The Inkwell Combined Writing Prompt #38 ~ Fiction or Creative Nonfiction

_{Source: Pexels}

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. 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 and our treasure trove of tips 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.
• Learn more about creative nonfiction, how it differs from fictional stories, and tips for success in our post on creative nonfiction tips.
• 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 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, "Signal"!

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 Hive account@popurri for her story The Wind Speaks.

Here's what our curators had to say:

As one reads Hive account@popurri's story, one can hear the wind in the trees and sense the air becoming denser. This author has such a connection to nature that, through her writing, she allows us to share her sensitivity. This is a story about receiving signals, not signals from machines but signals from nature. Meteorologists have set themselves off in some future, technological world. They have forgotten to listen to nature. Only one scientist, who trusts her natural observation, is able to save a city from an impending flood.

Congratulations, Hive account@popurri!

Short Story Writing Prompt of the Week

This week's prompt is: "Suspicion."

Suspicion is a sense that something is wrong or someone is doing something wrong. And it comes in many forms. A wife may have a suspicion that her husband is cheating. A sister may have a suspicion that her brother is stealing money from her piggy bank. An office supervisor may have a suspicion that one of the office workers is fudging numbers and siphoning funds from the company's proceeds. And there are many other possibilities as well.

What do you think of when you consider the word "suspicion," or the related word, "suspicious." This is of course when someone is exhibiting odd behavior that indicates they may be doing something wrong or inappropriate. You can use any form or variation on this word, including "suspect," to launch your story writing.

Here are some fictional and creative nonfiction story ideas based on the "suspicion" prompt generated by ChatGPT to inspire your creativity.

Fictional Short Story Ideas

The New Neighbor

When a retired schoolteacher notices strange activity at the house across the street, she becomes convinced her new neighbor is hiding something dangerous. She keeps a detailed journal of every unusual occurrence, only to discover that her assumptions say more about her own loneliness and fears than about the neighbor himself.

The Missing Painting

A small-town museum discovers that a valuable painting has vanished overnight. Suspicion falls on a quiet security guard who was working alone during the theft. As rumors spread and friendships fracture, the real culprit watches from the sidelines while the town tears itself apart.

The Text Message

A woman accidentally sees a cryptic text message on her husband's phone: "Don't tell her. She can't find out." Convinced he is having an affair, she begins investigating his secret life. The truth turns out to be something entirely different—one that forces her to confront her own lack of trust.

Creative Nonfiction Story Ideas

The Teacher's Mistake

Write about a time when you suspected a classmate, coworker, or employee of doing something wrong. Was your assumption correct? Or were you mistaken? Explore how suspicion forms and what happens when the truth is revealed.

The Neighborhood Rumor

Reflect on an incident in which a rumor spread through your community, workplace, or family. Describe how suspicion traveled from person to person and examine the consequences for the individual at the center of it.

The Stranger on the Train

Recall a moment when someone else's behavior made you uneasy, such as a stranger acting oddly on public transportation, in an airport, or at a store. Explore how your mind filled in the blanks and what the experience taught you about assumptions, fear, and human nature.

Tell us a story inspired by suspicion.

As always, you do not need to actually use the prompt word(s). They are here to inspire your creativity!

We look forward to reading the product of your imagination or your personal experience!

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.

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

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 for more information.) And do NOT use AI tools to write or manipulate your stories. You must provide your own unique content.

2. Post link: Please be sure to publish your story in The Ink Well community, and post a link to your story in a comment on this post.

3. Hashtags: Use the #fiction tag for fictional stories and the #creativenonfiction tag for creative nonfiction stories. You can also use #writing, #inkwellprompt and #theinkwell.

4. Images: Please only use images from license free and creative commons sites, like Pixabay, Unsplash and Pexels. 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.

5. 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 for resources on how to improve and further develop your stories.)

6. 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.

7. 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.

Thank you for being a part of The Ink Well!
Hive account@jayna, Hive account@gracielaacevedo, Hive account@agmoore and Hive account@yaziris.

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.

_{Questions? Ask The Ink Well on Discord.}

We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by Hive account@raj808 and Hive account@stormlight24 and run by Hive account@jayna, Hive account@gracielaacevedo, Hive account@agmoore and Hive account@yaziris

How to Follow Our Curation Trail

You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.

Note: The Ink Well pays out curation rewards to our delegators!

We welcome delegations! These support our community in many ways, including helping us to provide support to quality content creators through curation and contests.

50 HP	100 HP	500 HP	1000 HP	5000 HP
click here	click here	click here	click here	click here

A big thank you to all of our delegators:
Hive account@jayna, Hive account@felt.buzz, Hive account@carn, Hive account@cliffagreen, Hive account@ricardo993, Hive account@itsostylish, Hive account@agmoore, Hive account@marcybetancourt, Hive account@marlyncabrera, Hive account@jasonbu, Hive account@stormcharmer, Hive account@nathy33, Hive account@ozd, Hive account@iamraincrystal, Hive account@preparedwombat, Hive account@gracielaacevedo, Hive account@timix648, Hive account@samsmith1971, Hive account@betholoji12, Hive account@jackdeathblack, Hive account@josemalavem, Hive account@generikat, Hive account@mineopoly, Hive account@hazmat, Hive account@kingsleyy, Hive account@popurri, Hive account@nancybriti1, Hive account@rinconpoetico7, Hive account@iyimoga, Hive account@kachy2022, Hive account@monster-hunter, Hive account@whatmidesays, Hive account@raymondpeter, Hive account@gabmr, Hive account@rishagamo, Hive account@morey-lezama, Hive account@evagavilan2, Hive account@funshee, Hive account@amiegeoffrey, Hive account@rukkie, Hive account@tomiajax, Hive account@stuartcturnbull, Hive account@mosin-nagant, Hive account@almadepoeta, Hive account@ubani, Hive account@wesphilbin, Hive account@amakauz, Hive account@zoe01, Hive account@estilodereba, Hive account@ellizy, Hive account@faithwellington, Hive account@patienceakpan, Hive account@artofkylin, Hive account@ricurohemi28, Hive account@benwesterham, and Hive account@shakavon.

_{Click banner to visit our community page}