Image source: kordi_vahle 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.
Important FAQs about The Ink Well!
Here are answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about The Ink Well.
What Is The Ink Well All About?
The Ink Well is a short story community. This means we only accept short fiction. (Fiction means stories that came from your imagination, not from real life.)
It also means:
- No novels, chapter stories or multi-part stories
- No poems
- No introduction posts
- No essays or other non-fiction
- No memes
Just fictional short stories!
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. We do not allow stories depicting violence, brutality, or abuse of women, children or animals. 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, dialog, 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.
Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement
As we announced in our February newsletter, we are now running a weekly challenge to generate some fun and excitement while also helping our members to work on the different skills involved in story telling. Last week's challenge was to work on establishing a writing voice.
You guys are amazing! There were some really strong examples of stories with distinctive voices. This is a great skill to develop. It helps the writer to 'get in the skin' of the characters and it helps readers to relate to characters, and action. Because this is such an important skill, we'd like to include a few good examples of establishing a story's voice. Here are this week's honorable mentions:
He shook his head, trying not to recall what he had been dreaming about before the unwanted interruption by the alarm clock. Jide was already late for work, again, this has been happening several times now. He simple was losing it, nothing was going on as planned.
“You should’ve called 911. Something might’ve happened. Call them now!” I fumbled through the pockets of my handbag. But as I see from my peripheral view, Calli wasn’t doing anything, so I thought she was too shocked and didn’t have the muscle to even pull her phone out of her pocket.
At the time, I didn’t feel my heart at all, there was no stab of pain; just red-faced embarrassment. Good Lord, not even Gary, my best man could look me in the eye. Onlookers became bystanders to my shame. Quietly, but with a collective conscience, they hung their heads, but stole sidelong glances, furtively, as if I were bleeding to death in front of them rather than just playing the stooge.
The customer snorted slightly as the waitress walked away to retrieve the video monitor. Staring after her, she wondered if the waitress was trying to hold dentures in. She tapped against her own strong teeth and said a small prayer of gratitude that she had been born with a strong set of choppers. Some things in this life were simply the luck of the draw - like her teeth, or the color of her natural hair.
“How could I have come to be so alone?” My mind raced back to the horror that got me stranded on this desolate Island somewhere around the South China Sea. The fear from almost drowning. The unsuccessful struggles to hold unto someone... anyone, so we could paddle ourselves to safely. I had blacked out only to be awoken by my now familiar friend and foe, slapping against my legs while gently caressing my face with its saltiness.
And the winner of the establishing a Story's Voice challenge is... @kemmyb, with her story The Special Bond. Here's an excerpt from the story:
Olette felt depressed. She felt the fading away had begun. Sighing deeply, she folded her translucent, shiny wings and dropped through a tiny hole where the big trees in the Pixie woodlands overlapped and formed a big canopy. She hovered a little above the ground to pick off an injured bee from a sunflower before dropping finally to the ground.
Congratulations to @kemmyb, who will receive 5 Hive as the winner.
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 prompt, Happiness.
Here are the authors who posted stories in response to last week's prompt.
@mrenglish
@merit.ahama
@kirlos
@cool08
@daniella619
@fantom22
@piratethanos
@kingobonnaya
@smilejerry
@young-boss-karin
@kemmyb
@davidbright
@blackalbino1
@danladi
@artworkers
@lenaspiritual
@hdprinter
@repayme4568
@modifiers
@buezor
@ddn688
@justine619
@itsostylish
@rayt2
@dwixer
@ipexito
@jmis101
@fragozar01
@stormcharmer
@ubani1
@zeraton
@lazythoughts
@iyimoga
@abdul-qudus
@alovely
@exceltogaming
@samsmith1971
@yhuddee111
@popurri
@khaleesii
@diikaan
@theawesononso
@raymondpeter
@wrestlingdesires
@juanvegetarian
@diebitch
@daveyjones7
@ghazale64
@temileke
@merrymay22
Thank you, everyone who posted a story!
This Week’s Prompt
The inkwell is fortunate to have many members who are eager to write. However, the curation team does not have infinite resources. In order to be fair to all writers, we have decided to ask our members to publish one, only one story per week. If members choose to publish more than that, they may. However, only one story will be curated.
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. Moving forward the Ink Well Team believes this will provide a better experience for writers and curators.
At last, the prompt of the week!
This week's prompt is Footprint. And your skill challenge is to create a story that demonstrates the much-repeated recommendation to writers: Show don't tell. To get a better understanding of this challenge, read @jayna's essay, Show Don't Tell in the InkWell's Catalog of Fiction Writing Tips.
What should you do with this prompt? And what does this skill challenge mean? Here are some additional details:
Footprint: A footprint can be a physical thing you see, or it can be symbolic. We speak of footprints when we speak of environmental impact, and when we speak of our legacy for future generations. This prompt has many possibilities. Surprise us with your interpretation.
Show, Don't Tell. Not every critic agrees that this is essential, but many do. In the stories you offer this week we want to 'see' people and scenes. Put us in the story by showing us what you want us to imagine.
For example:
- A character looks out over the blue sea and notices an oily slick marring the surface: the footprint of an oil company that will remain for many years.
- A child learns to walk and stumbles through a bit of flour that has spilled on the kitchen floor. The infant's footprints leave an unforgettable trail.
- A picture in an art gallery by an anonymous painter demonstrates a unique technique. A class of artists observes and busily takes notes as they try to emulate the technique.
If you read @jayna's article, you will get an idea of what is meant by 'show, don't tell'. Mastering this skill will help to make your writing more effective.
A week from now, we will select a winning story that shows control of this writing challenge. 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, and stories featuring abuse of women, children or animals. (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 maximum 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 Happiness
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo, @wrestlingdesires and @yaziris
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, @gracielaacevedo, @wrestlingdesires and @yaziris.
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/
@jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo, @iamraincrystal, @generikat, @marlyncabrera, @preparedwombat, @marcybetancourt, @zeurich, @stormcharmer, @adncabrera, @josemalavem, @morey-lezama, @sayury, @evagavilan2, @bertrayo, @deraaa, @rayt2 and @fantom22.
Click banner to visit our community page
Find us on twitter by clicking the banner above.
Congratulations @kemmyb. You definitely deserved it 😁✌. And the other authors that won, kudos to y'all. Congratulations
Hehe, thanks a lot. 🙂
Congrats to my able @kemmyb . You have done you best by putting on effort in your story line. Well-done...
I'm sorry to say, @theinkwell , with what I noticed, everyone who posted a story on the prompt got some supports. I was the fourth to make a post and to submit as comment in your last week's post, but I was not given any support.
I will suggest that, even when you are not going to give support to a post, at least leave a comment to make the writer feel at ease.
Thanks a lot...
We've responded on your story from last week. Thanks for calling our attention to that. Sometimes we do miss a story! It's unfortunate. Now that we are asking people to post only one story per week, we are hopeful that we can keep up with curation.
Thank you for the mention, I’m so pleased!
Congratulations
@kemmyb
@smilejerry
@lazythoughts
@stormcharmer
@piratethanos
Can’t wait to see your new stories for this week❤️😊🤔😊❤️❤️
Thank you! Congrats to you too. 🙂
😊🤔❤️
Thank you @itsostylish, congratulations as well :)😊
Wonderful work from the entire inkwell community here.
I can see that I’ve been mentioned for posting under the prompt but my work was never visited. I understand that running a community is not easy and some posts can probably be omitted.
Whenever you can @theinkwell, I would really appreciate a comment. Thank you.
Awesome work y'all especially @kemmyb . Great posts all around!
Looking forward to the footprint prompt this week 😁
Thank you! 🙂
Congratulations to the winner and all the mentioned
Congratulations to the winner
I made my entry for the last week prompt but it was not submitted @theinkwell
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@temileke/esp-engthe-day-i-woke-up-happy-theinkwell-prompt-61-el-dia-que-me-desperte-feliz-theinkwell-prompt-61
I'm not sure what you mean when you say it was not submitted, @temileke. I see it on the previous week's prompt. Do you mean we have not curated it?
Congratulations
Woots! Feels good to be a winner. 😄 Thank you, @theinkwell for selecting my story for this prize. I appreciate the efforts of the staff. I'm delighted and encouraged as well.
Congrats to the honourable mentions and everyone who participated. You are all amazing writers!
Congratulations to these talented authors, and thank you @inkwell for considering my story too.
@kemmyb
@smilejerry
@itsostylish
@stormcharmer
@piratethanos
Looking forward to reading your stories on the next prompt. :)
Thanks! ☺️
Congrats to you too.
Don't mention it. It's worth the read :)
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@farahikram/i-am-going-to-die-62
Here is my entry.
Thank you.
Hello!!
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@brujita18/the-footprint-of-rosa--eng-esp
Hers is my entry for the #61 prompt.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@mrenglish/the-path-your-father-walked-or-the-ink-well-prompt-61-footprint
I have engages with the publications of
@brujita18
@farahikram
@diebitch
I almost didn't read this because I believed you at first that it was for prompt 61, which was last week's prompt. However, I decided to read it anyhow, and I am glad I did. It was interesting, and, of course, completely on topic for this week, prompt 62.
You should not judge a book by it cover. I am glad that you decided to read it. Hoping that you have learnt one or two lessons from it.
I am surprised at you. I point out a typo and you get nasty. I am muting you because I don't need it.
Hi! I highly recommend these two writers, their stories kept me on my toes until the end of the book.
@mrenglish
@temileke
Cheers!
My entry below...
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@cool08/a-savior-emerged-theinkwell-prompt-61-footprint
I have commented on
@mrenglish
@brujita18
Thanks for your support and mention, best regards!
This is my entry for this week.
Congratulations to last week's winners!
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@harlowjourney/the-unicorn-whisperer
Read and commented on:
@rayt2
@lightpen
@brujita18
@mrenglish
Thank you!
This is my entry for prompt 62; Footprint.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@lightpen/a-magical-touch
Thank you
@harlowjourney's unicorn piece is worth a look this week, as it develops a lore around unicorns - situating itself in the magical realism genre. It was different enough to capture my imagination this week.
@itsfarah posted an interesting piece this week also, which had a nice mirror structure around life/death. In my piece this week I deliberately played with cliches, and this story also took on a cliche quality. I do wonder whether by breaking expectations, a more powerful story can be told. Worth a look nonetheless for its portrayal of grief.
And, let me introduce you to Ursula in my entry this week:
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@lordtimoty/when-cliches-are-footprints-on
Thanks, Tim.
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@abmakko/home
supported:
@lordtimoty
@mrenglish
@harlowjourney
Congratulations to @kemmyb the winner 🥰 and to all who posted last week edition, it was a great one.
Thank you @repayme4568. 🙂
You are welcome 🤗
Here is my entry:
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@repayme4568/forgiveness-the-inkwell-writing-prompt
supported the following writer's @ghost.queen, @mineopoly, @abmakko
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@abdul-qudus/every-day-for-the-thief-one-day-for-the-owner
Here is my entry to the entry to the prompt for the week. Thanks so much for the opportunity.
This is my entry ,
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@fantom22/james-fulfilled-the-promise-of-his-father
Here's an elf story for your reading pleasure;
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@the-last-elf/elf-prints
My entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@iyimoga/the-inkwell-prompt-perpetual-footprint
Congratulations to the winner @kemmyb
My comments to:
@abdul-qudus
@mrenglish
@iyimoga
My entry:
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@katleya/the-ink-well-prompt-62-drunk-with-energy
Congratulations the the winners. Congrats @kemmyb, you are an amazing writer.
Here is my entry for this week
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@zyzymena/all-i-ever-wanted
Supported
@temileke
@mrenglish
@lightpen
Hello, my friends. I would like to share with you the link to my entry 👇
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@raymondpeter/happiness
I have dropped my comments on the following people's posts:
@iyimoga
@lightpen
I hope you enjoyed reading my post.
Thank you for your time and effort to view my blog.
Warm regards,
@raymondpeter
This week’s prompt: https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@itsostylish/mean-magic-the-ink-well
Hey guys! Congratulations to last week's winners..
Here's my entry for this week's prompt 62
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@diikaan/talent-of-gold-or-prompt-62
Hello, @theinkwell. Here's my story for this prompt--
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@kemmyb/flowers-for-ivy-or-fiction
Comments--
-lightpen
-harlowjourney
-idlemind
-brujita18
Congrats to the winner
Here's my entry for this week's prompt
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@buezor/theinkwell-prompt-62-or-or
Commented on @dwixer and @katleya
Here is my entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@merit.ahama/the-unwanted-adventure
Commented on @itsostylish @kemmyb @buezor @wahyunugraha @kingkenny44
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@kingkenny44/the-return-of-the-staff-of-authority
Here is a link to my story. I have read and commented on others story too. Enjoy.
Here I leave my participation for this new call. I am also providing support to users: @brujita18, @katleya, @diikaan, and @kemmyb.
My entry: https://ecency.com/category/@fragozar01/the-ancient-footprints-eng-esp
¡Gracias amigo @fragozar01, suerte!
I always enjoy writing short stories in this community. Here is my entry for this week;
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theawesononso/peace-after-war
An of course I have engaged with others' posts :)
Hello guys, here's my entry link
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@idspecial17/left-in-the-lurch
I also engaged posts of @theawesononso, @katleya and @fragozar01
Thank you
Congratulations to everyone who submitted a story last week and especially to the honorable mentions. I have read quite a few of them already and they were brilliant! Some made me laugh, some made me sigh (in a good way). I shall certainly read more of the others today. I am looking forward to seeing the responses to footprint, and with that, here is my submission for this week:
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@samsmith1971/plain-white-sneakers
Congratulations to last week's winners
This is my story.
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@popurri/a-forgotten-past
My comments to @brujita18, @mrenglish, @katleya, @kemmyb and @fragozart01.
Regards
¡Gracias amiga @popurri por el apoyo. ¡Un abrazo!
Hello writers, this is my entry link
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@daniella619/creativity-or-creatividad
I engaged in stories by;
@katleya
@zyzymena
Here is my entry link
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@davidbright/erased-footprints-oror-inkwell-prompt
I engaged with the following writers
@temileke
@mrenglish
@cool08
Hey guys, here's my entry link https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@merrymay22/wish-of-the-brave-or. I commented and engaged @popurri , @davidbright @dianella619
hi, here is my story
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@lenaspiritual/the-monsterinkwell-prompt-footprint
and I have engaged with writers as well
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@wrestlingdesires/skull-cave
Here's my submission for this week's prompt, I hope you will enjoy it ♥️
My entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@jmis101/the-ink-well-prompt-62
Commented on : @lightpen and @abmakko
Here is my entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@joseph23/inkwellprompt-62-the-gathering-of
One of my favorite stories thus far was lordtimoty's. Also, liked davidbright's story.
Here's my entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@diebitch/forgotten-footprints
Hi Ink Well community. I've been relatively "old" in Hive, but it's the first time I'm joining an Ink Well prompt.
Here's my submission. I apologize in advance for any mistake in the rules. I rushed the post today. A bit last minute because I incorrectly assumed there were still two days left.
I interacted with mrnightmare.net and juanvegetarian's Ink Well posts. But I plan to do more reading and engaging after getting some sleep. Thanks!
Good day @theinkwell, thanks for the contest.
Here is my entry
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@luckydrums/the-inkwell-prompt-62--fathers-footprints.
I also commented on the post by the following people
@ricestrela
@buezor
@kingkenny44
@mrnightmare.net
@theawesononso
Thank you so much