak. “Lamirah, we've waited forever for you. You are Tahaka but a special one. We are Ödul Tahakan, the tree people.” Her voice was sweet like a nightingale. Listen Lamirah. Each of us Ödul have a special duty to nature. We are agents of nature and your niche awaits you. An empty niche breaks the cycle of nature. We must populate your ecosystem. The last of your clan to be here was your grandmother. Decades ago, the human people of Tahaka began destroying the forest to build homes. There was no longer a way for the butterflies and Your clan moved away to find shelter elsewhere. The link is broken and must be fixed else nature will fall apart. Come! I'll show you. I am Hana by the way.”
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
- @innfauno12 , with the story The Big Bug Party
The butterfly opened like a beautiful sculpture in the air, and the music intoxicated all the creatures that heard it. It was a beautiful sight, especially because of the rarity of seeing a daytime butterfly unfold at night.
The moths flying around the bulb, looking at the beautiful butterfly, were amazed and approached it, contemplating its huge wings of different shades, it was a jewel compared to them. "Hey!" said one of the moths to the butterfly, "what are you doing here in the basement, with the crawling insects".
She replied contemptuously, "It's none of your business".
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
- @rinconpoetico7 , with the story The Petrel
"Steady, lad, I'm on my way." The Captain was running out with his petrel in hand. He reached the bridge and with his binoculars he could see the great storm coming. Captain Henry began giving orders to the officers to try to evade the storm. The carved cedar rudder turned endlessly from side to side.
Everything the captain did was fruitless and at one point the fog embraced the cruise ship with its cold breeze. The passengers were shouting non-stop in a chorus of pleas and prayers. Captain Henry tried to calm the situation, but everything seemed useless, he sent his officers to prevent the passengers from committing riots and violent acts.
Congratulations to @rinconpoetico7, @kei2 and @kingsleyy!
This Week’s Prompt
FIRST: A COUNTDOWN NOTE
Be sure to submit your entries before the countdown ends.
You must submit before the end of the countdown to be considered for the prizes and honorable mentions.
Please observe the timer below this post. If it's purple, and the COUNTDOWN time is in the future, you can submit and be eligible for prizes and honorable mentions.
If the countdown is gray, and the timer has expired, you can submit, but your story will not be eligible for prizes or honorable mentions.
When the timer expires, we get busy reviewing all the stories, and no further submissions are considered.
Prompt of the week!
WAIT! Did you read the information above about the countdown timer? Okay, proceed!
This week's prompt is three words: "seagull, market, box."
What to do with this prompt?
We use three-word prompts from time to time as a fun way to encourage creativity. You can write a story inspired by any of these three words. Just make sure you include all three somehow in your story.
Let's see where your imagination takes you!
Use Your Storytelling Skills
For many months we have asked our community members to focus on a skill each week, such as character development or dialogue. Going forward, we are looking for all of these skills as we identify winners and honorable mentions:
- 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.
To be eligible for prizes, you must write a story based on the prompt (be sure to use the prompt word(s) in your story), and demonstrate the fiction writing skills we have been encouraging everyone to practice. Be sure to turn to our catalog of fiction writing tips for guidance!
Ready, set go!
A week from now, we will select winning stories that demonstrate these qualities and utilize the prompt. Good luck! Be sure to read the contest rules and reminders below.
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 SIX DAYS to write for the prompt, and you must submit your story before the end of the countdown to be considered for prizes and honorable mentions. You can find the countdown timer at the bottom of the prompt post on The Ink Well home page.
- 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 — as well as #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. But please do you the prompt word(s) within the story.
- 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 all image source links.
- Length: We request that story word counts are a maximum of 1,500 words in length and a *minimum of 350 (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. Thank you!
Reminders: Be sure to also read our community rules. As always, please avoid violent, gory, bloody, brutal, sexist or racist themes and language, NSFW (not safe for work) stories like erotica, stories with a political or religious agenda, and stories featuring abuse of any kind. (We have a complete article about The Ink Well stance on violence and brutality for more information.)
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; #90 Spirit; #91 Fire; #92 Tend/Tender; #93 Cheer; #94 Appearance; #95 Ambition; #96 Trust; #97 Fly; #98 Comfort; #99 Fate; #100 To Create; #101 Vision; #102 Sympathy; #103 A Special Time; #104 Suspense; #105 Bride, stairs, illusion; #106 Reality TV; #107 Things the Go Bump in the Night; #108 First line: Two strange things happened that day; #109 What if that loose floorboard was actually a hidden passageway?; #110 Footsteps; #111 Mess; #112 Cards; #113 Elephant; #114 Crystal; #115 Phone call; #116 Date; #117 Chocolate; #118 Three words: wish, button, sky; #119 RSVP; #120 Objets d'art; #121 Soul; #122 Scuttlebutt; #123 Recall; #124 Doorway; #125 Beacon
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @grindan and @samsmith1971
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@jayna, @felt.buzz, @zeurich, @itsostylish, @marcybetancourt, @agmoore, @marlyncabrera, @stormcharmer, @diikaan, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @chocolatescorpi, @timix648, @samsmith1971, @grindan, @jackdeathblack, @josemalavem, @riverflows, @generikat, @mineopoly, @hazmat, @treasuree, @kenechukwu97, @innfauno12, @kingsleyy, @popurri, @morey-lezama, @evagavilan2, @mrenglish, @stuartcturnbull, @marilour, @rinconpoetico7, @funshee, @amiegeoffrey, @loveah, @balikis95, @juniorgomez, @jhymi, @cool08 and @moneykeep.
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