The Inkwell Combined Writing Prompt #44 ~ Fiction or Creative Nonfiction
Published on HivePostify by @theinkwell · Tue Aug 04 2026
Source: [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/photos/unsure-formals-sign-adult-people-315080/)
Welcome to the Weekly Writing Prompt from The Ink Well We provide one weekly writing prompt for short story writers. You may choose to use the prompt to write a fictional story (made up from your imagination) or a creative nonfiction story (based on your real-life experiences).
IMPORTANT: To be considered for curation, you must include one of these tags on your post: Fictional stories: #fiction Creative nonfiction stories: #creativenonfiction
You must also read and comment on the work of two other community members. Remember: We look for this when we curate your story. If we don't see this engagement, we will either provide a reminder or skip curating your post.
It is also very helpful to the admin team when authors add Fiction or Creative Nonfiction (or CNF for short) to the story title!
Before You Post in The Ink Well Be sure to check out our community rules before posting in this community. You can find them at the top of our [home page](https://peakd.com/c/hive-170798/created). They also appear at the top of a new post window.
Please also check out these additional helpful resources: Learn more about our community and the expectations of community members in our [FAQ post](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/important-faqs-about-the-ink-well-dos-and-donts-rules-and-tips) and our [treasure trove of tips and guidelines](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-treasure-trove-of-tips-reminders-and-guidelines). Peruse our collection of great writing resources on everything from character development to how to write dialogue in our [catalog of storytelling tips](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/catalog-of-fiction-writing-tips-from-the-ink-well). Learn more about creative nonfiction, how it differs from fictional stories, and tips for success in [our post on creative nonfiction tips](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/creative-nonfiction-what-it-is-and-tips-for-success). Remember that we are always about quality first. Never about quantity. To achieve awards in The Ink Well, take the time to write quality stories and check them for errors. See the topic of the month, "Don't Miss This Step" in the [March 2025 newsletter](https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-walking-alone-on-a-field-in-dense-fog-16254468/) to learn about using tools (and using them properly) if you are not already doing this. We do notice when you don't take the time!
Last Week's Winning Story of the Week
Thank you to everyone who shared a story for the last prompt, "[The apology](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-inkwell-combined-writing-prompt-43--fiction-or-creative-nonfiction)"!
Each week we pick one of our favorite stories of the week and award the author 5 Hive.
And we have a winner! Congrats to @ekads for his story [The Day One](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@ekads/the-day-one-cnf).
Here's what our curators had to say:
> @ekad's story illustrates exactly how a CNF piece should be written. The story takes a real event, a dramatic event and relates it with all the emotion and immediacy that he must have experienced when it happened. His daughter is ill, in the hospital. He also has an important work event. Two obligations, tugging at him. His wife attends the daughter and all day long, as he struggles to carry on at work, his mind attends his family. He is tormented by the irreconcilable nature of his choice. We feel the stress, the regret, the doubt as he lives with his choice. In the end, his daughter is safe in the hospital and his wife is exhausted. He contemplates the choice, one that allowed him to completely satisfy neither obligation. A great piece.
Congratulations, @ekads!
Short Story Writing Prompt of the Week
This week's prompt is: "I didn't know."
Some of life's mishaps and difficult situations come from not being fully informed. You blame someone for being late, not knowing that they had a traffic accident on the way. Or perhaps you reprimand a child for not telling the truth or for stealing, only to learn that they did so to help or protect someone else.
Mistakes also come from not knowing everything there is to know and making assumptions. Maybe the character in your fictional story thinks a person who "looks different" from them is less intelligent, or less worthy, and then they realize that in spite of that person's appearance or disability, they are a highly accomplished scientist or professor.
"I didn't know" is something people often say when they are confronted with a truth that reveals an error in judgment. But there are many other directions you could take this prompt as well.
If you want to write a creative nonfiction story from your own life, think about things you learned in strange ways, or at odd times. Perhaps you didn't know your best friend was adopted. Or maybe you didn't know someone close to you was an alcoholic. Maybe someone you care about was suffering from depression, and you wish you had known so you could be more supportive.
For fictional stories, consider the possibilities for things your character may not know at an important time. Maybe they didn't know self-defense methods and got attacked by a robber. Or perhaps they didn't know how to trust again after a previous relationship ended due to the other person cheating.
What ideas come to mind for you? We hope you have fun with the "I didn't know" prompt!
Good luck! And of course, you are welcome to use AI to generate ideas and images, but the writing must be your own! We do not accept stories that are AI-generated or heavily edited by AI. Only use tools like Grammarly to fix spelling and grammar issues.
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](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/catalog-of-fiction-writing-tips-from-the-ink-well).
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](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-writing-prompts-50-story-loglines) - [50 Story Ideas](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-fiction-prompt-6-50-story-ideas) - [50 Imagination Ticklers](https://peakd.com/fiction/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-prompt-13-50-imagination-ticklers)
Rules: 1. Accepted content: Remember that we only accept short stories (fiction or creative nonfiction). We do not accept advice columns, personal development articles, reviews, chapter stories, recipes, etc. We also do not accept posts about violent, gory, bloody, brutal, sexist or racist themes, NSFW (not safe for work) stories like erotica, stories with a political or religious agenda, or stories featuring abuse of any kind. (We have a complete article about [The Ink Well stance on violence and brutality](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/violence-and-brutality-in-fiction-the-ink-wells-stance) for more information.) And do NOT use AI tools to write or manipulate your stories. You must provide your own unique content. 1. Post link: Please be sure to publish your story in [The Ink Well](https://peakd.com/c/hive-170798/created) community, and post a link to your story in a comment on this post. 1. Hashtags: Use the #fiction tag for fictional stories and the #creativenonfiction tag for creative nonfiction stories. You can also use #writing, #inkwellprompt and #theinkwell.
1. Images: Please only use images from license free and creative commons sites, like [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/), [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/) and [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/). You can also generate them with AI tools. Images you find on the Internet are copyright protected and cannot be used. Be sure to provide all image source links.
1. 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" and they tend to be missing important character development. See the "story length" topic of our [September 2025 newsletter](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/september-2025-updates-and-monthly-fiction-contest-from-the-ink-well) for resources on how to improve and further develop your stories.)
1. Translations: If you post a story that has been translated from another language, please include the English version first, followed by content in the original language.
1. 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.
Past Prompts After 241 straight weeks of fiction prompts (and nearly as many creative nonfiction prompts) we have started a fresh new series! If you'd like to see the full list of previous fiction prompts, you can find them at the bottom of [fiction prompt #241](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-inkwell-fiction-prompt-241).
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Tags: #fiction#creativenonfiction#contest#writing#inkwellprompt#theinkwell#community#creativecoin#hive-170798