Creative Nonfiction in The Ink Well: Prompt #6

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Dear community,

Welcome to Prompt #6 in our creative nonfiction initiative. Thank you to everyone who contributed a nonfiction story last week! In case you missed the announcement about The Ink Well opening up to nonfiction stories, you can see it here.

Here's a quick overview of how it works:

Each week, we will 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.

In opening up our community to a broader range of content, we will take the stance that not every post will be curated. To be curated, your content should follow our guidelines, be at least 350 words, be written in English (or another language as well as the English translation) and — as much as possible — free of errors.

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.

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
• 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: Letters!

• @tozill
• @mrenglish
• @cajiro
• @volleyren20
• @itsostylish
• @fantom22
• @dianelson
• @olaphem
• @raymondpeter
• @treasure-joshua
• @nelson-george
• @gracielaacevedo
• @kingsleyy
• @amiegeoffrey
• @geelocks
• @riverflows
• @lydiapauline
• @pjpavan
• @rammargarita
• @idlemind
• @cool08
• @jayna
• @sapphireissafy
• @grindan

The stories this week were wonderful, and as always it was difficult to choose two from this goldmine of stories!

Second Place: Wins 1000 Ecency Points

• Our second place winner is @sapphireissafy, with her story, Letter Without Reply:

Now then, I have no idea if those wounds have been healed yet, or else I am building a more solid amour for my heart that they can not make their roots pierce through deeper and deeper. I mean, they are good news in both ways right? I am in the time being strong enough to protect myself, so the insecurity will have to stay back I guess. Loneliness is something has tagged along with me for the years I have been existing, something would embrace me whenever I cried over a buried love, for me to know I had chosen it somehow in my past lives ever. Since at the end of the day, we are all alone, before stepping on the heaven gate, aren't we?

First Place: Wins 5 Hive

• Our first place winner is @riverflows, with her story, The Worms Will Come and Eat Us Up:

There is an Eliza, who was a laundress with suds on her arms, crying with joy at the pleasure of an unexpected visit from her children years after they had moved to follow the work created by the railways. There's another whose first husband died and left her with three babes under three, and remarried to have more, something my grandfather didn't know and that I discovered following breadcrumb trails of censuses and birth certificates. I found the house she lived in as a housekeeper in 1820, but not graves, as she was too poor, and it was only those with a bit of money that could afford the gravestones. There are two war memorials with two great great uncles who died in the Great War. Edwards, Alberts, Elizas and Florences, Worthys and Charles adorn the family tree. Little Ned is at the end of it, tiny and blinking in futuristic sunlight.

Congratulations, @riverflows and @sapphireissafy!

AND... An Added Third Place: 2 Hive

Addendum: Now you all know how we wrestle with choosing winners in our contests. It is the topic of much soul-searching each week. After deliberation, we simply could not pass over the wonderful story by @fantom22 without delivering a prize to showcase this lovely piece, Love Letters, in which he describes his arranged marriage, and an enforced geographical separation from his wife by his parents until he completed his degree.

About a month after the wedding, I received my wife's first letter through the postal department.

It is also important to mention here that in those days the services of the postal department were also not so quick, it used to take up to 25-30 days to reach letters from one place to another.

After receiving that letter I secretly opened that first letter sent by my wife very carefully, it was a very beautiful letter on a colour full paper, the fragrance was also coming from it, maybe some perfume was put on it after writing it, the things written in the letter my obsession increased even more, and I started missing my newly married wife a lot.

But if the postman was late for even 2-3 days, there would be a lot of restlessness and many hours of mine would be spent sitting outside the house waiting for his arrival...

Thank you for sharing your memories with us, @fantom22, and congratulations!

The Ink Well Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompt #6: Traditions

It's a time of year when many families have certain traditions. Perhaps you have traditions around meals or outings or singing, or certain rituals like candle lighting.

Some of us carry forward the traditions of our childhoods when we start a family of our own, while others create new traditions.

Write your story. What is meaningful to you? Who are the characters that populate your life or your memories when you think of the most memorable or significant traditions.

Have fun!

Please use the tags #creativenonfiction and #inkwellprompt on these posts. And please remember to add your post link to a comment on this post!

Prizes!

• The top creative nonfiction story of the week will receive 5 Hive
• The second place story 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!

Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!

Join here at Hive Onboard

Already a Hive member? Click Subscribe at the top of The Ink Well community home page.

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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

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

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