The Ink Well Fiction Prompt #130 - Plus Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement

theinkwell (72)in The Ink Well • last year (edited)

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 August, 2023, ending August 31! And be sure to honor the countdown timer! 10 Hive to the winner!

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Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement

Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!

Last week's prompt was: "dance". 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!

Honorable Mentions

Our honorable mentions of the week are:

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

@jhymi, with the story Ligaya

I woke up with a start, already feeling like something was wrong. I kicked my feet from the bed and grabbed my bathrobe. Before sliding out of my room, I paused at my full-length mirror, almost giving myself a jumpscare. There were black streaks on my face, no doubt from my washed-down mascara mingled with my tears. I looked an absolute fright. But oh well, good thing I had no one to impress.

“Ligaya?” I called out, ambling to her door. I knocked. “Sweetie, can we talk? I’m so sorry for what I said. Can you hear me out?”

There was no response.

“Ligaya, sweetie?” I called again. Still, there wasn’t a response. Risking her rage for entering her room without permission, I opened the door. She wasn’t there. I checked the bathroom and God help me, even the closet, my eyes growing painfully wide. She wasn’t there. Had she taken me seriously? Had my baby run away?

Second Place: Wins 3 Hive

@rinconpoetico7, with the story The Flight of the Swan

Camille danced so beautifully that she seemed to draw figures in the air, the peach-colored, half-toed slippers gliding at the will of the beautiful dancer. She leapt across the stage, her white chiffon skirt flying to the movement, enchanting the eyes of the audience.

Her angelic face, accompanied by a pearly smile, illuminated the theater that watched as Camille, France's most successful dancer, flew to success. After a couple more pirouettes she finished her performance, and the resounding applause invaded the place feeding the dancer's feeling of happiness.

"Camille, Camille, you did great, you are wonderful, everyone loves you. Camille, Camille... Wake up... Camille, come back, come back..."

She opened her eyes trying to focus on a shadow that called her in the distance, little by little the opaque light of the scene became clearer. A figure appeared before her eyes.

First Place: Wins 5 Hive

@seki1, with the story, The Leaf's Dance

Her trip through the air, although short, was a wave of happy emotions.

Her dancing in the wind, the twists, spins and twirls played with my infant heart.

I watched the wind sprites, ever playful, blow some air to keep her afloat and others dancing around her too.

I watched her glide and soar, exuding a wave of freedom that I couldn't even fathom as I was glued to this wood.

Slowly she flew, until gravity reclaimed control, bringing her back to rest on the soil.

Congratulations to @seki1, @rinconpoetico7 and @jhymi!

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: "Two Endings."

What to do with this prompt?

We thought we would throw a fun challenge your way! Write on any topic, about anything you like (within our rules, of course), but at the end you must provide two possible story endings!

Simply write "Ending number one" before the first ending and "Ending number two" after the second ending.

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 use 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; #126 Seagull, Market, Box; #127 Window; #128 Terrified; #129 Dance}

Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish and @samsmith1971

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last year in The Ink Well by theinkwell (72)

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lightpen (68) last year

Congratulations to the winners and the honorable mentioned. Here we go again.

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jhymi (72) last year

Thank you so much @theinkwell for choosing my work as one of the winning stories. A big congratulations to @seki1 and @rinconpoetico7 as well. Have a wonderful week ahead.🤗