Creative Nonfiction in The Ink Well: Prompt #15

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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!)

What Is Creative Nonfiction?

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:
  -- Reedsy blog: What is Creative Nonfiction? The Unputdownable Truth
  -- Writers.com: Understanding Creating Nonfiction: What It Is and How to Write It

• 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!

Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction Articles in The Ink Well

1. Write creative nonfiction stories about real life, memories, or experiences.
2. As with our fiction guidelines, we ask that articles be at least 350 words in length. Optimal length is 750-1500 words.
3. Please read and edit your content before posting. It makes a big difference in how we reward work published in The Ink Well. (And we have some great guidelines for improving your grammar and fixing errors before you post in this article.)
4. Please post directly in The Ink Well community, and post your link in a comment on this post.
5. Please use the tag #creativenonfiction on these posts.

Here are some examples of what we are looking for:

• Explore an idea that interests you, such as how childhood experiences shape us as adults.
• Write about the study of dreams and what they mean, along with your own experience.
• Tell about an experience from your life that profoundly changed you.
• Write about a teacher who inspired you.

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:

• A picture of a flower or other posts focused on photography
• A few paragraphs about what you ate for lunch
• Recipes and how-to articles
• Life lessons or advice
• Essays about religion or politics
• Poetry

What will be muted:

• Spam posts or plagiarism
• Graphic violence
• Lectures or proselytizing about religion, politics or morality

Last Week's Creative Nonfiction Winners

Thank you to all who participated in last week's prompt: Two Truths and a Lie!

• @lightpen
• @fantom22
• @joycealarapon
• @rammargarita
• @stellageorge
• @abdul-qudus
• @lrscarmen
• @deirdyweirdy
• @popurri
• @minhajulmredol
• @cloflo
• @kingsleyy
• @borderline.babe
• @amiegeoffrey
• @tengolotodo
• @marriot5464
• @sofs-su
• @cool08
• @edgarafernandezp
• @jetta.amaya
• @momogrow
• @hazmat
• @dianelson
• @treasuree
• @ayane-chan
• @maam.sammy
• @pjpavan
• @kingsleymark
• @aloysiusmbaba
• @gracielaacevedo
• @jayna

Honorable Mentions of the Week

Our honorable mentions for last week's prompt are:

• @tengolotodo: Royalty and I
• @sofs-su: Life the Way It Happens
• @momogrow: Story Time: Chance Meetings
• @lightpen: My Experiences

Third Place: Wins 1,000 Ecency points

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.

Second Place: Wins 3 Hive

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.

First Place: Wins 5 Hive

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!

The Ink Well Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompt #15: If You Won the Lottery

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!

• The top creative nonfiction story of the week will receive 5 Hive
• The second place story will receive 3 Hive
• Third place will receive 1,000 Ecency points

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!

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