The Ink Well Fiction Prompt #186

_{Source: Pixabay}

Welcome to the Weekly Fiction Prompt

Hello community members! Thank you for joining our weekly writing prompt! If you're new, be sure to check out our community rules before posting in The Ink Well. (You can find them at the top of our home page. And you will find all kinds of great resources for fiction writers in our catalog of storytelling tips.

Stories from the Previous Week

Thank you to who posted a story for last week's prompt: "Never say never":

• @bisolamih
• @iskawrites
• @blaqbarbie
• @odunola
• @marriot5464
• @litguru
• @zerah
• @bmo77
• @beauty197
• @vickiee
• @rare-gem
• @jennyzee1
• @rafzat
• @amarachi22
• @wlin
• @fashtioluwa
• @snowbhale
• @rinconpoetico7
• @oluchi31
• @adese
• @ukrajpoot
• @kinganny
• @popurri
• @phyna
• @ridgette
• @nieberriee
• @offia66
• @walindo
• @trexane
• @graat
• @kei2
• @amiegeoffrey
• @nancybriti1
• @bipolar95

Author Shout-outs

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

@kei2

Like a Powerful Star, She Was

Curator comment:

@kei2 writes a fantasy piece that observes perfectly the conventions of the genre. There is mystery, conflict and heroic effort. There is also, of course, perfidy. In the end, right prevails. We have a mysterious power wielded by our heroine. We have a mysterious force that threatens to destroy a community. All that stands between the malevolent force and destruction is our heroine. But the power of the heroine is waning with the passage of the years. Another mystery: Why? The answer, it is discovered, rests in a crime committed by the heroine's mother long ago. It turns out, the heroine was stolen from the very powers that are attacking the community. They do not seek to destroy the community, but only to regain their kidnapped child.

@litguru

Streamer, The Little Red Fox

Curator comment:

@litguru delivers a fable-esque story for the fiction prompt, "things are not always as they seem." A little red fox goes on a journey to find his spirit other. He encounters several animals along the way and has some interesting encounters that were wonderfully conceived. I imagined a Disney Pixar film playing inside my head while I read. The little red fox meets a human and a somewhat seductive fox with feminine wiles. Both make for an interesting match and we wonder which persona is his true spirit other. Both relationships appear intoxicating and somewhat dangerous, but it seems the little fox has his mind made up 😂 An enjoyable read as usual from our wonderful litguru.

@wlin

The Shadow of the Partner

Curator comment:

This is an absolutely wonderful story by wlin. It is original, creative and best of all surprising. There was not a moment when my attention strayed as I read this. It is the case of the missing partner. Two men lead a company. One man, Javier, disappears. His partner, Alfonso, hires the best investigator possible to find the missing partner. The detective's search is exhaustive. Finally, he 'finds' Javier, but where he finds him is both a revelation and a shock. The story needs to be read in order to discover the mystery behind Javier's disappearance. The solution is likely not what a reader expects.

Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week

This week's prompt is: "Domino effect."

A domino effect is what happens when one thing leads to another. An event may occur, such as a person quitting their job, and that leads to other things such as lack of money, having to sleep on a friend's couch, and eating nothing but bread and apples.

Or perhaps a person does one small bad thing, such as stealing a candy bar, and that leads to being arrested, and that leads to getting a bad reputation in the town, and the result of that is that it's impossible to get a job. And it all started with a candy bar.

It could be a good thing too. A person might accidentally walk into a night club, and when the guitarist falls ill, he finds himself on stage standing in because at home he is an amateur guitarist with hidden talent. And the next thing he knows, he's joining the band.

Tell us a story about a character whose actions lead to a succession of events, like dominoes falling!

Good luck. Remember, as always, we are looking for the elements of story. 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 — please use the free Grammarly tool for grammar and spelling checks (and not AI writing or rephrasing tools for revising)

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

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 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. (Note: We generally consider stories less than 750 words "too short!")
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.) And do NOT use AI tools to write or manipulate your stories. You must provide your own unique content.

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; #144 Crayon box; #145 Back of beyond; #146 Intuition; #147 Delight; #148 Anticipation; #149 Holiday memories; #150 Resolution; #151 Bicycle; #152 Flight; #153 Time Travel; #154 A trip to the fair; #155 Don't sell me a dog; #156 Gravity; #157 Love, wheelbarrow, dog; #158 Stealing; #159 Sportsmanship; #160 Toast; #161 Pickle; #162 You only live once; #163 Ring; #164 Hope; #165 Dreamcatcher; #166 In mother's house; #167 Keep Out; #168 Chin up; #169 Dish; #170 Talking in your sleep; #171 Wish upon a star; #172 Diary; #173 Plan B; #174 Clown; #175 The good old days; #176 The shoe is on the other foot; #177 Will tomorrow ever come?; #178 Am I a fool for dreaming?; 179 The moment that changed everything; #180 Superstition; #181 Gypsy; #182 Blind ambition; #183 Ah-ha moment; #184 Never say never; #185 Things are not always what they seem}

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

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