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 fiction writing tips.
Stories from the Previous Week
Thank you to who posted a story for last week's prompt: "The shoe is on the other foot":
Author Shout-outs
We'd like to call out a few stories that got high marks from our curators this week.
Curator comment:
's latest story shines, though the plot is familiar. The school star — athlete, cheerleader, choir president — grows to middle age in less spectacular fashion. The nerd, the 'unpopular' student finds success. Places are exchanged. The nerd shines in middle age. The high school star fades. That is essentially the plot here. But there is more. There is insight into character. There is an absence of stereotype in spite of the familiar theme. When the shoe is on the other foot in this story, high school star and nerd are believable. We are moved. The writing is effective.
Curator comment:
's story title captures the spirit of a story, written in response to the shoe is on the other foot prompt. We meet a family, a brother and sister, who are lamenting the absence of their sister, April. Their ailing mother cries to see her missing daughter, but the daughter has ignored all appeals. Finally, the brother goes to April's home. What seemed to readers as unreasonable, cruel behavior now becomes understandable. April is a half sister. She and the others were abused by her brother's father. April had been sent to boarding school to get her away from the abuser. However, resentment lingers. She felt abandoned. She felt the mother had sent her away because she did not care. The shoe is now on the other foot. April abandons her mother. But when she sees pictures of her mother in critical condition, her heart softens. She goes to the hospital and watches over her mother. The story is told with intelligence and insight.
Curator comment:
brings us one of her beautifully rich stories. A well-constructed piece that draws us in. The village is having a celebration and dance contest for the spirit of the priestess to choose the next Ekwe — the blessed one who will receive the grace of the gods. Lani's grandmother was an Ekwe, and so was Lani's mother. Lani therefore expects the title herself. Unfortunately, she drops her calabash on stage and runs off in embarrassment, leaving Afiya, her biggest competition, to walk away with the title. However, she bumps into one of the priestess' porters who was on her way to convey the priestess' grace, but who had lost her wings. She helps the porter regain her wings and the two bond over their joint misfortune of both missing out on taking part in the annual Ekwe event. They realise that they have experienced something far more precious than what they had lost — meeting and spending time with each other.
Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week
This week's prompt is: "Will tomorrow ever come?."
Sometimes, when life is hard, we want the current circumstances to end, it feels like tomorrow is forever away. A person might say "will tomorrow ever come?" What scenario might you imagine in which a person is waiting and longing for tomorrow to come?
There is another more philosophical way to consider this question. Will tomorrow ever come? In fact, is it possible for tomorrow to ever come, when the very definition of "tomorrow" is that it is the day after today? So as soon as today ends, tomorrow becomes today and the day after that becomes tomorrow.
Perhaps a child could ponder this question, or have a conversation with an adult when trying to make sense of the past, the present and the future. Or two people could have an argument in which one person says that they will do the chores tomorrow, and the other person could complain that they use that excuse all the time and the fact is that tomorrow never comes.
If all that fails to inspire you, perhaps this video will:
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
You can find more on all of these topics in the catalog of fiction writing 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:
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; #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; #142 Photo album; #143 Dreams; #144 Crayon box; #145 Back of beyond; #146 Intuition; #147 Delight; #148 Anticipation; #149 Holiday memories; #150 Resolution; #151 Bicycle; #152 Flight; #153 Time Travel; #154 A trip to the fair; #155 Don't sell me a dog; #156 Gravity; #157 Love, wheelbarrow, dog; #158 Stealing; #159 Sportsmanship; #160 Toast; #161 Pickle; #162 You only live once; #163 Ring; #164 Hope; #165 Dreamcatcher; #166 In mother's house; #167 Keep Out; #168 Chin up; #169 Dish; #170 Talking in your sleep; #171 Wish upon a star; #172 Diary; #173 Plan B; #174 Clown; #175 The good old days; #176 The shoe is on the other foot
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