The Ink Well Prompt #68 - Plus Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement

[theinkwell]

_{Image source: Vic_B 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

Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!

Last week's prompt was adventure and the skill challenge was to focus on the setting, in your story.

Great work, everyone! There were some wonderful demonstrations of interesting and visually rich story settings. Our selection of this week's winner and honorable mentions very much reflect how well writers developed adventure-based stories with good settings.

Selecting honorable mentions and the winner is never an easy choice. A significant factor that influences the decision is quality of engagement with others in the community.

Here are this week's honorable mentions, all of which created a strong and immersive setting for their adventure story:

@yuki-nee An Explorer's Promise

An albatross soared along the beach, joining the other birds drawn to what appeared to be a boat’s wreckage. There it saw a person lying face down on the sand, motionless. The albatross tilted its head, as if it unsure whether the person was alive or dead.

@kingobonnaya The Storm

The strokes of rain flogged bountifully on their vehicle. The car wiper brushing off the drops of rain in a rhythmic sequence. Maria stretched herself. The road was flooded and appeared to be deserted only for a few heavy vehicles that drove past. She reached out to Debby and rubbed her shoulder.

@nelson-george Close Your Eyes

The wind blew softly making the trees outside rustle. It was so peaceful and quiet just the way Jack liked it. Growing up he had hated the outdoors. Preferred to stay inside all day, reading or listening to his grandma's tales.

@katleya Milingo's Love Affair

I remember perfectly that day, October 12. My free soul went to snoop around a place unknown to me: Plaza de los Aventureros. The beautiful square, with its leafy trees, fragrant flowers and impeccable golden metal seats, was used by my congeners for their amorous escapades. They invited me to share their wanderings.....My ingenuity knows no bounds.

@popurri Where the Seals Go

The afternoon sun is hiding on the horizon. I walk on the wet sand, the foam of the waves on my boots. Winter is already arriving in these latitud. I find it hard to adapt to this abrupt change of climate. From the torrid tropical lands of South America to the cold northern regions of Alaska.

And the winner of the adventure/setting challenge is... @kei2 with the story Home Coming Queen.

The sun was starting to set and it gave the weather a sepia tone. The air felt a little too chilly and crisp against my skin. I had walked subconsciously through the bustling market to the butcher's table. He was butchering a portion of meat that wasn't dividing. Then my eyes darted to his left hand. Astonishingly, he had only four fingers. He was still the same man. I was stunned to still see them there-The children bedside him dancing without music. The guitarist with a turban that always sat there playing his cordless guitar. He seemed to be lip-syncing as no words came out of his mouth.Even the mad man in tattered clothes still paraded in a circle while doing a gesture like opening a door.

Congratulations to @kei2, 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

@gi-de-on
@fantom22
@kirlos
@itsostylish
@kingobonnaya
@mrenglish
@abmakko
@matyr
@cool08
@assegai
@chidubem26
@yhuddee111
@nurudeen081
@buezor
@iyimoga
@lightpen
@diikaan
@young-boss-karin
@litguru
@katlaya
@dwixer
@merrymay22
@ddn688
@blackalbino1
@filipz
@bettyhandayani
@repayme4568
@abigail04
@popurri
@kingkenny44
@smokyice
@kei2
@preshtrump99
@kalkulus001
@merit.ahama
@hopestylist
@nelson-george
@yuki-nee
@davidbright

Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!

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 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 Shadow. The skill challenge this week is to build your skill in developing the "voice" of your story, which you can read about in the article, What Is Writing Voice?. Refer to that essay (in the Inkwell's Catalog of Fiction Writing Tips) to learn more about writing voice.

What should you do with the prompt, Shadow? And how do you handle the skill challenge? Here are some additional details:

Shadow: Shadows can be beautiful or frightening. A shadow can be left by a gorgeous statue or a majestic building. A shadow can indicate that a storm is coming, a bird is flying overhead, or someone is loitering under a lamp post.

Writing voice: This is essentially your writing style or the tone of your writing. You should consider setting the tone for your story early on, and maintaining that "tone" or "voice" throughout.

Some writers have elaborate prose that includes a lot of fancy words. Others write in simple language and simple words. There is no right or wrong, as long as your story has a consistent voice throughout. You'll find some great examples in the voice article.

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, 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:

• 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 and #dreemport, if you are also posting your story to the DreemPort site.
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: 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 Temptation
• #61 Happiness
• #62 Footprint
• #63 Frequency
• #64 Sailing
• #65 Fortune
• #66 Worry
• #67 Adventure

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/

A big thank you to all of our delegators:
@zeurich, @jayna, @felt.buzz, @marcybetancourt, @marlyncabrera, @stormcharmer, @generikat, @agmoore, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @chocolatescorpi, @kirlos, @josemalavem, @morey-lezama, @sayury, @evagavilan2 and @deraaa.

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Comments

[samsmith1971]

A bit late for the prompt but better late than never !LOLZ
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@samsmith1971/the-space-between

[lolzbot]

lolztoken.com

Why did Stalin only write in lowercase?
Because he hated capitalism.
_{Credit: reddit}
@theinkwell, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of @samsmith1971
Release your inner Rock Star with Rising Star! The best #play2earn game on Hive! Play for Free!
(3/4)

[popurri]

Congratulations @kei2 and to @kingobonnaya, @yuki-nee, @nelson-george and @katleya.
Grateful @ theinkwell for the honorable mention

[kei2]

Thank you so much.

[yuki-nee]

Thank you!

[fantom22]

many many congratulations to @yuki-nee @kingobonnaya @nelson-george @katleya @popurri and a big congratulation to the winner of this week's contest @kei2.

[kei2]

My many thanks to you.😊😊

[fantom22]

my pleasure @kei2

[popurri]

Thank you @fantom22😊

[kei2]

Thank you very much @theinkwell. It has been a great opportunity to write here.

[theinkwell]

Thank you for sharing your talent with us, @kei2!

[cool08]

Well done to the winner, @kei2

@theinkwell , My name was mentioned but my article was not visited. This has been happening for some time now.

[kei2]

Thank you so much.

[yaziris]

Hello @cool08, could you please come into our discord server and DM me ?

I just have couple of questions and recommendations, if you don't mind.

This is The Ink Well discord server invitation. Just send me a DM once you're there please.
https://discord.gg/Bng7mMsaQj

Thank you! :)

[bettyhandayani]

For me, who is just learning to write poetry, this week's theme is really challenging.

[agmoore]

We look forward to reading your stories. Poets sometimes give us the most lyrical prose. Please remember, though, we only curate stories, though we do love poets :)

[bettyhandayani]

Of course I will learn to struggle to write. Thank you very much for the warm welcome, friend. Hopefully all admins and members of this community are healthy and blessed by God. Amen 🌹🌹🙏

[katleya]

Thank you @theinkwell It is very gratifying to be on the weekly honor roll.

Congratulations to:

the winner @kei2 and too

@yuki-nee
@kingobonnaya
@nelson-george
@popurri

[kei2]

@katleya thank you.

[popurri]

Thanks @katleya

[blackalbino1]

Congratulations to the winner and honorable mentioned authors 😚🎉

[litguru]

Here's my entry to this week's challenge: Mona

thank you!

[jayna]

First one over the finish line!

[fantom22]

This is my entry.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@fantom22/shadow-of-god

[lordtimoty]

Here's my piece for this week - and another opportunity to start with Shakespeare! @agmoore - sorry if I stole your idea, if anyone's mind was going to go to Macbeth with this week's stimulus, 'Shadow', I'm sure it would be a kindred lover of the bard!

https://peakd.com/@lordtimoty/this-is-a-tale-told-by-an-idiot

I only commented on the one entry this week, looks like I'm too early in the week to have had more posts than that up before me. I visited Fantom22! But I do intend to visit @samsmith1971 when her post goes live.

[mrenglish]

Here is my entry.

https://peakd.com/@mrenglish/bella-in-the-shadows-of-ella-the-ink-well-prompt-68

I have engaged on the following works.

@ddn688
@lordtimoty

[itsostylish]

Prompt #68 https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@itsostylish/shades-of-indecision-the-ink

[madamnaomi]

Thank you. Here’s my entry;
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@madamnaomi/sisters-by-chance-friends-by

[maryjacy]

Here is my entry for the prompt:
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@maryjacy/the-ink-well-prompt-68-the-light-behind-the-shadow

I've visited the stories of @madamnaomi and @assegai

[cool08]

My submission
https://peakd.com/@cool08/a-selfish-wish

I have supported @maryjacy @madamnaomi

[lightpen]

Here is my entry;
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@lightpen/provide-shade-for-others

[blackalbino1]

Entry link: https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@blackalbino1/shadow-the-bigger-picture
Engagement: @maryjacy and @lightpen's posts

[iyimoga]

My entry

https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@iyimoga/the-ink-well-fiction-prompt-9e81ff314b754

Comment
@itsostylish
@fantom22

[kelseyimoh]

Congratulations to lady K

This is my entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@kelseyimoh/inkwell-68-or-genotype

I engaged in posts written by
@ddn688 and that of @mrenglish

[youarealive]

@kelseyimoh! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @ddn688. _(1/20)

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.

[zeraton]

Hello! Here is my entry for the prompt!

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@zeraton/the-shadowed-writer-an-interesting-and-objective-story

[daniella619]

Post link
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@daniella619/wills-and-phills
I commented on posts published by @zeraton, @dwixer and @kelseyimoh

[preshtrump99]

Hey guys, here's my entry link https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@preshtrump99/carefully-hidden.

Also I visited the posts of @daniella619 and @dwixer

[diikaan]

Hey guys. Happy weekend..
This is my entry for this week's prompt

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@diikaan/creating-my-own-shadow

[idspecial17]

Hey guys, here's my entry link for the week
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@idspecial17/same-blood-different-lives

I commented on posts of @preshtrump99 and @kelseyimoh.
Thank you

[popurri]

This is my entry.
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@popurri/the-shadow-behind-the-sin
I reading stories writing by @itsostylish, @fantom22, @mrenglish and @lordtimoty

[yuki-nee]

Hello again! Here's my contribution for this week's prompt: https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@yuki-nee/spirited-away-an-inkwell-prompt

[yhuddee111]

Greetings everyone
This is my entry link
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@yhuddee111/friendship-in-the-mud
I have also engaged posts of @iyimoga and @lightpen.
Thank you

[abigail04]

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@abigail04/a-shadow-behind-the-scene

I have commented on @maryjacy and @fantom22

[merrymay22]

Hello guys
Happy weekend
Here's my entry for the week
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@merrymay22/the-world-in-my-head
I read and commented on stories of @kelseyimoh and @dwixer

[merit.ahama]

Here is my entry

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@merit.ahama/the-shadow-photographer

Commented on the posts of @nelson-george @yuki-nee @wrestlingdesire @dwixer @iyimoga

[hopestylist]

This is my entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@hopestylist/losing-yourself-to-words

I commented on @wrestlingdesires and @lordtimoty

[raymondpeter]

Congratulations @kei2! And other authors in the house. Today, I would like to share with you the link to my entry👇
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@raymondpeter/under-the-light-of-the-moon

I have dropped my comments on the following people's posts:

• @mrenglish
• @hopestylist

I hope you enjoyed reading my post.
Thank you for stopping by my blog.
Regards,
@raymondpeter

[kei2]

Thank you. That was an amazing read.

[davidbright]

This is my entry for the week

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@davidbright/bernard-and-the-assasins-oror-the-ink-well-prompt-68

I commented on the posts of the following writers

@lordtimoty
@mrenglish

[buezor]

Last week was wonderful.
Here's my entry for this week's prompt.

https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@buezor/theinkwell-prompt-68-or-or

Commented on @davidbright and @itsostylish

[young-boss-karin]

Congratulations to the winners.

This is my entry for this week.

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@young-boss-karin/the-end-of-her

I have also engaged with other authors.

I would also like to know what it takes for me to get a badge in the community.

[riverflows]

Made it I think? HOpe I followed all the rules this time.

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@riverflows/the-good-girl

[marbrym]

Hello friends, I hope you have a nice day. Last night I published my link in the publication of the June notices, I had several weeks of participating and I came back quite lost.

So without further ado, here is my link, I hope you can read it. Much success to all 🤝.

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@marbrym/journey-without-return-esoren-viaje-sin-retorno-june-2022-contest-from-the-ink-well

[katleya]

Congratulations to: @kei2, @kingobonnaya, @yuki-nee, @nelson-george and @popurri .

My comments to:

@davidbright

@popurri

@matyr

My entry prompt 68:

https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@katleya/the-ink-well-prompt-68-the-mystery-of-the-owners

[kei2]

Thank you

[diebitch]

Hi This is my entry https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@diebitch/you-ll-never-walk-alone
I read and engaged with 2 amazing authors - litguru and itsostylish

[rcaine]

Congratulations to all the winners. You should be proud there are a lot of good writers in the competion.

[popurri]

Thank you 😊

[kei2]

Thank you @ddn688

[youarealive]

@kei2! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @ddn688. _(9/20)

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.