The Ink Well Fiction Prompt #212

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Welcome to the Weekly Fiction Prompt

Hello community members! Thank you for joining our weekly writing prompt!

We apologize for the delay in providing this prompt. I (@jayna) write the fiction prompts, but I have been ill all week and unable to provide the new one. Hopefully we've picked an easy one for you.

Getting Started

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.

Please also check out these additional helpful resources:

You will find all kinds of great resources in our catalog of storytelling tips.
You can learn more about our community and the expectations of community members in our treasure trove of tips and guidelines.
We are always about quality first. Never about quantity. To achieve the kinds of awards you want, take the time to write quality stories and check them for errors. See the topic of the month, "Don't Miss This Step" in the March 2025 newsletter to learn about using tools (and using them properly) if you are not already doing this. We do notice when you don't take the time!

Stories from the Previous Week

Thank you to who posted a story for last week's prompt: "Butt dial":

Author Shout-outs

There were some fantastic and creative stories from this prompt! Here are a few stories that got high marks from our curators this week.

@nancybriti1

Wrong Number

Curator comment:

@nancybriti1 writes a breathtakingly clever fiction about a midnight caller who rings up his ex and pours out his heart. Nancy’s pacing is perfect and her punchline is unexpectedly crowning. Fabulous!

@rinconpoetico7

Encounter with the Past

Curator comment:

@rinconpoetico7 comes up with a story that is full of wisdom. It is beautifully and effectively written. As the story opens the scene is heavy with grief. A man is mourning his mother, at her grave. Rain and tears co-mingle. While at the grave he accidentally dials a number, the number of someone he never wants to hear from again. This accident becomes the catalyst for resolving a conflict that has been tearing at his heart for a year. The number belongs to a wayward brother, a brother blamed for his mother's death. In the end, the man realizes his brother had become a proxy for the anger he felt at the loss of his mother. The brothers reconcile and together go to grieve at their mother's grave.

@popurri

Fluorescent Flashes

Curator comment:

@popurri writes an intriguing story in response to the butt dial prompt. Did the protagonist, Luis, accidentally dial a pizza delivery service, or is something more sinister happening? In considering this dilemma, popurri manages to engage readers in a discussion about the limits of knowledge...should there be limits? Is there a point beyond which researchers should decide not to go? Luis works in a laboratory with strange algae. Did these algae affect his mental processes the night before? Was he in a suspended state of cognition, or perhaps was he hallucinating because of the algae? The possibility suggests to Luis that work with the algae is too dangerous for mankind. He brings the algae back to the sea and leaves them there. The story is well written. Good dialogue. Believable, vivid scene descriptions. Strong arc with an interesting message.

Nicely done, writers!

Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week

This week's prompt is: "Soup"

Welcome to the prompt of the week. Due to the limited time to create stories for this prompt, we have chosen something universal, easy to envision, with many possibilities for interpretation. That said, we will still look for your best work. If you cannot produce a quality story before the deadline, simply skip this round.

Soup is a wonderful comfort food. Sometimes a person who is ill can feel much better (or at least cared for) if a friend or family member brings them soup.

Soups of some kinds are also traditions in many cultures. Eyes light up at the mere mention of them. What crisis or personal transformation can you imagine regarding a special family soup recipe, or a traditional soup served at a local pub or restaurant?

And finally, let's talk about other uses for the word "soup":

A food that should be a solid consistency but is instead a liquid could be very unappetizing.

"Helen, what happened? This lasagna is like soup!"

If a person is "in the soup" it means they are in a predicament, perhaps having to deal with some tough challenges at work, or they have gotten in trouble with their spouse or a good friend.

"Well now you're in the soup, Jared, Why did you do that to your wife? She deserves better."

When a person needs to step on the gas quickly to get past an obstacle, they "soup it."

"You've got to soup it, Harry, or we are not going to make it up this slippery hill!"

When something like a presentation or a lecture is a confusing mishmash of ideas, someone might might call it a soup.

"What did you think of Professor Torres' lecture? I couldn't make sense of his alphabet soup of ideas."

Thick fog is often likened to pea soup.

"I'm not going to drive in that fog, Bill. It's like pea soup!"

We hope those examples inspire your creativity!

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:

Writing Prompt Guidelines:

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.
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.
Hashtags: Please use these hashtags: #fiction #writing #inkwellprompt #theinkwell.
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.
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.
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.
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!")
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; #186 Domino effect; #187 The elephant in the room; #188 Higgledy-piggledy; #189 Scoundrel; #190 Storm the castle; #191 I think I'm being followed; #192 Hidden camera; #193 A long goodbye; #194 Confession; #195 Gobble; #196 Guilt; #197 Everything was fine until...; #198 Fragile; #199 Secret gift; #200 Party; #201`Old Habits Die Hard; #202 New Year's Resolution; #203 Unanswered questions; #204 Hey, the line is back here!; #205 I won't back down; #206 Sink or swim; #207 Time is of the essence; #208 Kryptonite; #209 When the cat's away, the mice will play; #210 Three words: wonder, eclipse, coffee; #211 Butt Dial}

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

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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 and @samsmith1971.

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A big thank you to all of our delegators:
@jayna, @felt.buzz, @carn, @itsostylish, @agmoore, @ricardo993, @marcybetancourt, @marriot5464, @marlyncabrera, @stormcharmer, @juniorgomez, @iamraincrystal, @preparedwombat, @gracielaacevedo, @timix648, @samsmith1971, @jackdeathblack, @josemalavem, @generikat, @mineopoly, @hazmat, @treasuree, @kingsleyy, @popurri, @nancybriti1, @marynn, @rinconpoetico7, @nathy33, @iyimoga, @captainman, @kachy2022, @morey-lezama, @evagavilan2, @mrenglish, @funshee, @amiegeoffrey, @balikis95, @rukkie, @raymondpeter, @tomiajax, @stuartcturnbull, @monster-hunter, @aiuna, @sayee, @omachi213, @gertu, @rare-gem, @jjmusa2004, @ricurohemi28, @benwesterham, @estilodereba and @shakavon.

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