The Ink Well Prompt #77 - Plus Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement

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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

Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!

Last week's prompt was tear and the skill target was to create a conflict and a resolution to that conflict. This community really came through with many amazing stories.

Great work, everyone! Conflict was dramatically represented in many stories, and resolutions were clear. Our selections of this week's winner and honorable mentions reflect how well writers dealt with this prompt and skill challenge.

Selecting honorable mentions and the winner is never an easy choice. Among the factors we look at is quality of engagement with others in the community.

Here are this week's honorable mentions, all of them written in response to the prompt and skill challenge.

@yuki-nee with the story Dark Clouds

Maybe it was that time that the seed of vengeance was planted in my heart. It was probably also the time that my respect for that man turned into hatred.

@khaleesii with the story Rokus Saving Grace

While he thought about that, he decided that he wouldn't take from the garden and instead, he would continue his search, but as he was about to walk away, the owner of the garden came out with anger and chased him away throwing stones at him.

@wrestlingdesires with the story Risking it All for Clambaria

"Well done, Lena and Nissa. You are the major reason we were able to not only hold off the Lightsuckers, but exterminate the entire colony. Clambaria is safe once again! And our new allies have agreed to keep us supplied with enough salt to prevent any other colonies of Lightsuckers from posing a threat."

@iyimoga with the story Ella's Tears

Ella left on that fateful day with her kits, in her bag, off to the state stadium where the competition was held. Her mum needed to be in the stadium to support her daughter but at the same time, she had to be with the dad at home so he didn't suspect anything.

@stellageorge with the story Reunited

Grace shook her head as she drove down the street. This is the last appointment with Miss Susan and so far no miracles.
Mostly because Ethan refuses to admit that he cheated even when the pictures say different. Getting Ethan to admit his mistake would be a miracle indeed.

And the winner of the tear/conflict challenge is...

@lordtimoty with the story There Was a Boy Who Did not Cry Wolf but Rather Was the Wolf

Who did not cry wolf…
As far as literary tropes go then, it would be easy for Samuel to write his own desperation into his evenings. It would be easy for him to cry himself to sleep. It would be easy for him to imagine a tear running down his cheek, and to curl up into a ball, clasping the yellow soles of his feet. But, Samuel was indifferent to his lack of emotional connections and at having never been in a relationship. The tears, if indeed they were to pour forth uncontrollably, were not to be shed by him – for the wolf, with no need to dress in sheep’s clothing, would not and did not cry.

Okay, let's review fiction entries from last week's prompt and launch a new one.

Stories From the Previous Week

@hazmat
@diebitch
@iyimoga
@kei2
@farahikram
@brujita18
@popurri
@nelson-george
@restcity
@raymondpeter
@treasure-joshua
@chincoculbert
@deraaa
@gracielaacevedo
@khaleesii
@idlemind
@yuki-nee
@bettyhandayani
@george-dee
@madamnaomi
@itsostylish
@ayane-chan
@gi-de-on
@kirlos
@mrenglish
@lordtimoty
@restcity
@lightpen
@smokyice
@sacra97
@abigail04
@fantom22
@kemmyb
@ezegburugburu
@darthsauron
@humor0404
@radenkusumo666
@famous01

Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!

This Week’s Prompt

The inkwell is fortunate to have many members who are eager to write. However, the curation team does not have infinite resources. In order to be fair to all writers, we have decided to ask our members to publish only one story per week. If members choose to publish more than that, they may. However, only one story will be curated.

It would be wise to use talent on the best story you can write so you can receive the optimal curation. Remember, Quality over Quantity. Moving forward the Ink Well Team believes this will provide a better experience for writers and curators.

At last, the prompt of the week!
This week's prompt is splash. The skill challenge will be to create a vivid story setting. The word splash opens up the possibility for creating many dynamic scenes. @jayna explains how to create a setting in her essay, What is Your Story's Setting.

As @jayna explains:

The setting provides the context for the story’s events. The sights, smells, sounds and other details of your story help to make your setting feel real and believable.

Splash This is surely an action word. We can see a splash. We can hear a splash. We can make a splash, metaphorically. That is, we can make such an impression that it feels and looks like a 'splash'.

Here is an example that might help you to get started:

• The banquet table was weighted down with aromatic food that represented every color on the spectrum. The chandelier's innumerable bulbs glittered with blinding brilliance. Tablecloth and chair backs dripped with gleaming gold leaf trim. Maria turned to her husband and crowed, "Whatever else happens tonight, we are definitely going to make a splash."

A week from now, we will select a winning story that demonstrates this skill and utilizes the prompt. 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:

• 50 Loglines
• 50 Story Ideas
• 50 Imagination Ticklers

Weekly Prompt Rules:

1. 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.)
2. Story link: Post your story in The Ink Well community, and post a link to your story in a comment on this post.
3. Hashtags: Please use these hashtags: #fiction #writing #inkwellprompt #theinkwell and #dreemport, if you are also posting your story to the DreemPort site.
4. COMMUNITY SUPPORT: Visit the work of at least two other community members and comment on their work.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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
• #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

Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!

@jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo and @yaziris

Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!

Join here at Hive Onboard

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We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by @raj808 and @stormlight24 and run by @jayna, @agmoore, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris and @itsostylish.

How to Follow Our Curation Trail

You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.

How to Delegate to The Ink Well

We welcome delegations! These support our community in many ways, including helping us to provide support to quality content creators through curation and contests.

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A big thank you to all of our delegators:
@zeurich, @jayna, @felt.buzz, @marcybetancourt, @marlyncabrera, @stormcharmer, @generikat, @agmoore, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @chocolatescorpi, @kirlos, @josemalavem, @morey-lezama, @sayury, @evagavilan2 and @deraaa.

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