Source: JillWellington on Pixabay
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 May, 2023, ending May 31! And be sure to honor the countdown timer! 10 Hive to the winner!
Before You Post in The Ink Well...
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 three words: "wish, button, sky". And the skill challenge was to create a great setting for your story.
Stories From the Previous Week
Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!
- @czander
- @morey-lezama
- @mrenglish
- @clemenp
- @kinganny
- @jadams2k18
- @george-dee
- @timix648
- @lightpen
- @marynn
- @marriot5464
- @dianelson
- @balikis95
- @kemmyb
- @universoperdido
- @nelson-george
- @ginika
- @rinconpoetico7
- @ricardo993
- @diikaan
- @jhymi
- @smc.arike.oba
- @jjmusa2004
- @seki1
- @lrscarmen
- @samsmith1971
- @inessita
- @mineopoly
- @amiegeoffrey
- @yuki-nee
- @kingsleyy
- @wrestlingdesires
Honorable Mentions
Our honorable mentions of the week are:
- @kemmyb: Three Odd Words
- @seki1: The Button's Wish
- @lightpen: My Wish
- @dianelson: Wish Upon a Well
- @rinconpoetico7: Harry and the Sky
- @smc.arike.oba: Relieved
- @inessita: Wish Granted
Additional Stories of Note!
The writing skills we are seeing in this community are truly inspiring! We simply must acknowledge more of the great stories that were developed for this prompt:
- @samsmith1971: Kaleidoscope of Dreams
- @george-dee: Collins or BST003
- @ricardo993: Three Words, Three Wishes
The Winners!
All three of these authors not only wrote fantastic stories, but did really well with the skill of the week: the setting.
Third Place: Wins 2 Hive
- @jadams2k18, with the story Airport / Aeroporto
I love airport restrooms, at least all the ones I've visited. They are always spotless. So much so that you feel like you're living in them. Gleaming toilets and a pleasant smell of disinfectant. The floor was so clean I could reflect myself in it. The large mirror over the sinks was immaculate, making the room look much larger than it appeared. My reflection gave me back a disapproving grimace, the excess clothing made me look like a few extra pounds. Three jackets, two sweaters, and four flannels are barely enough to keep me warm. I'm cold, what can I say? I excused myself to my reflection.
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
- @morey-lezama, with the story The Buttons of Heaven: Revenge in the Darkness
As evening fell and the battle waned in intensity, Otakar found himself immersed in a desolate landscape. Lifeless bodies lay strewn across the battlefield, mute witnesses to the violence and tragedy that had befallen them. Amidst the darkness and silence, only glimmers of dim light pierced the clouds, illuminating the horizon and revealing a macabre spectacle. However, in the midst of that chaos lay the distinctive buttons of the soldiers of the Hungarian Black Army, bearers of the cross representing the god of heaven.
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
- @universoperdido, with the story The Golden Button
We lived on a hill in the middle of silent swamps. Northern breezes accompanied us and ensured the freshness of our awakening. We sat for hours on top of limestone rocks, enjoying the spectacle of the sunrise, while the lazy tulips slowly opened their petals to absorb the glimmers they saw.
Animals did not come up the hill, except for the birds; which left their nests on the solitary trees scattered over the bright green grass. The singing of the birds boiled our hearts with pleasure, Amethyst would always lie on my shoulder as she listened to the tunes that enraptured her, then she would close her eyes and fall asleep.
Congratulations to @universoperdido, @morey-lezama and @jadams2k18!
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: "RSVP." Our skill challenge is "show, don't tell.
What to do with this prompt?
RSVP is the short form of a French term: répondez s'il vous plaît. It means, very simply, "respond, if you please."
We are asked to RSVP to weddings, birthday parties, cocktail parties, and other special events. And yet while social events are often lively and enjoyable, they can also be challenging, fraught with social land mines, and even traumatizing. So tell us a story in which a character is responding to an invitation or is attending a special event. Is your character delighted or apprehensive? Living in anticipation, or shaking in fear?
Show, don't tell: The idea behind this writing skill is that you fully describe people, action and settings, instead of summarizing those things, or giving them labels. For example, to say a child is "beautiful" is telling. You have given her a label instead of describing her. But if you write that her eyes sparkled in the sunshine and she had raven curls held in place with a shimmering red bow, you will show us that she is a beautiful child without being told.
Be sure to read the article about the "show, don't tell" concept in our catalog of fiction writing tips to learn more about this important fiction writing skill.
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
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @millycf1976 and @grindan
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@jayna, @felt.buzz, @zeurich, @marcybetancourt, @agmoore, @marlyncabrera, @itsostylish, @stormcharmer, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @chocolatescorpi, @samsmith1971, @grindan, @jackdeathblack, @josemalavem, @riverflows, @generikat, @mineopoly, @timix648, @morey-lezama, @evagavilan2, @popurri, @mrenglish, @stuartcturnbull, @nelson-george, @marilour, @rinconpoetico7, @funshee, @amiegeoffrey, @loveah, @wongi, @balikis95, @juniorgomez and @hazmat.
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