Source: Rafael Garcin on Unsplash
Welcome to the Weekly Fiction Prompt
Hello community members! Thank you for joining our weekly writing prompt!
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 those who posted a story for last week's prompt: What are you doing here?
- @estilodereba
- @sherah
- @jennyzee1
- @nahid43
- @almadepoeta
- @neotopher
- @sabiukpa
- @pretemi
- @ubani
- @venom2951
- @rinconpoetico7
- @newbreed
- @team4
- @lara-bee
- @popurri
- @oyebolu
- @grailent.kerb
- @rare-gem
- @sammywrite
- @ellizy
- @treasuree
- @chukwukajrr
- @offia66
- @marsdave
- @delightedpen
- @loveth97
- @faithwellington
- @zain-ab001
- @janaveda
- @stone4
- @artofkylin
Author Shout-outs
As always, we received some excellent stories for last week's prompt. Here are a few of the stories that received high marks from our curators.
@popurri
Curator comment:
@popurri writes a story composed of dreams within dreams, creating a fantastical puzzle as the main character navigates a coffee shop, international travel, a reappearing stranger, and a monumental discovery that has bearing on all life as we know it!
@loveth97
Curator comment:
@loveth97 writes a compelling, readable, believable and nicely written fiction about a young woman dealing with an unexplained break-up. Completely distraught because she can't believe that she received no explanation from her ex when he dumped her on her birthday. Her best friend tries to pull her out of the doldrums by taking her out, and almost physically prevents her from going to a wedding where she knows she'll see the ex... hoping for an explanation. In the surprise ending, we learn that for some reason the best friend had been telling lies about her to the boyfriend, and they are reunited... and united in a quest to go after the best friend for answers. I was intrigued throughout. Now I want to read the sequel where they take the friend to task for causing their break-up!
@zain-ab001
Curator comment:
@zain-ab001's well-written story suggests a horrible, violent act, but it doesn't describe that act. The horror takes place in our minds. That's where a good writer leaves it. What the character in this story is about to do is unspeakable. We feel that, because we can imagine it. The author has done his work before the terrifying scene occurs. However, it doesn't actually occur. This author plots the action carefully, and in doing so, holds us in his thrall.
Nicely done, writers!
Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week
This week's prompt is: "A distant shore"
Far-away places are often great stimulation for one's whims and imagination. And when it's a far-off place by the sea, it seems even more enticing, doesn't it? What might happen if a character who daydreams of traveling to a distant shore finally gets the chance? What if a child was always told that his grandfather was once a pirate who buried treasure somewhere on a distant shore before his untimely demise?
Of course there are many other possibilities for this prompt! Here are a few supplied by ChatGPT:
- Literary Drama – The Return
An aging fisherman spends his life gazing across the sea toward a distant shore he left decades ago. When he finally embarks on a journey back, he discovers the village of his youth has vanished beneath rising waters. What remains are memories and the realization that the true shore he longed for existed only in his heart.
- Suspense/Thriller – The Signal
A small research crew aboard a ship detects a mysterious distress signal from a distant, uncharted shore. When they go to investigate, they find remnants of a camp — and evidence that someone, or something, has been watching them. As night falls, they must unravel whether the signal was a cry for help or a deadly lure.
- Romance/Magical Realism – The Letters
A young woman walking along the beach begins finding bottles washed ashore, each containing a letter from a man stranded on a distant island. As she reads each note, she falls in love with the voice within. Determined to meet him, she sets sail — but what she finds on that faraway shore challenges her ideas of fate, time, and love itself.
We look forward to reading your stories!
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.
- 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](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-prompt-85-plus-weekly-chal