The Ink Well Fiction Prompt #144

_{Source: Pexels}

Welcome to the Weekly Fiction Prompt

Hello community members. As we mentioned in last week's prompt post, we are phasing out the weekly contests and converting them to writing prompts. So here we go!

Stories from the Previous Week

Thank you to who posted a story for last week's prompt: "Dreams"!

• @chm-writes
• @nftseller19
• @temitopetalabi
• @samiwrites
• @george-dee
• @blessworld
• @princess-dara
• @marriot5464
• @iskawrites
• @arduilcelebren
• @lara-bee
• @ayokunlehenry
• @fashtioluwa
• @cypher09
• @abigail04
• @nancybriti1
• @lenaspiritual
• @amiegeoffrey
• @jjmusa2004
• @loneliestgirl
• @restcity
• @vivaebony
• @balikis95
• @universoperdido
• @lightpen
• @alienstoryteller
• @kingsleyy
• @poemsofasickmind
• @zeegirl

Author Shout-outs

We'd like to call out a few stories that got high marks from our curators.

@nftseller19

The Dream Detective

Curator comment:

A well-paced and balanced story about a dream detective who hacks into the dreamscapes of criminal minds to obtain the information he needs to solve cases. When things get hairy, he is rescued by a woman in a coma who has learned to enter dreamscapes to communicate with the outside world. An entertaining, edge-of-the-seat piece!

@iskawrites

Father! I Want to Be a Journalist

Curator comment:

A beautiful, well-crafted story that avoids stereotypes. There is a stepmother, but she is not wicked. There is a stepsister, but she is understanding. There is a father who seems not to understand the protagonist's wishes, but he is simply afraid for her. In the end, the story ends with a gentle, but realistic resolution to the central conflict.

@nancybriti1

The Dream of Natacha

Curator comment:

Fabulous fiction. An alliteration of contrived coincidence to effect the affect of a premonition. Hehe 😉 Great story from Nancy!

@lenaspiritual

Pain Thieves

Curator comment:

@lenaspiritual writes an extraordinary story that can be perplexing but that with effort rewards the reader. The protagonist experiences reality on two realms--the dream realm and the waking realm. There is the matter of stealing pain from people who live on a secret island. By stealing pain the thief absorbs energy and becomes powerful. The complications are many, including the fact that powerful forces resist the pain-stealers and absorbing pain ends up being far more dangerous than the thieves imagined. In the end they give the stolen pain back and are lucky to return to their waking lives unharmed.

Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week

This week's prompt is: "Crayon box."

What to do with this prompt?

If you had the pleasure of coloring with crayons as a child, then you know their magic. Each little box holds the promise of art to be created and pictures to be colored. Some children dream of having the really big box with a spectacular array of colors, but are refused by their parents. What other storylines and conflicts come to mind for you when you think of a box of crayons? Perhaps a gifted child artist is discovered after he receives his first box. Or the town bully breaks all of the crayons into pieces. What then? And what if a child draws something truly disturbing?

But a crayon box can also be a metaphor. It can represent hope, possibility, or diversity.

Let's see where your imagination takes you!

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

Writing Prompt Guidelines:

1. See The Ink Well FAQ: 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.
2. Story link: Please be sure to 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 — as well as #dreemport, if you are also posting your story to the DreemPort site.
4. Community support: When you post in The Ink Well, please be sure to 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. Please do use the prompt word(s) within the story.
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 all image source links.
7. Length: We request that story word counts are a maximum of 1,500 words in length and a *minimum of 350 (ideally 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!
8. Translations: If you post a story that has been translated from another language, please include both the English version and the translation.

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.)

Tips for Getting Curated by The Ink Well

There are some important elements of storytelling that make a story stand out, and make people want to read it, and keep reading. These include:

• Great first lines.
• Good settings.
• Well-developed characters.
• Integration of action, dialogue and narrative.
• A conflict that intrigues the reader.
• A "story arc" which results in the resolution of the conflict and brings the story to a satisfying conclusion.
• And of course, we are looking for well-edited stories that are not littered with typos or grammatical errors.

You can find more on all of these topics in the catalog of fiction writing tips.

Past Prompts

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; #123 Recall; #124 Doorway; #125 Beacon; #126 Seagull, Market, Box; #127 Window; #128 Terrified; #129 Dance; #130 Two endings; #131 Ghosted; #132 Treasure; #133 Taste; #134 Reunion; #135 I miss you; #136 Wonder; #137 Ruins; #138 Beach memories; #139 There was something in the wind; #140 Mask; #141 Halloween; #142 [Photo album]; #143 Dreams}

Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish and @samsmith1971

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_{Questions? Ask The Ink Well on Discord.}

We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by @raj808 and @stormlight24 and run by @jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish and @samsmith1971.

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.

Note: The Ink Well is now paying out curation rewards to our delegators!

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:
@jayna, @felt.buzz, @itsostylish, @agmoore, @marcybetancourt, @marlyncabrera, @selftheist, @stormcharmer, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @timix648, @samsmith1971, @jackdeathblack, @josemalavem, @riverflows, @generikat, @mineopoly, @hazmat, @treasuree, @innfauno12, @kingsleyy, @popurri, @nancybriti1, @marriot5464, @marynn, @jjmusa2004, @universoperdido, @juniorgomez, @morey-lezama, @evagavilan2, @moneykeep, @mrenglish, @stuartcturnbull, @marilour, @rinconpoetico7, @funshee, @amiegeoffrey, @loveah, @balikis95, @cool08, @rukkie, @raymondpeter, @emreal, @eunice9200, @tomiajax and @ricurohemi28, @benwesterham.

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