Creative Nonfiction Prompt #141

theinkwell (73)in The Ink Well • 4 months ago

Countdown terminated on Jun 13, 2025, 1:45 PM

Creative Nonfiction in The Ink Well Prompt #141

Welcome to The Ink Well's weekly creative nonfiction prompt!

In this post, we'll provide the prompt for the coming week.

Before You Write Your Creative Nonfiction Post...

We ask that you read our Creative Nonfiction Tips post to learn about the creative nonfiction genre and review our guidelines.

Important notes:

Creative nonfiction stories are based on your real-life experiences.
We are looking for real short stories! Not advice columns, reports on crime or corruption in your city, observations on nature, recipes, religion, politics, or any other nonfiction content. Just real-life short stories.
Ideal story length is between 750 and 1500 words, but your story must be at least 350 words, at a minimum to be curated.
Please focus on quality content. Read and edit for errors! Use a grammar checker before you post your story.
We expect everyone who posts in The Ink Well to read and comment on at least two other stories for each one published.
Do not post stories featuring physical abuse, graphic violence, erotica or NSFW content.

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Last Week's entrants

Thank you to all who participated in last week's prompt : Weak excuse.

Last week's participants

@daeze-winnie	@almadepoeta	@venom2951
@iyimoga	@bisolamih	@lareaiyela
@fashtioluwa	@rammargarita	@jennyzee1
@kingsleyy	@young-tari	@delightedpen
@marriot5464	@nancybriti1	@oyebolu
@zain-ab001	@popurri	@suqueen
@treasuree	@offia66	@abigail04
@farahikram	@faithwellington

Featured

Highlighting @daeze-winnie, with the story:

A Burning House-Whose Fault?

There is this nostalgic feeling you get and immediately you just burst out laughing. Scary as it may seem, the memory of almost burning down my family house as an ignorant kid gets me weak anytime I remember it.

Curator's comment :

daeze-winnie writes a very impactful CNF about her childhood. She was entrusted with cooking and other responsibilities at a very young age. One night when her father was traveling, she and her mother and siblings all slept curled up together in the central living area. D was given the task to light a candle for them, as the power was out. They all woke to flames and smoke, and the shouting of neighbors who were throwing buckets of water on their burning house. She and her family were very lucky the neighbors sounded the alarm and that they were able to put the fire out! No one was hurt. This story is very nicely told.

Featured

Highlighting @treasuree, with the story:

Village People Did Mean Me

The plan was simple travel from Lagos to my hometown in Akwaibom, attend the wedding, eat jollof and nkwobi, snap pictures, and come back home. I even bragged to my friends about it, "This one na soft trip."

Curator's comment :

@treasuree writes a nice story for the Murphy's law prompt. The story oscillates between the seriousness of wanting to make the best possible impression at a wedding and the virtue of laughing at oneself when time, nature or luck prevent expectations from being met. The story demonstrates an intelligent vision, as the author knows how to laugh at herself and teaches her readers the power of humor to get through bad times.

Featured

Highlighting @lareaiyela, with the story:

A Year Everything Fell Apart, But I Didn't

March came in with promise. Three bookings in one week. I told myself, finally. But it was just the universe warming up for another joke. One client changed the location three times in twenty-four hours, then ghosted me entirely. Another said I didn’t vibe with her aesthetic, despite booking me based on my aesthetic.

Curator's comment :

Wonderfully engaging and entertaining CNF packed with self-deprecating humor and mindful optimism in the face of chaos. A pleasure to read.

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This Week's Prompt 141

Karma

Meaning:

what you do comes back to you.

Karma isn't just about punishment or reward; it's about balance, justice, and the outcome of behavior.
Perhaps you returned someone's lost property only to be rewarded by that same person when your luck was down.
Maybe someone cheated you only to be publicly humiliated when the community discovered the truth.

Tell us about it! And remember to integrate storytelling elements like characters, scene setting, dialogue and action to bring your story to life!

Have fun and good luck! We look forward to reading your stories.

Rules

You have 6 days to write your story from the date of this prompt post. Be sure to check the deadline countdown.
Write a real-life story with the creative elements of fiction, like characters, dialogue, scene setting and a story conflict.
Post your story in The Ink Well Community.
Please use the tags #creativenonfiction and #inkwellprompt on these posts. Other possible tags: #writing #inkwellprompt #nonfiction
Stories must be written in English. If you've translated the post, it's best to add the original version below the translation. Do not write mixed language paragraphs.
Read and comment on at least two stories in the community. Add a link to your story as a comment on this post.

And be sure to remember to join The Ink Well community!

Prize

A prize of 20 Hive will be awarded to one submission every four weeks.

Procedure

Two or three stories will be featured every week. One of the featured stories will win the grand prize every four weeks.

The winner will be featured in a special announcement post.

Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!

Join here at Hive Onboard.

Already a Hive member? Click Subscribe at the top of The Ink Well community home page.

Questions? Ask The Ink Well on Discord .

inkwell

We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by @raj808 and @stormlight24 and run by @jayna, @yaziris, @samsmith1971, @gracielaacevedo and @itsostylish.

How to Follow Our Curation Trail

You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.

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