Vocal Curation Team
Bio
Collaborative, conscious, and committed to content. We're rounding up the best that the Vocal network has to offer.
Stories (220)
Filter by community
Parallel Lives Challenge Winners
One small moment, two lives unfolding. In Parallel Lives, writers stepped into the in-between, the crossroads where a single decision can redraw everything. Some followed their characters into dreamlike symmetry, others into chaos, but each story revealed the haunting beauty of what might have been.
By Vocal Curation Team2 months ago in Resources
FPS: Lantern Light Challenge Winners
For this challenge, we asked you to write around one lantern and let it guide the work. The submissions were thoughtful, inventive, and full of feeling. Each poem found a different way to hold light, to keep it steady, or to let it fade just enough to make room for wonder.
By Vocal Curation Team3 months ago in Resources
A Knock at the Door Challenge Winners
Sometimes a story begins with a sound. A quiet knock, a pause, that single moment when everything shifts. For the A Knock at the Door Challenge, we asked writers to start there and follow the mystery wherever it led. The result was a collection of stories that pulled us into the unknown and kept us there until the very last word.
By Vocal Curation Team3 months ago in Resources
FPS: Masks We Wear Challenge Winners
The Masks We Wear Challenge asked writers to explore what hides beneath the surface. The sides of ourselves we protect, the stories we tell without words, the versions we choose to share. What came back were poems full of contrast and emotion, where honesty and illusion moved together in surprising ways. Some lifted the mask to find courage, others found power in keeping it on, and all reminded us that what we hide can be just as revealing as what we show.
By Vocal Curation Team3 months ago in Resources
FPS: The Sonnet of Shadows Challenge Winners
Welcome to the winners announcement for the second challenge in the Fall Poetry Series. The Sonnet of Shadows was especially tough to judge, so many standout submissions made choosing just a few a real challenge.
By Vocal Curation Team3 months ago in Resources
SWS: The Road Drops Here Challenge Winners
Spooky season may be in full swing, but we still have one more Summer Writing Series Challenge to wrap up. A huge thank you to everyone who participated, we loved reading your poems and stories. We had a blast, and we hope you did too!
By Vocal Curation Team3 months ago in Resources
FPS: Falling Leaves Challenge Winners
Welcome to the first stop in our Fall Poetry Series! How do we judge a haiku? Beyond the rhythm and the 5-7-5 rule, it’s less about counting syllables and more about catching a feeling. Does it paint a clear picture? Make you laugh? Make you stop for a second? The best ones don’t need to be picked apart, they just land softly and stay with you.
By Vocal Curation Team3 months ago in Resources
SWS: The Shape of the Thing Challenge Winners
Welcome to the penultimate winners announcement in the Summer Writing Series! Sometimes it’s not what’s there, but what isn’t, that changes everything. For The Shape of the Thing Challenge, we asked writers to explore the weight of absence. Those shadows, echoes and almosts that still leave a mark. What came back were stories that showed just how real the unreal can feel.
By Vocal Curation Team3 months ago in Resources
SWS: Somewhere Between Here and There Challenge Winners
Some poems show up in the middle of things. You’re halfway through a step, or catching your breath before the next word, and suddenly it all feels clear. That’s exactly where this challenge took us.
By Vocal Curation Team4 months ago in Resources
SWS: Everything Looks Better From Far Away Challenge Winners
From oceanside leave to echoing stage lights, this challenge took us to places that seemed picture-perfect at first glance but carried something heavier underneath. For Everything Looks Better From Far Away, Vocal writers gave us sunsets that didn’t quite soothe, conversations that missed the mark, and homes that felt unfamiliar even after returning. These were stories where beauty sat side by side with tension and where characters stood just outside of where they wanted to be.
By Vocal Curation Team4 months ago in Resources
SWS: This Is How I Remember It Challenge Winners
For This Is How I Remember It, we asked for poems built from memories that stay with us. Vocal writers returned with afternoons that still glow with sunlight and dust, the scent of someone who lingers long after they have gone, and houses filled with both laughter and loss. Some memories came through clear and sharp, others fractured and blurred, but all of them carried a truth that felt undeniable.
By Vocal Curation Team4 months ago in Resources
SWS: Leave the Light On Challenge Winners
For Leave the Light On, we asked for stories that unfold over a single night. Between sunset and sunrise, you gave us rooms thick with memory, countdowns that tightened with every passing second, forests alive with prayer and doubt, and hauntings that refused to stay buried.
By Vocal Curation Team4 months ago in Resources
