Top Stories
Stories in Writers that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.
Fantastic Story, Terrible Delivery
Sometime in early 2019, I decided I'd had enough breaks from writing. I found an online school claiming to help you write a 50k word novel in six months if you followed their program. I signed up, met some cool people, and started really writing. As it turned out, the classes were crap, but the people I met changed my life.
By Kenny Penn3 years ago in Writers
The tale of the paramecium who lived happily ever after
Early on in my childhood I decided I needed to study science so I could prove what I was thinking was true. I have always been curious to find answers with reasonable explanations. For example, it seemed reasonable that Moses was able to part the Red Sea because he was educated and knew about tides. I reasoned that Jesus turned water into wine by diluting it. I was always drawn to explain myths. That is not to say I do not believe in miracles. I have seen them happen. Within my realm of thought, it is not impossible to believe that a gut feeling is attuned to cosmic elements, and results in rare, unexplained serendipitous events.
By Katherine D. Graham3 years ago in Writers
AI Tales of a 90's Stripper
I used to be a stripper in the 1990s. I loved my job, but as time went on, I realized that I needed to grow up and move on. When I was stripping, I had a few go-to songs that I loved to dance to. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard was always a crowd-pleaser, and “Cherry Pie” by Warrant was another favorite. I also loved dancing to “You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC. Slowly removing my clothes and revealing more and more skin always got the crowd going. I also loved doing the pole dance, twirling around the pole and showing off my flexibility. Looking back on those days, I realize how much I've grown and changed. But I'll always have a soft spot for the music and dance moves that made me who I am today.
By Scott Christenson🌴3 years ago in Writers
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
