Image source: Faruk Tokluoğlu on Pexels
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 character descriptions.
Wow, you guys did it! We read so many fantastic stories, with really rich and detailed characters. We hope you enjoyed the exercise and that you'll keep it up. Even one paragraph that tells us something about a character's facial expressions or character flaws helps us to get involved with that character and your story.
And the winner of the character description challenge is... @kei2, with her story The Canvas. Here's an excerpt from the story:
A man in perhaps his sixties came to sit beside Sesei. He spoke in a strange accent. He had well groomed silky grey hair and beards. His eyes were white and deep like the oceans. Fine wrinkles lined the side of his eyes and his skin was smooth as olives.
Isn't that delightful? Be sure to read her story, because it is well written and interesting from beginning to end!
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
Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt, “Artist."
You guys did great. We got a nice view into some worlds outside our own, and saw some great scene and setting descriptions. Thank you, everyone!
Here are the week's stories. Be sure to read and support these authors for their work.
- Just Another Day, by @piratethanos
- The Mural, by @itsostylish
- The Artist, by @samsmith1971
- A Person, by @abmakko
- The Museless Artist, by @khaleesii
- The Blind Artist, by @zeraton
- The Wine and Blood Were Red, by @lordtimoty
- Through Her Hands, by @popurri
- Family or Paintings?, by @kemmyb
- Titan: Spirit!, by @deraaa
- The Canvas, by @kei2
- Deep in the Mind of an Artist, by @cool08
- The Lone Artist, by @dwixer
- In Tinyville, Good Painting Paints You!, by @deeanndmathews
- The First Artist, by @merit.ahama
- A Tale of an Artist, by @davidbright
- True Art, by @diebitch
- Music and Love, by @ghost.queen
- The Signature, by @iyimoga
- The Artist, by @joseph23
- The Love at First Sight, by @raymondpeter
- End of an Artist, by @fantom22
- The Real Artist, by @rayt2
- The Triathlon Artist, by @ricardo993
- The Guest Who Showed Up, by @princessbusayo
- A Passionate Heart, by @emeka002
- Poker Along the Dark Sea's Deep, by @jin-out
- Ristretto, by @mosin-nagant
- Art Festival on a Cruise Ship, by @katleya
- Kimbili and His Mysterious Art, by @mrenglish
- The Art Contest, by @chidubem26
- In the Real Realm, by @abigail04
- Aron the Lonely Artist, by @wahyunugraha
- The Pat of His Eyes, by @joalheal
- I Lost You Again, by @marbrym
- Dead by Midnight, by @doubleworld
- A Million-dollar Painting, by @radenkusumo666
- William an Artist, by @raymondpeter
- You Have an Angelic Beauty, by @farahikram
- The Delimma, by @myztiqakusuk
- Feelings, by @smilejerry
- Meeting an Artist, by @erh.germany
- The Artist, by @chocolatescorpi
- Painter, Gatherer and Hunter, by @gracielaacevedo
- The Artist, by @tough
- The Art of Fortune, by @wrestlingdesires
Well done, everyone!
This Week’s Prompt
At last, the prompt of the week!
This week's prompt is Headlights. And your skill challenge for the week is hook your reader.
What should you do with this prompt? And what does this skill challenge mean? Here are some additional details:
Headlights: First, note that you don't have to write about headlights. A prompt is something that fuels your imagination. You could write about someone who has a recurring nightmare that a car is coming at them and they can't move. Or two kids driving on a lonely country road in the middle of nowhere, and their car headlights go out! Now for the next part.
Hook your reader: In fiction, the "hook" is something that captures the reader's attention fast and makes them want to keep reading. It could be the language or imagery you use in the opening of your story, for example. Or it could a teaser about the character and storyline at the very beginning of your story.
A few helpful notes:
- As a story teller, your job isn't just to tell a sequence of events. Your job is to entice and entertain your reader. A "hook" is one way to make your story compelling so they can't stop reading. When they're hooked, they will not only keep reading to the end of this story, but they will be looking for your next one too!
- We have a great resource for you. Read the article Hook Your Reader in our catalog of fiction writing tips to learn more about the hook and why it's so important.
A week from now, we will select a winning story that provides a great hook. 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
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 and @rayt2.
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I'm so delighted @theinkwell . You have no idea how this feels. I'm also super excited about the new prompt. I read amazing stories last week and I can't wait to read more this week.
Thank you so much.
Congratulations @kei2. It is a pleasure to read your stories.
Thank you.
Well done, @kei2! It is well deserved. :-)
Congrats on winning prompt 52 you lucky gal you!!
Thank you.
First lines. The hook. There are lists of famous first lines. Here's one list. Of course, these are already taken and you have to come up with your own amazing lines. What this list of lines shows, though, is how important the first line can be.
However, it is possible to get frozen at the first line. There is a character in Camus' Plague, Joseph Grand, who plans to write a great novel. Unfortunately, he can't get past the first line. Over and over again he writes:
“One fine morning in the month of May an elegant young horsewoman might have been seen riding a handsome sorrel mare along the flowery avenues of the Bois de Boulogne".
Grand plays with the line. Drops a word, and adds a word. It has to be perfect.
You have to resist getting caught in Camus' first-line loop. If the first line doesn't come to you immediately, keep going. When you are done, you will likely find the inspiration for that line.
I think this week's challenge is a wonderful exercise for writers. I'm looking forward to reading a story from each of you, a story with a smashing first line. This will be the hook that draws us in and persuades us to be your audience.
Congrats @kei2 and other participates.
My entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@kirlos/the-ink-well-prompt-53
I supported @mosin-nagant , @piratethanos and kennysplash
Congratulations to: @kei2
My comments to:
@jerryzikko (The deal)
@princessbusayo (The blackout)
My entry: https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@katleya/the-ink-well-prompt-53-sir-lawrences-last-voyage
Hi Inkwell friends; this week I guess I tried to blend the horror genre with the mundanity of suburbia in my piece, '16 Minutes in Suburbia with a Serial Killer on the Loose'.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@lordtimoty/inkwell-prompt-53-headlights-16-minutes-in-suburbia-with-a-serial-killer-on-the-loose
If you're looking for some recommendations,
@kingobonnaya crafted a new piece, with a ending mirroring the opening hook.
@fantom22 also created an interesting hook, introducing a speeding car into a densely forested area. I am very much a safety first kind of guy, so this had the effect of making me fear for the driver.
Here's my entry for this week. I hope it's okay this time.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@idlemind/ill-ask-them
I also have read and commented on the works of @rayt2 and @mosin-nagant
Hello! Here is my entry for the prompt:
The Haunting at Mable Road
A fabulous prompt this week - ah, the potential!!
Tim
I'm rubbing my hands together with glee! Can't wait to see what comes of it. (I just hope I don't have to read about kids and pets being hit by cars....)
This is great. I have prepared one that will carry my readers. I love this and indeed this will be great to anyone who is going to write here.
Great!
The rewards earned on this comment will go directly to the person sharing the post on Twitter as long as they are registered with @poshtoken. Sign up at https://hiveposh.com.
YESSSS I MADE IT ON THE LIST!!!
(thanks @theinkwell !)
Woo hoo!!!
🎈🎈
Thanks for airing the latest prompt this week. This is my work for the prompt.
Are You All Right, Honey?
You are speedy!
Thanks @jayna. Although being the fastest is not necessarily good, the important thing is that I have tried to color this week's promp with enthusiasm.
Source
She tried to cross the sidewalks but a fast and noisy car with loud he... https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@myztiqakusuk/fate-r7chmq
Thank you, @myztiqakusuk. Please be sure to review the note about your featured image, which is not a license-free image and must be replaced.
Thank you, it has been reviewed
Perfect. Thank you!
Congratulatios @kei2 for you great history. And congratulations to all and each of one for write for this week, good job for all. ❤️
thanks @marbrym !
Thank you so much for reading.
Story for this week’s prompt https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@itsostylish/in-the-headlights
That's a beautiful story. For some reason, I can't seem to make a comment on Ecency.
I won't say i understand how hopeless she might be feeling but I can relate to how despairing it can be. I feel really bad that she's contemplating suicide but stage four... Really what can we do? Is there any hope?
That's a beautiful and heartbreaking story you wrote there. 💕
Oh, thank you @deraaa I’m so glad that you “got it”, I was wondering if her intentions were clear! ❤️💕🤗
It was very clear! 😅
My entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@ozohu/narrow-escape
Supported @milezofplay and @jin-out
Congratulations @kei2, you really deserved it.
Thank you so much.
My submission
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@cool08/cave-of-mysteries
Ooooooh how exciting is this one going to be!!!
@silentbot star 3
Here is a link to my post on the Inkwell prompt.
Image designed on Canva
Dave is so sure he heard a strange noise. Faint it is... https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@kennysplash/starved
Here is my entry into this week's prompt: https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@piratethanos/the-ink-well-prompt-53
I commented on @cool08 and @sadfish.
Here is my entry;
https://www.ecency.com/hive-170798/@princessbusayo/the-ink-well-prompt-53
I have visited @rayt2 @mosin-nagant @myztiqakusuk @piratethanos @kennysplash
Great job with curation, @princessbusayo!
My entry.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@fantom22/the-end
My entry for week
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@iyimoga/the-ink-well-fiction-the
Hello everyone, my entry to this week's prompt, and I have also engaged with other authors.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@khaleesii/blinding-lightsororthe-ink-well-prompt-53
That first line challenge, creating a 'hook' was interesting, so I tried to come up with something that would attract and hold attention. My story for Prompt #53:
Headlights on the Ceiling
I hope all our writers this week have as much fun with the prompt as I did.
Thanks, @theinkwell for the beautiful promote always.
Here is my entry for the #53 prompt.
https://peakd.com/@mrenglish/flash-romanceor-the-inkwell-prompt-53
I have supported @agmoore and @jerryzikko.
Well... I read beautiful stories in this prompt. Beautiful and very challenging. I hope you like this something I put together. The inspiration is a song. Enjoy!
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@deraaa/findlife-just-one-night
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@emeka002/billy-the-dancing-ghost
My entry, hopefully i will earn well..
Entry
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@doubleworld/who-killed-my-mom
Engaged with
@Rayt2 and @bruno-kema
Interesting prompt! Here's my entry: https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@restcity/letting-him-go-or-headlights-prompt-story
Here's my entry. Not sure I did the whole hooking thing in the first line.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@b0s/phone-call
I've commented on a couple other authors
Hello my dear friends, I will like to share with you the link to my participation for this week prompt #53. This is the link👇
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@raymondpeter/shoe-mood-adventure
I have read and dropped my comments on the post of the following people:
I hope you enjoyed reading my post.
Thank you for your time and effort to view my blog.
Regards,
@raymondpeter
supported @itsostylish @jin-out
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@abmakko/another-life
A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO @kei2! It was indeed a wonderful story and well chosen by the Inkwell team!
Here is my entry for the 53rd edition of the inkwell prompt- Headlights with the challenge of hooking the reader.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@chocolatescorpi/the-last-thought-of-jimmy-joe-the-ink-well-prompt-53-this-weeks-prompt-is-headlights-and-your-skill-challenge-for-the-week-i
I hope that you enjoy.
Thank you so much for reading.
Thank you for writing it! 😃
What a great prompt - and here is my little story ❤️
https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@wrestlingdesires/tired-but-not-retired
Here is my entry.
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@farahikram/joy-was-lost
Commented on @deeanndmathews (75) and @rayt2
Thank you.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@ricardo993/customer-and-baber-or-the-ink-well-prompt
Hello and greetings to all.
Here is my entry
My entry: My Dear (Plus One) In the Headlights
My comments:
Hi all of you writers!
Deja vu
My entry this week!!!
I've completed my story on time this time around but almost forgot to post my link here. I think I'm becoming more forgetful lately... Anyway, here's the link to my latest story: https://ecency.com/hive-170798/@yuki-nee/silent-night-an-encounter-with-the-unknown
We all do that sometimes! :-)
Hi everyone,
https://hive.blog/hive-170798/@strangegravy/the-body-the-ink-well-prompt-53-headlights#comments
Here's my link to this week's entry, but it's been muted due to blood and gore. I appreciate the Inkwells stance on excessive violence in writing and have read the posts in it, so I'd just like to get this clarified what the exact is is with my story if possible, as the full story reveals a very different outcome to what you might think at the start.
If you still think it's not suitable then that's fine, but just wanted to check was the whole piece read and exactly what was the issue with it, so I can know what to avoid for future posts, as I'm genuinely here to learn and grow as a writer.
Thanks for taking the time
Best,
Rod
Hi @strangegravy. Sorry about that. I'll respond on your story, okay?
Here's my entry ecency.com/hive-170798/@diebitch/ex-it-strategy
and I commented on the works of agmoore and itsostylish
Supported writers¡¡¡
Thanks for the support @joalheal 😊
I squeezed in a story this week: https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@jayna/dungeons-and-turrets-a-short-story
Here is my entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@merit.ahama/the-phishing-call-oror-inkwell-prompt
Commented on @diebitch and @milezofplay entries 🙂
My entry
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@gracielaacevedo/pharos