The Ink Well Fiction Prompt #142 - Plus Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement

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Hello and welcome to the The Ink Well weekly fiction prompt and prize announcement! The Ink Well is a Hive blockchain-based social media community of creative writers. If you love to write short stories, we invite you to join us! Or just peruse and enjoy the work of our community members.

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Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement

Time for the prize announcement and new challenge!

Last week's prompt was: "Halloween". And we encouraged authors to integrate all of the storytelling skills that make stories compelling and readable.

Stories From the Previous Week

Thank you to everyone who posted a story for last week's prompt!

• @iskawrites
• @lara-bee
• @kingsleyy
• @loneliestgirl
• @rinconpoetico7
• @popurri
• @balikis95
• @nftseller19
• @reblogme
• @trexane
• @cojonac97
• @mrenglish
• @fashtioluwa
• @ayokunlehenry
• @samiwrites
• @do777
• @rammargarita
• @jjmusa2004
• @universoperdido
• @cedujem
• @marriot5464
• @marynn
• @lightpen
• @princess-dara
• @nancybriti1
• @lenaspiritual
• @jazclassic
• @uchelee
• @chm-writes
• @aly.squid
• @davidbright

Honorable Mentions

Our honorable mentions of the week are:

• @kingsleyy: The Night Before Halloween
• @iskawrites: Haunted
• @jazclassic: My Halloween Birthday
• @chm-writes: Hallows Eve
• @universoperdido: Go Trick-or-Treating
• @nancybriti1: How Ana Made Magic on Halloween

The Winners!

All of these authors wrote fantastic fiction using the prompt, and did an excellent job with the storytelling skills we look for in the best-told stories!

Third Place: Wins 2 Hive

• @rinconpoetico7, with the story Mrs. MacDowell

Thomas walked in front of the boys with his haughty attitude and invited them to make mischief in complicity with the night and the disguises that covered their identities. Thomas had dressed up as 'Jason' his favorite horror character, he waved his plastic sword and with his pre-teen voice, he told his friends. "Right boys, tonight we must do it, we have to go to old MacDowell's house and fill her house with rotten eggs, today we will become men, today there are no wimps. Haha." He laughed and brandished his plastic sword, cutting through the soft autumn breeze.

He would pull the three dozen rotten eggs from his tree house and hand them out to his friends. He would turn his brown eyes toward the old wooden house with its gothic style, weathered paint, and a bent rooster weather vane with rust showing all over the metal.

Second Place: Wins 3 Hive

• @popurri, with the story Children Know Halloween Night

At the next house, a man with an angry face opened the door.

"What do you want?" He shouted, his voice was pasty and shouting. His breath smelled of alcohol.

But the children were not intimidated.

"Trick or treat?", said Carlos.

"I don't have any candy, so what are you going to do?"

Carlos, transformed into a werewolf, howled so loudly that he broke a glass tumbler and a bottle of liquor that were on the table. The frightened man slammed the door shut.

"How did you do it, Carlos? You howled like a real wolf and scared the hell out of that man". Sara was delighted with what had happened, and Luis was clapping his hands in excitement.

"I don't know what came over me", Carlos was as amazed as his brothers.

First Place: Wins 5 Hive

• @rammargarita, with the story The Bronze Witch

Mariángela loves the Halloween festivities, which are celebrated every year in the community where she lives, at the Centro Nocturno of that town. She made a witch costume with the dried leaves of the uvero de playa tree, projecting these leaves a bronze color. And the broom, made with a piece of wood from that plant, and on the other end of the broom, designed with leaves from the broom bush. Her hair covered with a white wig that she made with the fruits of the silk cotton plant, and a mask designed with the same material she used to make the dress, decorated with arabesques alluding to witches. She kept it to exhibit it on the night of the Halloween party.

Congratulations to @rammargarita, @popurri, and @rinconpoetico7 !

This Week’s Prompt

FIRST: A COUNTDOWN NOTE
Be sure to submit your entries before the countdown ends.

You must submit before the end of the countdown to be considered for the prizes and honorable mentions.

Please observe the timer below this post. If it's purple, and the COUNTDOWN time is in the future, you can submit and be eligible for prizes and honorable mentions.

If the countdown is gray, and the timer has expired, you can submit, but your story will not be eligible for prizes or honorable mentions.

When the timer expires, we get busy reviewing all the stories, and no further submissions are considered.

Prompt of the week!

WAIT! Did you read the information above about the countdown timer? Okay, proceed!

This week's prompt is: "Photo album."

What to do with this prompt?

Photo albums can contain many memories, and even some revelations. Write a story about something your character remembers or discovers when opening an old forgotten photo book.

Let's see where your imagination takes you!

Use Your Storytelling Skills

For many months we asked our community members to focus on a skill each week, such as character development or dialogue. Going forward, we are looking for all of these skills as we identify winners and honorable mentions:

• 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.

To be eligible for prizes, you must write a story based on the prompt (be sure to use the prompt word(s) in your story), and demonstrate the fiction writing skills we have been encouraging everyone to practice. Be sure to turn to our catalog of fiction writing tips for guidance!

Ready, set go!

A week from now, we will select winning stories that demonstrate these qualities and utilize the prompt. Good luck! Be sure to read the contest rules and reminders below.

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

Weekly Prompt Rules:

1. Deadline: You have SIX DAYS to write for the prompt, and you must submit your story before the end of the countdown to be considered for prizes and honorable mentions. You can find the countdown timer at the bottom of the prompt post on The Ink Well home page.
2. Story link: 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: 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. But 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 a *minimum of 350 (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. Thank you!
8. NEW — 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.)

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}

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