Image source: Pixabay
Dear community,
Welcome to Prompt #8 in our creative nonfiction initiative. Thank you to everyone who contributed a nonfiction story last week! In case you missed the announcement about The Ink Well opening up to nonfiction stories, you can see it here.
Here's a quick overview of how it works:
Each week, we will provide a creative nonfiction prompt. You are also welcome to post other creative nonfiction pieces that are not based on the prompt. See the guidelines below.
To be curated, your content should follow our guidelines, be at least 350 words, be written in English (or another language as well as the English translation) and — as much as possible — free of errors.
What Is Creative Nonfiction?
There are many guides and resources online for getting to know this wonderful genre. It is truly about storytelling. The simple difference between creative nonfiction and fictional stories is that the story is not made up.
We like this definition from an article on creativenonfiction.org:
Simply put: Creative nonfiction is true stories, well told.
With creative nonfiction, you are using the literary and storytelling tools of a fiction writer to craft stories from real life experiences. Set the scene. Give the details. Profile the characters. Give us the dialog, as best you can remember it.
Ideas and inspiration:
Creative nonfiction stories can be snippets from your life autobiography — moments in time you want to capture in words, whether they were frightening, enlightening, bittersweet, or life-altering. They can be observations about life, about a time you connected at a profound level with a perfect stranger, or something you have learned along the way that made you a better person.
Do you love podcasts? One of the greatest sources of creative nonfiction is The Moth Radio Hour. Listen to a few of the stories from The Moth, and we guarantee you will be inspired.
Here are some additional resources for learning more about the creative nonfiction genre:
-- Reedsy blog: What is Creative Nonfiction? The Unputdownable Truth
-- Writers.com: Understanding Creating Nonfiction: What It Is and How to Write ItCheck out this list of creative nonfiction stories. For example, one of the stories is about a funeral for a lizard named Rango.
We hope you are inspired!
Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction Articles in The Ink Well
- Write creative nonfiction stories about real life, memories, or experiences.
- As with our fiction guidelines, we ask that articles be at least 350 words in length. Optimal length is 750-1500 words.
- Please read and edit your content before posting. It makes a big difference in how we reward work published in The Ink Well. (And we have some great guidelines for improving your grammar and fixing errors before you post in this article.)
- Please post directly in The Ink Well community, and post your link in a comment on this post.
- Please use the tag #creativenonfiction on these posts.
Here are some examples of what we are looking for:
- Explore an idea that interests you, such as how childhood experiences shape us as adults.
- Write about the study of dreams and what they mean, along with your own experience.
- Tell about an experience from your life that profoundly changed you.
- Write about a teacher who inspired you.
In other words, tell a story from real life. And illustrate the ideas you share with real world experiences, memories and observations.
Here’s what we are NOT looking for:
- A picture of a flower or other posts focused on photography
- A few paragraphs about what you ate for lunch
- Recipes and how-to articles
- Essays about religion or politics
- Poetry
What will be muted:
- Spam posts or plagiarism
- Graphic violence
- Lectures or proselytizing about religion, politics or morality
Last Week's Creative Nonfiction Winners
Thank you to all who participated in last week's prompt: Growing Up!
Honorable Mentions of the Week
Our honorable mentions for the growing up prompt are:
Third Place: Wins 1000 Ecency Points
Our third place winner is 
One hour after talking to my aunt and having everything ready, I called my brothers who also wanted to go, my aunt from Puerto La Cruz had sent for us, when the car arrived we got my mother and everything we would take, when we were on the road was when I found out that my mother's cancer was possibly in a final stage, at that moment I felt devastated inside and with a great desire to cry, but I had to swallow everything I felt to show my mother that God would do a miracle to heal her, which never happened, after we arrived.
Second Place: Wins 3 Hive
- Our second place winner is
, with her story, Life Circumstances.
A year after my move, my parents decided to move to the city where I am living. They were surprised to see me, because they realized that I was no longer that little girl they let go a year ago, now I was an adult who knew her path.
The move and all the good and bad situations that came my way taught me many things. They helped me grow as a person, as a woman. I learned from something as basic as standing up for myself, to face any obstacle that comes in my life.
First Place: Wins 5 Hive
- Our first place winner is
, with her story, Old Home:
Those nighttime talks with our father molded us to be who we are now. Without his words of wisdom, we might’ve been astray with no sense of life direction. I will always be grateful to our parents because they’ve filled us with love. It was because of them that our bond as siblings is getting stronger despite the tests of time. Our individual growth has rooted in our parents' undying love, even though both have already been resting for a while now.
The Ink Well Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompt #8: Avocation
In case you are not familiar with the word "avocation," it is essentially a fancy word for "hobby" or "leisure activity." It's a clever word because in a way it is the opposite of a job (or vocation). An avocation is something you do because you love to do it. Perhaps you really love underwater basket weaving, or horseback riding, or photography, because that activity is something like meditation for you.
Think about your own avocation(s). Then consider these questions:
- Why are you passionate about that pastime? What makes it interesting or exciting to you?
- Is it relaxing, or is it about physical activity (like hiking, running or biking)?
- Do you produce anything, like candles, soap, or crafts? And if so, is the joy in the making of those things, or in giving them away (or selling them)?
- Have you ever dreamed of making your avocation your primary source of income?
- Do you think everyone should have an avocation? Why?
We look forward to reading your stories. Have fun!
Please use the tags #creativenonfiction and #inkwellprompt on these posts. And please remember to add your post link to a comment on this post!
Prizes!
- The top creative nonfiction story of the week will receive 5 Hive
- The second place story will receive 3 Hive
- Third place will receive 1,000 Ecency points
Deadline
You have a week, until the next prompt is posted, to post your creative nonfiction story in The Ink Well community.
See you in The Ink Well!
Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!
Join here at Hive Onboard
Already a Hive member? Click Subscribe at the top of The Ink Well community home page.
We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by 
You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.
We welcome delegations! These support our community in many ways, including helping us to provide support to quality content creators through curation and contests.
A big thank you to all of our delegators:
Click banner to visit our community page
Find us on twitter by clicking the banner above.