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 storytelling scoundreltips.
Stories from the Previous Week
Thank you to who posted a story for last week's prompt: "I think I'm being followed":
Author Shout-outs
We'd like to call out a few stories that got high marks from our curators this week.
Curator comment:
really has some talent. In this story he tells the tale from a woman's perspective, about a serious trust breach and the expectations of the boyfriend that she let him see her phone. She is not cheating on him, but she has a very good reason not to allow him to see it, as she works for the secret police and it is an official phone. He doesn't trust her and tries to bully her into letting him see it to make sure she's not texting with other boyfriends.
But the remarkable thing is the spat between the MC and her best friend, who keeps trying to provide reasoning why the boyfriend might be acting that way, and the MC ends up frustrated and angry that the friend isn't supporting her. It's very realistic, both as a "human condition" situation where people don't see eye to eye, but also as an example of something that you can easily imagine happening between two very good friends.
They make up the next day. And she resolves to go explain the situation to the boyfriend and why in her role, with her official phone, she can't let him have it. Instead, he doesn't let her finish a sentence. He demands that she choose between loyalty to him and to her job. She chooses the job.
Curator comment:
writes a powerful, poignant and mysterious story about a man who falls down stairs and is whisked away to the hospital where he nearly dies but is resuscitated. This is all narrated by someone who is there by his side, but ultimately we come to realize that the patient cannot see her. She is a presence, but unseen. His daughter comes to see him, and he proclaims, "I think I'm being followed." She shushes him, but then he says "it's here." The daughter tells him again that he must remain quiet according to the hospital staff directives, and that she already lost her mother and does not want to lose him too. The narrator decides to leave, but intends to come back when he is ready for her to show her face, and we realize that she is the wife and mother who has passed on.
Curator comment:
's achievement in her story is to make the prompt secondary to her plot. The story focuses on the protagonist, on Lara. She is musing about her life. She is fussing (possibly unfairly) about her assistant. Lara is self-centered and self-absorbed. We get pulled into her ruminations. The sense of being followed is in the background. We almost don't notice it. She almost doesn't notice it. But she does. At the story's climax she does go into the street. She is terrified by a van that pulls up. However, the van doesn't have a stalker inside. It has her assistant. Lara is relieved. We are relieved. Then we are shown the figure of a man lurking under a street light, truly a stalker, and we remember how this story actually began. Lara was reading an article that told of a serial killer. We realize in that moment that Lara has had a close call, a glancing encounter with death. The story comes full circle. The article, the stalker, and Lara safely driving away with her under-appreciated assistant. This is a very well-constructed, well-told story.
Fiction Writing Prompt of the Week
This week's prompt is: "Hidden camera"
Welcome to the prompt of the week. Video and surveillance cameras are everywhere these days.
- They capture the license plates of speeding drivers.
- They give security personnel a view into the activities within the building they are guarding.
- They record the activities in a place of business so they can be reviewed later if there has been an incident.
- Security cameras give residents in a home a view of who is knocking on their door, and if someone is trying to break in, or has taken a delivered package from the doorstep.
- Cameras also can provide a record of the activities of a nanny or maid.
Hopefully these examples are giving you all kinds of ideas for stories! What if your character discovers something they didn't know about their hired help? What if a security officer recognizes a person who is robbing the facility they are guarding? What if your character looks at the security camera for their home when the doorbell rings and sees that the person standing there is a person they used to date before they got married, and secretly still love?
We look forward to seeing the story you come up with for "hidden camera."
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:
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; #177 Will tomorrow ever come?; #178 Am I a fool for dreaming?; 179 The moment that changed everything; #180 Superstition; #181 Gypsy; #182 Blind ambition; #183 Ah-ha moment; #184 Never say never; #185 Things are not always what they seem; #186 Domino effect; #187 The elephant in the room; #188 Higgledy-piggledy; #189 Scoundrel; #190 Storm the castle; #191 I think I'm being followed
Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!
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and run by , , , and .You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.
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We welcome delegations! These support our community in many ways, including helping us to provide support to quality content creators through curation and contests.
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