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Dear community, Welcome to Prompt #15 in our creative nonfiction initiative. Thank you to everyone who contributed a nonfiction story last week. Every week it seems there are more astounding stories than the last! Here's a quick overview of how it works: Each week, we provide a creative nonfiction prompt. You are also welcome to post other creative nonfiction pieces that are not based on the prompt. See the guidelines below. To be curated, your content should follow our guidelines, be at least 350 words (but ideally 750 -1500 words), be written in English, or another language as well as the English translation, and — as much as possible — free of errors. We also expect everyone who posts stories in The Ink Well to read and comment on the work of at least two other community members for each story published. (Thank you!) There are many guides and resources online for getting to know this wonderful genre. It is truly about storytelling. The simple difference between creative nonfiction and fictional stories is that the story is not made up. We like this definition from an article on creativenonfiction.org: Simply put: Creative nonfiction is true stories, well told. With creative nonfiction, you are using the literary and storytelling tools of a fiction writer to craft stories from real life experiences. Set the scene. Give the details. Profile the characters. Give us the dialog, as best you can remember it. Ideas and inspiration: Creative nonfiction stories can be snippets from your life autobiography — moments in time you want to capture in words, whether they were frightening, enlightening, bittersweet, or life-altering. They can be observations about life, about a time you connected at a profound level with a perfect stranger, or something you have learned along the way that made you a better person. Do you love podcasts? One of the greatest sources of creative nonfiction is The Moth Radio Hour. Listen to a few of the stories from The Moth, and we guarantee you will be inspired. Here are some additional resources for learning more about the creative nonfiction genre: Check out this list of creative nonfiction stories. For example, one of the stories is about a funeral for a lizard named Rango. We hope you are inspired! Here are some examples of what we are looking for: In other words, tell a story from real life. And illustrate the ideas you share with real world experiences, memories and observations. Here’s what we are NOT looking for: What will be muted: Thank you to all who participated in last week's prompt: Two Truths and a Lie! Our honorable mentions for last week's prompt are: Our third place winner is @stellageorge, with her story, Recurring Blackouts. I used to faint repeatedly when I was little, around the ages of 7, 8 and 9 years and it usually happened in the mornings while I was busy with an activity in school or at home. On the first day I fainted, it was in front of a retailer's store where my sister had forcefully sent me to get her things. I was feeling dizzy and didn't want to go out but she pulled the big sister card on me and made me go out and while making the purchase, I blinked and when I came to, I found myself lying on the pavement with a bruised face. Our second place winner is @cloflo, with her story, My Lucid Dreaming. My lucid dreaming started one scary night in my 7th year. For two consecutive nights, I had a recurring nightmare. The sky was pitch black, but it was just in time to go home from school. Doesn’t make sense right? I’d find myself walking with my head looking down at my black shoes and laced socks. Before my feet reach the tip of the school’s shadows under the moonlight, screams would be heard from behind and suddenly everyone was running away except me. I’d be frozen as I watched a black figure rise from the now-ruined school. The appearance of gigantic tentacles from the figure was my cue to escape the death spot, but it was always too late. A tentacle would swirl around my tiny body, and in an instant, I’d find myself awake, sweating, but relieved to know it was only a dream. Our first place winner is @deirdyweirdy, with her story, Never Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story!. I was quite a pudgy girl in those days and was always self-conscious about it. I was on the way to a gig in Dublin’s famous Dandelion Market one Sunday in 1979 and as myself and my friend crossed the road to the bus stop, a car came speeding out of nowhere and ploughed into me. Strangely enough, there was an ambulance at the traffic lights opposite and I was taken to the hospital with a broken leg and a fractured collar bone. There I remained for almost 8 weeks and in that time I lost about 3 stone, undergoing a complete metamorphosis from ugly duckling to beautiful swan. I should have gotten a huge settlement out of it as it was an unmarked police car that was speeding and ran the red light, witnessed by the ambulance driver, but my father didn’t want to get involved with authorities so that was that. Congratulations, @deirdyweirdy, @cloflo and @stellageorge! We've been told so... many... times that money cannot buy happiness. So then why are we so obsessed with it? Why do we fantasize about winning a big jackpot? AND most of us have heard stories of the people who won millions and then lost it all from mismanagement... and ended up broke and depressed. Yet we still want to win, don't we? Maybe it's because of the freedom money can buy, the choices we would have, or good things we could do for others. So, what would you do? Tell us a story of how you handle money, and how things would be different if you suddenly had a lot more of it. Think of a moment when you realized that if you just had all the money you wanted, you could do something really great. Look into your heart. If you won the lottery, would your life then be awesome? Or would it completely change life as you know it, and not necessarily for better? Have fun and good luck! We look forward to reading your stories. Please use the tags #creativenonfiction and #inkwellprompt on these posts. And please remember to add your post link to a comment on this post! NOTE: Please refrain from providing advice, guidance, or suggestions to others about their life choices in your post. Creative nonfiction is about storytelling. Prizes! Deadline You have a week, until the next prompt is posted, to post your creative nonfiction story in The Ink Well community. See you in The Ink Well!
What Is Creative Nonfiction?
-- Reedsy blog: What is Creative Nonfiction? The Unputdownable Truth
-- Writers.com: Understanding Creating Nonfiction: What It Is and How to Write ItGuidelines for Creative Nonfiction Articles in The Ink Well
Last Week's Creative Nonfiction Winners
Honorable Mentions of the Week
Third Place: Wins 1,000 Ecency points
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
The Ink Well Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompt #15: If You Won the Lottery
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