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: In addition to the weekly fiction contest we hold a monthly contest. Check out our April fiction contest ending April 30! 10 Hive to the winner!
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We ask that you read our FAQ post to familiarize yourself with our important community rules and guidelines.
Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement
Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!
Last week's prompt was "mess" and the skill challenge was to integrate the dynamic trio into your story: "action, dialogue and narrative."
Stories From the Previous Week
Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!
- @ricardo993
- @pearlsuddy
- @kinganny
- @faitz007
- @universoperdido
- @emeka002
- @whitneyalexx
- @fragozar01
- @princess-dara
- @mrenglish
- @iyimoga
- @jetta.amaya
- @timix648
- @rinconpoetico7
- @dianelson
- @yuki-nee
- @itsostylish
- @writermaximus
- @cool08
- @balikis95
- @lara-bee
- @marynn
- @gabrieladifazio
- @aloysiusmbaba
- @giftmbaba
- @marilour
- @kemmyb
- @seki1
- @jhymi
- @popurri
- @praizking
- @cypher09
- @diikaan
Honorable Mentions
Our honorable mentions of the week are:
- @fragozar01: The Cow's Mess
- @dianelson: Overnight Mess
- @kemmyb: A Freshman's Messy Experience
- @universoperdido: Uncle Spencer's Apartment
- @balikis95: The Secret to a Clean Home
- @yuki-nee: Fun and Messy: Accepting Imperfection
Third Place: Wins 2 Hive
- @rinconpoetico7, with the story Flying Saucers
The mess was evident after that frenzy of dishes flying around the kitchen. Eric entered the dark kitchen and with a rhythmic shudder fumbled with the switch, worn and with traces of grease adhering due to many years of food preparation, the bluish light came on in a single beat of electricity and illuminated the place, showing the apocalypse of utensils scattered all over the floor.
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
- @writermaximus, with the story Attack of the Mess Monster
I don't know why I hadn't screamed yet. Maybe because I had watched too many horror movies.
Either way, I was still scared. But I was more scared of my mom blaming me for the broken vases. So I swallowed my fear and tightened my grip on the bat.
Whatever this was, I'd capture it.
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
- @gabrieladifazio with the story There's Nothing More Fun than Trying to Survive
Seconds later they came to a room engulfed in darkness that was slowly lit by torches flaring on their own, allowing them to appreciate where they were. The stone walls had writings that they did not understand and some figures that seemed to be soldiers judging by their armor, swords, shields... immediately both had a bad feeling that was confirmed when they began to move on the walls as if they were waking up from a dream. In a quick reaction, Amber rushed to the side, avoiding being hit by the arrow that was heading straight for her head.
Congratulations to @gabrieladifazio, @writermaximus, and @rinconpoetico7 !
Okay, let's launch the new prompt!
This Week’s Prompt
The Ink Well is fortunate to have many members who are rising talents! We would like everyone to think of these weekly prizes as a showcase of just a few of the very best stories, as well as an opportunity for our members to be inspired by reading some polished stories that demonstrate excellent storytelling skills.
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 "cards." Our skill challenge is developing memorable characters.
To become inspired to develop memorable characters, see article on the topic in our Catalog of Fiction Writing Tips.
What to do with this prompt?
As always, there are plenty of options. If you like mystical themes, you could write about a character who visits a tarot card reader. But of course there are many other type of cards. You could write about a character with a compulsive gambling habit, or one that loves to play poker but cannot seem to master the "poker face." Have fun!
A week from now, we will select winning stories that demonstrate the skills and utilize the prompt. Of course, we will also be looking for overall quality in the winning stories. Good luck! Be sure to read the contest rules below.
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: NEW: You have SIX DAYS to write for the prompt. We are now adding countdown timers to our contest posts so the contest ends one day before the new one is posted. This will give us more time to read all contest stories. (In most cases, we will not be able to read stories that come in after the countdown.)
- 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(s).
- 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 (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; #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
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @millycf1976 and @grindan
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