The Ink Well Fiction Prompt #120 - Plus Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement

_{Source: Pexels}

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!

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Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement

Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!

Last week's prompt was: "RSVP". And the skill challenge was to "show, don't tell."

Stories From the Previous Week

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

• @caroolina
• @iyimoga
• @hazmat
• @mrenglish
• @universoperdido
• @marriot5464
• @cool08
• @restcity
• @kinganny
• @nelson-george
• @lightpen
• @littlepiggies
• @chincoculbert
• @rinconpoetico7
• @devotedman
• @teknon
• @marynn
• @aloysiusmbaba
• @wrestlingdesires
• @jjmusa2004
• @lizizoo
• @jhymi
• @smc.arike.oba
• @mharieland
• @diikaan
• @kingsleyy
• @seki1
• @inessita
• @lrscarmen
• @czander
• @famouskey
• @aimharryianne

Honorable Mentions
Our honorable mentions of the week are:

• @rinconpoetico7: Fiction: The Secret
• @caroolina: The Meowing Cat Challenge
• @lightpen: Rare Forgiveness
• @jjmusa2004: Catherine: A Short Story
• @smc.arike.oba: My First Season
• @chincoculbert: The Mockingbird Symbol

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

• @universoperdido, with the story The Meeting

I was nervous inside the car. My palms slapped my knees. My back hunched more and more as the minutes passed. I clenched my teeth brushing them hard. I scratched my neck and head constantly until I half ruined my hairstyle.

We arrived at the meeting place and I automatically sighed. “Everything will be fine, everything will be fine,” I whispered as Colin got out of the car; luckily he couldn't hear me. We headed to the entrance where Beatrice was waiting for us impatiently.

Second Place: Wins 3 Hive

• @littlepiggies, with the story The R.S.V.P. Worth a Thousand Words

She clinked the brass mailbox door shut as she twisted the little key to the right, retrieving what looked like a pile of just bills and direct mail ads, engulfed in a packet of car insurance information. But as she sifted through, a recognizable cornflower blue envelope peeked through, adding some excitement to her mundane mail pile. An RSVP! Most of them had come in by now, but some were still trickling in once in a while. She opened up the crisp envelope to pull out a weathered RSVP full of creases and folds. It certainly wasn't in the same taut condition she’d sent it. Then her stomach dropped as she opened it to look down at the name: Jake Lennon: Attending, plus one.

First Place: Wins 5 Hive

• @wrestlingdesires, with the story Wild Horses Can't Keep Me Away

Lou nodded. "And I can't very well miss my best friend's big day. Maybe we should have a camping trip out to Lost Soul Rock if Sweetheart isn't found soon. It's the only place we haven't looked where she might try to have her foal."

Jenny frowned, staring at the huge map of Northern Scrubrush and the surrounding area. "She might have, but I saw a coyote den there last spring. Maybe she'd have gone to Greenpasture Meadow?"

Lou walked over to the map, tracing the route. "Maybe, but it's thirty miles away from the herd. And she'd have to cross the Howler. It's too fast and wide for any horse to swim safely, and she's heavy with her foal."

Congratulations to @wrestlingdesires, @littlepiggies and @universoperdido!

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: "objets d'art." Our skill challenge is the story arc.

What to do with this prompt?

We're going with another French term this week. The term objets d'art means a small decorative object, such as a figurine.

Some people collect objets d'art, even filling many shelves in their home with them. If you search in the free image databases for "figurine," "knick knacks," "bric-a-brac" or "collectibles" you should find images of these items.

Here are some ideas to inspire you:

• Write about a character who collects valuable objets d'art, and then spends his life fretting that they will be stolen.
• Write a spooky story in which the objets d'art come to life in the night.
• Tell the tale of a child who cannot remember his grandmother until one day he is given a special figurine that belonged to her, and all of his memories of her come to life.
• Tell the story of a person who just needs one more item to complete a collection. How is it ultimately found?

Story arc: The story arc is the drama of your story. It is the point at which a turn of events occurs, or something frightening, surprising or intense happens, followed by the resolution of the story's conflict. It is an important element in fiction, and it's great to master the skill of building that arc into every story.

Be sure to read the article, What Is a Story Arc? 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:

• 50 Loglines
• 50 Story Ideas
• 50 Imagination Ticklers

Weekly Prompt Rules:

1. 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.
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 — as well as #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(s).
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 (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; #119 RSVP}

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@jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @millycf1976 and @grindan

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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, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @millycf1976 and @grindan.

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