April 2025 Updates and Monthly Contest from The Ink Well

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Hello Beautiful Community!

Thanks for checking out our monthly newsletter, where we share news and updates, provide all kinds of helpful tips, and announce the winner(s) of the previous month's contest for the best overall story of the month.

Looking for our community guidelines and tips? You can find our Treasure Trove of Tips, Reminders and Guidelines here. Or if you're looking for writing tips and help with improving your writing craft, you can find our catalog of fiction writing tips here.

Here are the topics in this newsletter:

• Topic of the Month from The Ink Well: How to Engage in the Community
• Winner(s) from the March Contest!
• April Contest
• Find Us on Discord
• Delegate to The Ink Well / Follow Our Curation Trail

Topic of the Month from The Ink Well: How to Engage in the Community

As our long-time community members know, we really care about community engagement here in The Ink Well. Community engagement helps to build a strong foundation for a mutually-supportive community, and helps community members to get to know one another, and built trust and mutual respect.

Not only that, but it means almost every story gets read and commented on by at least a few readers. And everyone likes that. There's nothing worse than publishing something and feeling like no one will ever see it!

So we not only encourage engagement, we actually require it. We have this expectation written into all of our prompts, guidelines and tips. If you post in The Ink Well, we expect you to read and comment on the work of at least two other community members for each story you publish in our community.

Right and Wrong Ways of Commenting on Others' Stories

So, wait... there are right and wrong ways to do this?

Yes, there are. And we DO look at the comments and see how you all engage with one another's posts. This is because it is all part of how we assess your involvement and how to reward your content.

If we comment on your story that we recommend you write more meaningful comments, it is because your comments do not indicate an interest in the story, or even that you actually read it.

Let's look at some examples.

Wrong ways of commenting:
Here are some examples of comments on stories that we never want to see, because they indicate the commenter did not actually read the story:

• Example 1: Nice post.
• Example 2: I really like your story. Keep up the good work.
• Example 3: You have a way with words. Nicely done.

From these comments, we have no idea whether the reader actually read the story, and what story elements they found interesting. The Ink Well admins have a low tolerance for this behavior. We will automatically reduce the amount of curation rewards you would have received for your own story. If it's a repeated behavior, you will not be curated.

Right ways of commenting
Notice how each of the following comments describes something specific the reader noticed in the story.

• Example 1: Jeremy was really lost. What a relief that his sister understood his pain and got him the help he needed.
• Example 2: This story is tragic and yet beautiful. I was so happy to see that in spite of everything that happened, the hill people will survive.
• Example 3: You have a very nice storytelling style. I was really captivated by Tallulah and her plight, and was so relieved when she found the hidden box and was able to help her family.

Do you see the difference? If an author receives a comment like one of these, imagine how they feel! The reader made it clear that they paid attention while reading the story, and that they had an understanding of the author's intention. (No, you don't have to compliment the author, if you didn't love the story. Just write something that clearly indicates you read it and got something from it.)

So, when we say we care about engagement, and we expect everyone in the community to read and comment on at least two other community members' stories for each story published, this is what we are looking for.

As always, if you have questions, please visit the "ask-theinkwell" channel in our Discord server. But note that we do not tolerate pleading or arguing with our admins.

Winner(s) from the March 2025 Contest!

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Thank you to everyone who participated in our March fiction contest by writing stories for our fiction prompts throughout the month. If you submitted a story for any of our weekly fiction prompts, you were automatically entered into the monthly contest.

In addition to our winner of the month, we have selected several honorable mentions.

Our Winner!

Our top story of the month for March, 2025, winning a prize of 20 Hive is....

@rinconpoetico7, with his story, Encounter with the Past.

Curator's notes:

@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.

Congratulations, @rinconpoetico7!

Honorable Mentions

The following stories followed closely on the heels of our selected winner, with excellent storytelling!

• @trexane: The Chase for Peace
• @nancybriti1: Wrong Number
• @wrestlingdesires: Don't Worry, They'll Never Find Out
• @popurri: What the Wind Brought
• @marriot5464: Understanding a Pot of Banga

Well done, writers!

April Contest!

As a reminder, you are automatically entered into the contest of the month by writing and posting a fictional story in The Ink Well anytime throughout the month. There is no prompt for the monthly contest. So keep writing for our weekly fiction prompts and keep giving your stories your best effort!

Contest Rules

• Participate in one or more of our weekly fiction prompts (or write any fictional short story in The Ink Well) before the end of the calendar month.

• Post a link to your story in a comment on the prompt that inspired your story, if applicable.

• Use the #fiction tag as well as the #inkwellprompt tag (if applicable) on your post.

Please remember that we have rules around violence, rape, blood, and physical abuse. See The Ink Well rules, and our article describing The Ink Well Stance on Violence.

If you have questions, please visit the "ask-theinkwell" channel in our Discord server.

At the end of the month, we will announce our winner of the month and our honorable mentions, and the winner will receive 20 Hive.

Hint: We are looking for a high-quality story. Don't rush. Remember the important skills we always talk about — great settings, good character building, strong dialog, and a good story arc that resolves well in the end.

And finally, we recommend using our tips in the article Help for the Grammatically Challenged to identify errors in your story before posting.

Good luck!

Find Us on Discord

Our Discord server is a great place to chat with other community members about the craft of writing.

Please pop into our Welcome channel, read our guidelines for conduct, and then feel free to interact with other community members or ask The Ink Well Team a question in the #ask-theinkwell channel.

Discord invitation link: https://discord.gg/Bng7mMsaQj

Delegate to The Ink Well / Follow Our Curation Trail

Want to support our community, our contests, and our rewards for great quality content? See the table below. We have made it super easy. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We have a goal to continue increasing the support we give to our wonderful, hardworking and dedicated authors!

How to Follow Our Curation Trail

You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.

How to Delegate to The Ink Well

We welcome delegations! These support our community in many ways, including helping us to provide support to quality content creators through curation and contests.

50 HP	100 HP	500 HP	1000 HP	5000 HP
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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, @sayee, @gertu, @moin-nagant, @beauty197, @beckyroyal, @rare-gem, @jjmusa2004, @ricurohemi28, @benwesterham, @estilodereba and @shakavon.

We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community run by @jayna, @gracielaacevedo, @yaziris, @itsostylish, @samsmith1971 and @agmoore.

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