Source: Mysticsartdesign on Pixabay
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 peruse the work of our community members.
Note: We always launch our prompt posts with important information. So be sure to check it out first! Then we invite you to read on and see what we have in store for this week's prompt.
Special Reminder: In addition to the weekly fiction challenge we offer a monthly challenge. Check out our February fiction contest ending February 28! 10 Hive to the winner!
Important FAQs about The Ink Well!
What Is The Ink Well All About?
The Ink Well is a creative writing community. We only accept fictional short stories and creative nonfiction stories. This means:
- No novels, chapter stories or multi-part stories
- No poems
- No introduction posts
- No memes
- No photography posts
- No advice columns or self-improvement articles
The Ink Well is all about creativity, quality, community, and engagement. As such, we ask the following:
- Please take the time to get to know the community and read other writers' work. Everyone who posts in The Ink Well is expected to read and comment on at least two other stories for each piece you post.
- See our catalog of fiction writing tips and make use of our resources. (Many of our writers are developing awesome skills, and you can too!)
- Put effort into your posts. Review and edit your content for errors before publishing.
What are the community rules?
You can find our community rules at the top of The Ink Well community (right side of the page).
Please read the rules before posting in The Ink Well, as we outline the "do's and don'ts." If you can't find them, you can read them here.
Our community rules are designed to make our community a safe, welcoming, plagiarism-free space for self-publishing original short stories suitable for all ages. We do not allow stories depicting violence, rape, brutality, or gore. If you have questions, please read this article explaining our stance on violence.
What does it take to get rewards in The Ink Well??
We refer you to the above description of what The Ink Well is about. If you are not getting great rewards, it is likely for one of the following reasons:
- Your story has many grammatical errors. (This is easily fixed with the tips in our post, Help for the Grammatically Challenged.)
- Your story lacks some important elements of good fiction, such as character development, dialogue, scene details or a story arc. (See our catalog of fiction writing tips for information on these important aspects of short stories.)
- Your story lacks originality or does not follow our community rules.
Important tips!
- Only post 100% original content that does not appear elsewhere in any form.
- Engage with others in the community by reading and commenting on their work.
- Make sure your story is clearly inspired by the prompt.
- Remember to link your story to the prompt post.
Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement
Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!
Last week's prompt was "reality TV," and the skill challenge was to write great dialog. You guys produced some fantastic and imaginative stories for this prompt!
Stories From the Previous Week
Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!
- @tozill
- @marriot5464
- @mrenglish
- @dianelson
- @cool08
- @riverflows
- @stellageorge
- @abigail04
- @mowgl1ph
- @marynn
- @lightpen
- @wrestlingdesires
- @yuki-nee
- @erh.germany
- @ricardo993
- @madamnaomi
- @popurri
- @rammargarita
- @stuartcturnbull
- @lrscarmen
- @merit.ahama
- @george-dee
- @amiegeoffrey
- @deraaa
- @kingsleyy
- @seki1
- @littlepiggies
- @jhymi
- @fantom22
Honorable Mentions
Our honorable mentions of the week are:
- @stellageorge: Paradise Island
- @yuki-nee: Beyond the Wild
- @balikis95: The Show Must Go On
- @ricarco: The Creature from the Deep
- @wrestlingdesires: Wilderness Treasure Hunt
Third Place: Wins 2 Hive
- @riverflows, with her story The Things They Didn't Miss
'It's a television.' Bindy says. She can't help the reverence in her voice. It's been a long time since she's seen one. It's much easier out in the mountains, with no debris from the world that was. They have been able to create their own, however, on the edge of a lake, in a pretty little shack they would never have been able to afford in '23. Now, anyone could set up home wherever they like, and not pay a penny. The joys of the apocalypse.
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
- @littlepiggies with her story Pilot
Mika looked at the others and opened her mouth to speak, but then realized she didn’t know where to begin. “He flies. But--” She blurted this out, then began to stammer. “Well first, there’s a whole process that -- You see, it was just the two of us one night after work… I was petting him and felt a small object attached to him.” She said this while kneeling down to show them. Mr. Hirata bent down to see closer as she moved some orange fur out of the way to show a valve stem. It looked almost like one you’d see on a tire. She looked up at the others, who were watching intently, then looked back down as she began to twist off the cap. Everyone gasped and stood back as there was a sound of air pressure being released. They watched in shock as the hefty feline not only began to deflate, but he also started to change appearance. As he shrunk in girth, his fur became scarce and a glossy vinyl material began to show through. It was as though Pilot was being transformed into a cartoon version of himself.
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
- @erh.germany, with her story The Art of Sticky Hands
Kruzmaka fires a shot of intensity on his young listener and continues: "Do you see the metaphorisation of Mother Earth - you could also call her the Virgin Earth - in these expressions of doing violence? Where man is seen as the brutal monster, causing Gaia pain and sorrow? Where you felt just a minute ago the urgent need to rush to the poor maiden's aid?"
"Ah, that is why you told me the story? Because you think that we humans treat our earth monstrously?"
Congratulations to @riverflows, @littlepiggies, and @erh.germany!
Okay, let's launch the new prompt!
This Week’s Prompt
The Ink Well is fortunate to have many members who are eager to write. It would be wise to use talent on the best story you can write so you can receive the optimal curation. Remember, Quality over Quantity.
Please Note: We try to curate as many stories as possible, but do not curate every story published in The Ink Well, due to the volume of posts.
Prompt of the week!
This week's prompt is: the things that go bump in the night. Our skill challenge is the story arc. See if you can create a conflict and build suspense, and then resolve the conflict with a satisfying resolution. That's what makes a great story arc! Be sure to have a look at the article on story arcs in our Catalog of Fiction Writing Tips for inspiration.
What to do with this prompt?
Tell a ghost story, if you like, or a story about the fear of spooky things.
Maybe a child must visit her grandparents each year when her parents travel to a conference, and their house is old and creaky. What's that sound down the hall? Was there a bump under the bed?
Or perhaps a couple thinks it would be fun to stay overnight in a house that is known to be haunted... and it turns out to be more "bumpy" than they bargained for.
Of course burglars, intruders, and rodents go bump in the night too... there are many possibilities!
But whatever you do, don't make it end with "it was just all a dream." (See our article on dream endings.) Good luck!
A week from now, we will select a winning story that demonstrates this skill and utilizes the prompt. Of course, we will also be looking for overall quality in the winning story. Good luck!
Note: As always, please avoid violent, gory, bloody, brutal, sexist or racist themes and language, erotica and other NSFW (not safe for work) content, 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.)
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 a week to write for the prompt, until the next one is posted. (Note: You can write for any of the prompts anytime. This is just a guideline to be included in the weekly round-up in the next prompt post.)
- 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 and #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 or include the prompt word.
- 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 the source link.
- Length: We request that story word counts are a maximum of 1,500 words in length (preferably 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!
Reminder: Be sure to also read our community rules. The reason for the repeat reminder is that we see many stories describing brutality of women, children, or animals, or that have excessive gore or violence, and we must mute them. Please do not post these stories in The Ink Well. We want our community to be a safe and comfortable place for all readers.
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
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @millycf1976 and @grindan
Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!
We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by @raj808 and @stormlight24 and run by @jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @millycf1976 and @grindan.
You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.
We welcome delegations! These support our community in many ways, including helping us to provide support to quality content creators through curation and contests.
@jayna, @felt.buzz, @zeurich, @marcybetancourt, @agmoore, @marlyncabrera, @stormcharmer, @generikat, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @chocolatescorpi, @samsmith1971, @grindan, @jackdeathblack, @josemalavem, @riverflows, @itsostylish, @stuartcturnbull, @morey-lezama, @evagavilan2, @popurri, and @mrenglish.
@theinkwell, My entry prompt 107:
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@pjpavan/a-souvenir-of-carlos-the
A hearty congratulations to @riverflows, @littlepiggies, and @erh.germany. And also to the honourable mentions and everybody that participated. Cheers.🥂✨
Congrats to the winners. They have done extremely great.
!LUV
@theinkwell, @juanvegetarian(1/1) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | NFT | <>< daily
Ah goodness. Thankyou. Going To read the other winners now.. missed them in the business of life!
Congrats to the winners.
Congratulations to the winners @riverflows @erh.germany @littlepiggies .
And to all the honorable mentions, congratulations!
Thank you @theinkwell for the honorable mention.
Thanks so much for the honorable mention 🙌
Congratulations to all of our winners - excellent work :)
This post has been manually curated by the VYB curation project
Congratulations to all the winners @riverflows, @littlepiggies, and @erh.germany, but it seems that my entry has not been included in this article by the respected admins, although there is no specific issue, just because of not being included in it, I could not get to know the next prompt.
@theinkwell I am sending the link to my entry for your easy reference.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@fantom22/is-it-reality-or-trp
@fantom22, we include all of the stories that have been mentioned in comments under the prompt post. Your story was missed in the weekly story round-up because you did not add your link to a comment on last week's post.
@theinkwell I am really very sorry for not adding a story link in the comment section. Thank you very much for your nice support and this information.
No problem, @fantom22. Many people forget on occasion. We do try to find all of the stories, but it is not easy, and it's much better if everyone remembers to provide their link in the comments.
@theinkwell Yes, I can understand that this is very typical work, which you people doing.
sorry again.
Thank you, I am happy my story has made it into the rank :) - congrats also to the other winners and their stories. It was a spontane pleasure to write and submit the story to the community.
Congratulations to all the Winners and the honourable mentions 🎉
Thank you so much (´。• ᵕ •。`) ♡ Congrats to all the winners!
Congratulations to all the winners 😊. It's so wonderful that your beautiful writing skills are being acknowledged and appreciated.❣️✨
Ghosts, fear, suspense; I love these themes to develop a story and of course no dreams, he, he, he.
Congratulations to the winners for their great work. Once again they have entertained us with their talent.
Good day!!
Congratulations @theinkwell! You received a personal badge!
Wait until the end of Power Up Day to find out the size of your Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out our last posts:
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My entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@marriot5464/home-alone?referral=marriot5464
My entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@icyink/hush-rqu255
i have been thinking of what to write on this week prompt before i came up with this i hope you'd like my entry https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@pearlsuddy/the-honeymoon
This is my entry,
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@fantom22/ghost-in-the-fort
Congratulations to @riverflows, @littlepiggies, and @erh.germany and also the honorable mentions.
Trying my hand at fiction again 😀 - please find my entry here
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@momogrow/story-time-not-our-problem
I've supported many posts.
my entry:
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@kzxixs/lola-the-ink-well-fiction
Here is my entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@mrenglish/white-shadow--inkwell-prompt-107
I have supported @momogrow and @fantom22
Hello, this is my entry for prompt 107
@radenkusumo666/the-ink-well-fiction-prompt
I have commented on @icyink and @pearlsuddy
Here is my entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@tozill/suspensions
Here is my entry;
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@lightpen/let-love-lead
Hello everyone 👋....i sincerely congratulate all winners you deserve it 😁...well this is my entry for this prompt do have a nice day!!
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@timix648/grandma-s-house-a-lesson
Congratulations to all the winners @riverflows @erh.germany @littlepiggies .
you all merited the win as you guys presented quality and intriguing piece of art.
My post entry:
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@marynn/the-girls-and-the-ancient?referral=marynn
I engaged in the following authors' posts
@idlemind
@amiegeoffrey
@amiableamara
Hi everyone. This is my entry:
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@universoperdido/ravenwood
My entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@hiverdrive/things-that-go-bump-at-night
Here's my entry!
https://peakd.com/@luizeba/the-noise-in-the-garage
Here is my link....
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@balikis95/the-unsaid-mystery-of-the
I engaged with @momogrow, @amiegeoffery, and @tozill
My link below
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@cool08/presumed-ghost
I have commented on @mrenglish and @tozill
Here is my entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@madamnaomi/an-inkwell-prompt--weekend-at-grandmas
I have engaged in the works of @icyink and @fantom22
hi, here is my story
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@poemsofasickmind/the-strange-music-inkwell-prompt-107
Congratulations to everyone who won last week's prompt
Here is my entry for this week's prompt
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@iskawrites/he-is-not-afraid-for-love-conquers-all
I interacted with @poemsofasickmind and @luizeba
Congratulations to @riverflows, @littlepiggies, and @erh.germany, and also to the honourable mentions.
I like ghost stories
Here is my entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@merit.ahama/the-house-dealer-inkwell-fiction
Supported @monica04 @iskawrites
Thanks for visiting. I appreciate your contribution. And the correction you pointed out.
Hello! This is my entry for this week's prompt: https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@yuki-nee/a-night-in-the-woods-ghostly-encounter
My link below
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@abigail04/possessed
I have commented on @yuki-nee and @merit.ahama
Congratulations to all the winners, they were wonderful stories. I also left comments @luizeba , @merit.ahama and @hiverdrive .
Here is my entry, https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@arduilcelebren/bright-white-smile 🤗
happy sunday group
I leave you the participation of Rincón Poético in the so-called weekly fiction. I hope you like it.
A hug.
Good day.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@rinconpoetico7/fiction-shriek-el-chillido-enes
Here is my submission for this week - thanks so much for everything ♥️
https://ecency.com/category/@wrestlingdesires/nina-s-mistake-journey-into
!PIZZA !ALIVE
!LUV
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@theinkwell! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @wrestlingdesires. (9/10)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.
@theinkwell, @wrestlingdesires(4/10) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | NFT | <>< daily
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
@wrestlingdesires(11/15) tipped @theinkwell (x1)
Join us in Discord!
My entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@amiegeoffrey/haunted-107inkwellprompt
Supported @rinconpoetico7 and @balikis95
My entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@rammargarita/mystery-of-the-night-on
Here my entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@popurri/claustrophobia
Comment on the publications of @marynn @icyink @fantom22 @universoperdido
@pearlsuddy
My entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@lrscarmen/the-supernatural-events-of-alyen
My entry for this prompt
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@hazmat/anabeths-visit
Hello!
This is my entry for this week's prompt: https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@idlemind/suitor-and-sticky-note
I've engaged with @monica04 and @creativeinsight
TYIA for reading. Sorry, it's a bit lengthy.