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: Check out our monthly contest for the month of June, 2023, ending June 30! And be sure to honor the countdown timer! 10 Hive to the winner!
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Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement
Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!
Last week's prompt was: "scuttlebutt". And the skill challenge was to demonstrate proper use of dialogue.
Stories From the Previous Week
Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!
- @marynn
- @iyimoga
- @edystringz
- @mrenglish
- @daveyjones8
- @farahikram
- @wrestlingdesires
- @creativeinsight
- @lightpen
- @kinganny
- @mhizrutty
- @amiegeoffrey
- @george-dee
- @balikis95
- @alexlight
- @lizizoo
- @jhymi
- @radenkusumo666
- @cool08
- @abigail04
- @seki1
- @ricardo993
- @kingsleyy
- @inessita
Honorable Mentions
Our honorable mentions of the week are:
The Winners!
All of these authors wrote fantastic stories using the prompt, and did an excellent job with the skill of the week: demonstrating proper use of dialogue!
Third Place: Wins 2 Hive
- @mhizrutty, with the story A Tale of Windhaven
In the small coastal town of Windhaven, scuttlebutt flowed like ocean tides. The locals couldn't resist the temptation to indulge in gossip, and the juicier the rumour, the faster it spread. Every morning, the townsfolk would gather at the local café, their eager voices rising above the clatter of coffee cups and spoons.
One particularly sunny day, as the aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air, Martha, the café owner, overheard an intriguing piece of scuttlebutt from her regular patrons.
"Did you hear? A treasure chest was found washed ashore last night!" whispered Sarah, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "A treasure chest? How extraordinary!" exclaimed Jack, his bushy eyebrows shooting up. "Who found it?"
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
- @wrestlingdesires, with the story Quickwits and the Scuttlebutt
Captain Brazer's eyes widened as he looked at the rapidly approaching village. "Get them sails lowered, we're gettin' close to the dock. Ye lookin' to hit it?"
A sailor leaned on an ancient mop, and looked at him. "Aye, Captain! Er, I mean no, Captain."
The captain shook his head, then went to following his own orders. "If I waited for Quickwits to do it, we'd not come to a stop before we reached the pub. Then he'd jump overboard before we could even set out the plank..."
Predictably, once they were ashore, Quickwits was the first to find the pub. He was also the last to leave it.
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
- @alexlight, with the story Betrayal On The Siren's Song
I couldn't help but notice the crew members gathering around a wooden cask in the middle of the ship as I walked the decks. The scuttlebutt, as it was called, held fresh water for the sailors, but it seemed to serve another purpose as well—a gathering place for clandestine conversations. The crew would hush as I approached, casting glances at one another before dispersing like startled seabirds.
Intrigued by this mysterious behavior, I approached the scuttlebutt one day, hoping to catch a glimpse of the hidden world that unfolded within its whispers. As I drew near, two crew members, Samuel and Marcus, stood there, deep in conversation.
"Samuel, have you heard the latest scuttlebutt?" Marcus asked, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
"Aye, I have," Samuel replied, his voice low. "Rumor has it that the captain discovered a hidden map in his cabin—a map leading to a fabled treasure."
Congratulations to @alexlight, @wrestlingdesires and @mhizrutty!
This Week’s Prompt
FIRST: A COUNTDOWN NOTE
Be sure to submit your entries before the countdown ends.
You must submit before the end of the countdown to be considered for the prizes and honorable mentions.
Please observe the timer below this post. If it's purple, and the COUNTDOWN time is in the future, you can submit and be eligible for prizes and honorable mentions.
If the countdown is gray, and the timer has expired, you can submit, but your story will not be eligible for prizes or honorable mentions.
When the timer expires, we get busy reviewing all the stories, and no further submissions are considered.
Prompt of the week!
WAIT! Did you read the information above about the countdown timer? Okay, proceed!
This week's prompt is: "recall." Our skill challenge is to create a great main character.
What to do with this prompt? Well, this is one of our "multiple meaning" prompt words. Here are some ideas to get your creativity going:
- To "recall" something means to remember it. Your character could suddenly recall an important detail, a childhood experience, or perhaps a deep dark secret.
- A product can be subject to "recall" which means its manufacturer puts out a notice to everyone who purchased it to return it, or — in the case of a vehicle — to take it into a shop to have the faulty part repaired or replaced. Baby products, food items and many different mechanical products have been recalled. One could imagine that there would be opportunities for corruption and bribery in these scenarios. What if a business or a secret agent somehow forced a recall of a competitor's product, for example?
- One could think of some very interesting story lines in the sci-fi genre with AIs, robots, embedded chips in human brains, etc. Remember the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Total Recall? There's some interesting inspiration for you! (But of course you must come up with a story that is unique and completely your own, as always.)
And that brings us to the skill of the week: a great main character. Readers latch onto the main character, or "MC," if that character has interesting characteristics. They want a character to read about that is well drawn, has a relatable problem or hard-to-obtain goal, and has characteristics that help us to "see" that person.
For example, a person named "Bruce" is not inherently interesting. But if Bruce has a head of shaggy black hair, a tattoo of a rose on his bicep and always looks up to the sky when he's trying to think of an answer to a question, suddenly Bruce becomes rather intriguing. If Bruce is desperately trying to find a job before the rent is due, he's got an interesting problem and the reader becomes even more invested in this character.
Be sure to read the article, Writing Character Descriptions, and the article Developing Memorable Characters in our catalog of fiction writing tips to learn more about this important fiction writing skill.
To be eligible for prizes, you must write a story based on the prompt, and demonstrate the skill of the week. (And be sure to use the prompt word in your story!)
Ready, set go!
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.
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 SIX DAYS to write for the prompt, and you must submit your story before the end of the countdown to be considered for prizes and honorable mentions. You can find the countdown timer at the bottom of the prompt post on The Ink Well home page.
- 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 — as well as #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!
Reminders: Be sure to also read our community rules. As always, please avoid violent, gory, bloody, brutal, sexist or racist themes and language, NSFW (not safe for work) stories like erotica, 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.)
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; #112 Cards; #113 Elephant; #114 Crystal; #115 Phone call; #116 Date; #117 Chocolate; #118 Three words: wish, button, sky; #119 RSVP; #120 Objets d'art; #121 Soul; #122 Scuttlebutt
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