Creative Nonfiction Prompt #105

Creative Nonfiction in The Ink Well Prompt #105

Welcome to The Ink Well's weekly creative nonfiction prompt!

In this post, we'll provide the prompt for the coming week.

Before You Write Your Creative Nonfiction Post...

We ask that you read our Creative Nonfiction Tips post to learn about the creative nonfiction genre and review our guidelines.

Important notes:

Creative nonfiction stories are based on your real-life experiences.
We are looking for real short stories! Not advice columns, reports on crime or corruption in your city, observations on nature, recipes, religion, politics, or any other nonfiction content. Just real-life short stories.
Ideal story length is between 750 and 1500 words, but your story must be at least 350 words, at a minimum to be curated.
Please focus on quality content. Read and edit for errors! Use a grammar checker before you post your story.
We expect everyone who posts in The Ink Well to read and comment on at least two other stories for each one published.
Do not post stories featuring physical abuse, graphic violence, erotica or NSFW content.

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Last Week's entrants

Thank you to all who participated in last week's prompt : Soul food.

Last week's participants

@fashtioluwa	@zerah	@kinganny
@oyebola	@marriot5464	@blaqbarbie
@adese	@princessbusayo	@mrenglish
@itznur	@perfect20	@offia66
@amarachi22	@abigail04	@medemausi
@kingsleyy	@ridgette	@lightpen
@bipolar95	@nancybriti1

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Highlighting @marriot5464, with the story:

Taste of Home

I lay there on my thin mattress, scrolling through my phone. It was as if the Facebook algorithm had heard the rumblings in my stomach as all I saw as I scrolled through Facebook were just pictures of food.

Curator's comment :

What a delightful story @marriot5464 offers in response to the Soul Food prompt. He is hungry. We feel his hunger and his fatigue with the usual offerings that exist in his cabinet: noodles. He needs food, and daydreams about his mother's cooking. A package arrives. It can't be for him, surely. But yes, it is. His Aunty has sent him food! The very dish that has filled his daydreams. A neighbor knocks on the door. Another hungry soul. Together the two dig in. If ever we were hungry, or craved a special dish, we can feel it in the moment marriot5464 creates.

Featured

Highlighting @blaqbarbie, with the story:

Beneath The Broth

I couldn't believe my ears. They talked about how it was unbelievable that he ended up with me, and at one point, his mother called him a "rat." After hearing that conversation, I couldn't remain the same around his family anymore. I always felt uncomfortable, forcing a smile to conceal my true feelings. It was hard to shake the thought that if they could feel that way towards their son, then who was I?

Curator's comment :

A well written piece as usual from BB.

Featured

Highlighting @fashtioluwa, with the story:

Silent Night, Holy Night.

"No, in the dream. I saw a man putting on a black robe; he was chasing me inside the kitchen, and I was running. It was just the two of us in the kitchen, and there was no door to run out. I was running round and round until he caught up to me; he held me down, and I couldn't do anything." I stopped to look at my dad, and he asked me to continue assuring me I had nothing to fear again since he was there with me. His words alone gave me the courage I needed.

Curator's comment :

fashtioluwa delivers an intense CNF that is perfectly paced and skilfully driven. F pulls us into his nightmares and gives us a glimpse of his shadowy figure on the edge of a precipice overlooking the abyss. Fortunately, F’s father pulls him back for us all to witness the resonance of reason: soul food. Stunning!

Featured

Highlighting @zerah, with the story:

More Than Soul Food

I could have talked about that particular soup my mum makes for me every time that gets me in that good mood. It's like a soul ritual. It does its magic without asking. But I have this urge to tell you about someone, Mrs Adejo (not real name), who didn't just feed my body with food but also fed my spirit.

Curator's comment :

@zerah describes how her soul was nourished when a warm and empathic boss helped her to regain her self-confidence after she had struggled with a feeling of helplessness generated by the lack of experience of a job she was starting. @zerah gives good descriptions, shows us the work environment with good sentences and allows us to get close to her feelings in this CNF.

Featured

Highlighting @nancybriti1, with the story:

Full Belly, Happy Heart

I was about 7 years old and I didn't like to eat. It wasn't that I didn't like a particular kind of food, it was just that I was lazy to eat and I got full quickly. It could take me hours to eat and if I didn't like something, like stews or soups, if I ate the first bite, I would gag and cry for my grandmother to give me the food as if I were a baby.

Curator's comment :

nancybriti1 writes a charming CNF about how as a child she disliked eating. She got full easily and never wanted much food. Plus she was "lazy" and didn't want to put in all the effort to feed herself. So when her parents and grandmother weren't watching she would throw her food on the roof. Then one day a rainstorm came and washed all the food off the roof and she was busted.

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This Week's Prompt 105:

Get up on the wrong side of the bed

In its most basic form, "to get up on the wrong side of the bed" means that you're in a bad mood for no apparent reason. Tell us a story that depicts this idiom forging yourself or someone you know intimately as the protagonist.

Tell us about it! And remember to integrate storytelling elements like characters, scene setting, dialogue and action to bring your story to life!

Have fun and good luck! We look forward to reading your stories.

Rules

You have 6 days to write your story from the date of this prompt post. Be sure to check the deadline countdown.
Write a real-life story with the creative elements of fiction, like characters, dialogue, scene setting and a story conflict.
Post your story in The Ink Well Community.
Please use the tags #creativenonfiction and #inkwellprompt on these posts. Other possible tags: #writing #inkwellprompt #nonfiction
Stories must be written in English. If you've translated the post, it's best to add the original version below the translation. Do not write mixed language paragraphs.
Read and comment on at least two stories in the community. Add a link to your story as a comment on this post.

And be sure to remember to join The Ink Well community!

Prize

A prize of 20 Hive will be awarded to one submission every four weeks.

Procedure

Two or three stories will be featured every week. One of the featured stories will win the grand prize every four weeks.

The winner will be featured in a special announcement post.

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Join here at Hive Onboard.

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