The Ink Well Prompt #33: See this post for prompt and rules

[theinkwell]

_{Image source: Pixabay}

Hello and welcome to the The Ink Well weekly fiction prompt. 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.

Important Community Notes

Before we get to the prompt, we have a few important words for anyone new, and those unfamiliar with how we work here in The Ink Well.

The Ink Well is about creativity, quality, community, and engagement. This means that just dropping by to post some stuff is not acceptable. 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 some effort into your posts. Review and edit your content for errors.

Before you post in our community, please be sure to read the community rules (right side of the page) where we outline the "do's and don'ts" for posting in The Ink Well. If you only use a mobile phone and can't see 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.

We invite you to use the #creativecoin prompt. We are pleased to announce that we are getting some curation attention from the Creative Coin Fund. You can read about it in our recent newsletter.

Okay! Let's review fiction entries from last week's prompt and launch a new one.

Stories From the Previous Week

Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's “A Fork in the Road," which invited The Ink Well authors to tell stories of life decisions, and reflections on choices in the past.

Here are the week's stories. Be sure to read and support these authors for their work!

• Why Am I Such a Loser?, by @sunnyag
• The Voice of the Town Crier, by @repayme4568
• Fork On the Road, by @iyimoga
• Choices, by @sonofremi
• Underestimate, by @ricardo993
• Life Changing Decisions Are Sometimes Considered a Small Price to Pay for Who We Love, by @readthisplease
• Passion and Indecision, by @mcluz
• Miracle, by @dwixer
• Dream and Potted Camellia, by @yuki-nee
• To Tell or Not to Tell, by @kemmyb
• Mike's Choice, by @wrestlingdesires
• Cost of True Friendship, by @onwugbenuvictor
• A Million Dollar Bet, by @faithann
• Put a Fork in This Case (Because It's Done), by @deeanndmathews
• Absolute Secrecy, by @cool08
• The Plunge, by @justclickindiva
• Erza and Ezra, by @juanvegetarian
• A Monster, by @mrnightmare89

This Week’s Prompt

The prompt for this week is shadows. Read on for ideas about how to use this prompt!

We've seen a lot of sweet love stories and reunions of long lost siblings in the last few weeks. So let's take a break from these heart-throbbing stories, and try for some racing hearts!

Bring us fear and trepidation! Let's see some frightening monsters, menacing ghosts, creepy mysteries and lurking aliens. What is out there hiding in the shadows?

Get creative! We look forward to reading your stories!

Note: As always, please avoid gory, bloody, brutal, sexist or racist themes and language, NSFW (not safe for work) themes, and stories featuring abuse of women, children or animals.

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:

• 50 Loglines
• 50 Story Ideas
• 50 Imagination Ticklers

Weekly Prompt Rules:

1. 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.)
2. Story link: Post your story in The Ink Well community, and post a link to your story in a comment on this post.
3. Hashtags: Please use these hashtags: #fiction #writing #inkwellprompt #theinkwell.
4. COMMUNITY SUPPORT: Visit the work of at least two other community members and comment on their work.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Length (NEW!): We request that story word counts are 1,000 to 1,500 words maximum length. This is just a guideline. Longer stories tend to get fewer readers. Additionally, The Ink Well admins appreciate keeping to that maximum story length for our time management!

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

Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!

@jayna, @agmoore and @gracielaacevedo

We would like to invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by @raj808 and @stormlight24 and run by @jayna, @agmoore and @gracielaacevedo.

We also invite you to follow The Ink Well curation trail on the Hive blockchain, at https://hive.vote/. Simply navigate to the curation trail section and search for theinkwell (all one word with no @ symbol) and our trail will pop up as an option.

Similarly delegations are possible on Hive using the fantastic https://peakd.com/ Hive Blockchain front end. If you wish to delegate to @theinkwell, you can do this from the wallet section of https://peakd.com/

A big thank you to all of our delegators:
@jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo, @iamraincrystal, @generikat, @marlyncabrera, @owasco, @preparedwombat, @marcybetancourt, @zeurich, @barge, @lacrucita, @stormcharmer, @adncabrera, @vision-of-esca, @josemalavem, @morey-lezama, @sayury, @rypo01, @evagavilan2 and @bertrayo.

_{Click banner to visit our community page}

_{Find us on twitter by clicking the banner above.}

Comments

[sunnyag]

Hehe, @theinkwell this one is totally out of my reach so I will put in a lot of extra effort and yet not sure. Let me see! Thanks for another prompt!

@theinkwell Finally,
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@sunnyag/that-unforgettable-night-the-shadows-of-death

[jayna]

We are here to help our community members stretch, @sunnag. I believe in you. 😁

[sunnyag]

Thanks, I am here to do it :)

[agmoore]

Out of your reach?

C'mon, @sunnyag. fear and trepidation You can do that. You're a travel writer. These days, just flying on an airplane is an adventure. Airline reps are taking self defense courses :))

[sunnyag]

@agmoore I will do that, but do you know I am not comfortable flying in an airplane. I am scared especially when it lands. I have traveled in airplanes 1000+ times, but I clench the front seat and close my eyes when it lands. I feel as if the landing gear will break as soon as it will touch the runway.

I will do that, I am a doer since I am willing to give it a try. Thanks for the encouragement.

[agmoore]

That's so funny. When I took my daughter on a plane for the first time, I had to get hypnotized so she wouldn't see how freaked out I was. I hate flying. The hypnotism worked for a short time. I even looked out the window with her, smiled and admired the clouds. But the hypnotism wore off. I hate flying.

There you have your terror story :)))

[sunnyag]

Finally, I have managed a post. Thanks for all the encouragement.

[deeanndmathews]

Landings terrify me too, my friend ... you are not alone in any way, and you can do this!

[sunnyag]

Thanks, I manage it every time, but it's a regular habit when about to land at an airport. However, the feeling of cashing down never leaves me alone until the touchdown happens.

[deeanndmathews]

I feel the same way ... where I live, too, is near water, so there are always terrifying minutes of being SURE we are going into the water ...

[jayna]

These days, just flying on an airplane is an adventure. Airline reps are taking self defense courses :))

Ha ha ha! Love that.

[agmoore]

:)

Great job!

[faithann]

Grrrr! goosebumps about to hit here like its pandemic.

I trust my people will deliver. Love this prompt.
*puts on hood, hands in pocket and whistles away.

[jayna]

Ha ha! That's the spirit, @faithann! You've got this.

[agmoore]

There are all kinds of terror. Usually, it's in our heads. You're good at imagining....

[juanvegetarian]

Good prompt for this week. Thanks, @theinkwell. 😁😁😁

UPDATE: Here's my story. It didn't turn out exactly like the "racing hearts" story that I had initially planned out but I'm happy with it. Hope you all enjoy the read! :)

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@juanvegetarian/shadow-of-the-sky-or-the-inkwell-prompt-or-33

[agmoore]

😨
Have fun with it. Think of something....out there. Something no one else will think of .....
You can do it.

[juanvegetarian]

I will, and if I don't well I will surely have fun in the creative process. Thanks.

[jayna]

Bwah ha ha. I can't wait to see what comes of this one.

[juanvegetarian]

Me too... 😁 😁 😁

[gracielaacevedo]

Excellent way to get the terrors out! This prompt is a direct tunnel to the imagination!!!

Looking forward to those spooky stories!

[jayna]

Yes!! Me too.

[readthisplease]

I have always avoided anything that has to do with horror because am not a fan of horror. But what a way to face my fear. I’m up for this challenge

[ricardo993]

but you can also play with it, there are tricks with these prompts. They say shadows and horror stories, but you can flip the omelet by thinking about how to turn it into something else.

[readthisplease]

I’ll try my best

[b0s]

I was lurking in the shadows last week. But this week I'm sending chills.

[jayna]

Ha ha. We missed you!

[kaerpediem]

I love getting spooked... excited to read the stories ;D

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@kaerpediem/entrapped-in-the-light-and-shadows

[davidbright]

Thanks for the opportunity to do something different.... Here is my post link...
https://peakd.com/@davidbright/i-am-alive

Supported: @yuki-nee and @readthisplease

[yuki-nee]

Hello again. This is my entry for this week's prompt: https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@yuki-nee/a-heart-s-shadow

[wrestlingdesires]

Here is mine :) https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@wrestlingdesires/the-legend-of-rattlesnake-city

What is the creativecoin prompt, by the way?

[readthisplease]

https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@readthisplease/tales-of-the-crying-bush-baby

Here is my entry
Supported @yuki-nee and @davidbright

[readthisplease]

Image mistake corrected, kindly check now please. https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@readthisplease/tales-of-the-crying-bush-baby

[diebitch]

I took the monster concept in an abstract way
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@diebitch/covid-and-loneliness

Thanks for these prompts, writing keeps me happy, so does reading the community's interpretations.

[mrenglish]

Here is my entry link to the word prompt:shadows.

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@mrenglish/hot-cold-and-hot-night-theinkwell-33-word-prompt-shadows

[cool08]

My entry: https://peakd.com/@cool08/an-excursion-to-the-woods-the-ink-well-weekly-fiction-writing-prompt-33

Supported: @davidbright and @mrenglish

[litguru]

An excellent start to the Halloween season. Here's my entry entitled In the Shadows of Mount Nuru: https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@litguru/in-the-shadows-of-mount-nuru-or-the-ink-well-prompt-33

Thank you!

[iyimoga]

My entry

https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@iyimoga/the-ink-well-fiction-33

Comments on

@sunnyag

@diebitch

[ji33y]

hi @theinkwell @ocd
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@ji33y/lurking-or-the-inkwell-s-prompt-33-flash-fiction-contest

[ricardo993]

Try to make a different horror story. One with respect to gothic romance, I hope it will be to your liking.

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@ricardo993/demon-love

[faithann]

It could be a thing of horror sometimes when Joke is on you.

Here is a funny horror story for your reading pleasure.

My entry https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@faithann/joke-s-on-me-or-or-the-ink-well-prompt-33

Comments on @diebitch and @ji33y

[b0s]

Here's my entry https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@b0s/the-shadow-man

[kemmyb]

Hello @theinkwell! Here's my story for this prompt... I used one of the Loglines which kind of fits into the shadows theme for this week.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@kemmyb/monsters-under-the-bed-or-the-inkwell-prompt-33

Thanks for reading.

Comments - -
-Kaerpediem
-Yuki-nee

[jadams2k18]

Here's my entry for this prompt...

https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@jadams2k18/a-non-silent-night-una

I will comment on other entries later. Finally, the phone company fix my internet 😃👍

[deeanndmathews]

My entry: The Shadow Killer

My comments:

1. oscarpower55
2. litguru
3. juanvegetarian
   4.diebitch