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 scoundreltips.
Stories from the Previous Week
Thank you to who posted a story for last week's prompt: "Storm the Castle":
- @bisolamih
- @adese
- @zerah
- @sabiukpa
- @marriot5464
- @blaqbarbie
- @terjix
- @omokunmi
- @amarachi22
- @abojode
- @alyssum07
- @abigail04
- @ukrajpoot
- @monster-hunter
- @coolbabe88
- @ajewemimo
- @osomar357
- @perfect20
- @offia66
- @mmeyenejoseph
- @jjmusa2004
- @ridgette
- @bipolar95
- @nancybriti1
Author Shout-outs
We'd like to call out a few stories that got high marks from our curators this week.
@nancybriti1
Curator comment:
Sometimes we read a story that takes the weariness from us. @nancybriti1's story did that for me. It begins with a most weary young nurse. She is tired and hungry. She fights the fatigue and goes to work. There she battles other enemies: death, and sickness. One of her patients, Jacinto, is not attached to reality. He is despondent but believes he is in a heroic battle with imagined enemies. The nurse engages in his fantasy. Together they battle the enemy and protect the castle. The battle Jacinto wages is paralleled by the battle the medical staff wages for his life, through the night. At the end, there are no losses — neither in Jacinto's imagined battle nor in the real-life battle in the hospital. This is an uplifting story. It is poetic, and symbolic, and beautiful.
@terjix
Curator comment:
@Terjix applies herself in this fiction story, and her efforts are richly rewarded. The attention to detail is evident in every sentence. She creates a classic tale of a noble quest, but this time (refreshingly) the seeker is female. The heroic warriors are female. The story in a way follows a familiar model, one that is reassuring to 'average' people. In a land where everyone has magic, one woman is 'ordinary' — no magic. In the end it is her very ordinary nature that allows her to prevail over the enemy. There is great character development in this piece and we are given insight into the internal motivation of the character. Wonderful writing.
@monster-hunter
Curator comment:
We have a brilliant writer on our hands, in @monster-hunter. Her story is a fun take on this week's prompt. Storming the castle indeed. She tells of a woman who goes to a gym. Language characterizes this woman as a predator. She is on the hunt. She spots her prey. She moves in. Of course, she is not going to kill the target. She's going to best her in running on the treadmill. Really, this is masterfully done. Not only clever, but really sharp.
Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week
This week's prompt is: "I think I'm being followed!"
Welcome to the prompt of the week. This one might lead to some good mysteries, suspense tails and thrillers. Why might your character get the sense that they are being followed? - Could it be a jealous girlfriend, wondering if her boyfriend is stepping out behind her back? - Or might it be someone who wants to know the main character's whereabouts for some other purpose? For example, they want to know when that person leaves his apartment so they can enter in secret to... find evidence... steal something... clear their name of wrongdoing after proving the main character is the one who did it. - Or maybe it will just turn out to be a stray dog or cat!
We look forward to seeing the story you come up with for "I think I'm being followed."
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:
- 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 — as well as #dreemport, if you are also posting your story to the DreemPort site.
- 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](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-prompt-96-plus-weekly-challenge