Top Stories
Stories in Writers that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.
The Writing Circle
It seems we are called, of late, to self-reflection. The Vocal challenges on offer at present have created, for me, a kind of momentum. A natural progression perhaps, from reflecting on the work of others, through the impact of others’ work on our own lives, into consideration of what drives us to create our own work, and how that evolves. We each have our own reasons for being here, sharing pieces of ourselves. And I think mine become clear as I reflect on my writing journey.
By Hannah Moore3 years ago in Writers
The Effect of the Green Socks. First Place in Writers Challenge.
She preferred to be called THE Rankin instead of Mrs. Rankin. It seemed odd to us in her eighth-grade gifted class to be called by just her surname, but she also wasn’t your average caffeinated teacher. She was assuredly one of those souls so far outside the box she wasn’t even in the same state as the box. Her honey-sweet Alabama accent made our small class feel like home. Best class ever.
By Barb Dukeman3 years ago in Writers
You do not need to know how to write to write your first story
I was about six years old. I could read well at that time but I could not write. My grandfather had a mechanical typewriter and I was allowed to use it. It was like a quest each time to find a needed letter on the keyboard! And one day I read a pictured book about large cats: lion, tiger, lynx, and others.
By Olga Moyseyenko3 years ago in Writers
Forget AI: use Scrivener!
I was in despair. I was quite a long way in to researching Chief Engineer, my biography of Washington Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a big undertaking: I had to learn about, and gather material on... oh, let's see, shall we? 19th century engineering. The Civil War. The history of immigration to the United States from Europe. Iron and steel manufacture. The history of women's education. I could go on — you get the idea. Now, bear in mind too: I'd written a few books, but nothing on this scale, and the question of how I would organize and order my material was starting to give me sleepless nights. I had a zillion Word documents which I named and renamed, put in this folder or that folder... yikes. I stared at my screen, my heart pounding.
By Erica Wagner3 years ago in Writers
Cover pics with Black characters have a serious lack of representation on Vocal Top Stories, plus other grouses.
Dear Anyone Ever since I joined Vocal, I have noticed that if I use Black faces to represent my stories it almost never gets picked for a Top Story, except one, and it was a caricature of a rather pretty witch. I have monitored the situation for a long time, and I need to state my case. After thumbing through recent pages of TS', I found two stories represented, one by me which speaks about Vocal, not my personal stories, and the other a story about Carlee, a Black girl who lied about an incident, not very flattering. Did she really have to do something bad to have her face make top story.
By Novel Allen3 years ago in Writers
