We Want You!

About six months ago, a few of us created the Facebook group Queer Vocal Voices. Our goal was to create a space to prioritize and feature work on Vocal by queer creators. (In this sense, Queer is an umbrella term for anyone that falls in the LGBTQIA+ category)

We hope to build a genuine community where we read each other's works and encourage each other in writing. We also wanted to increase the number of stories published to the PRIDE community. Vocal has taken some action to help the PRIDE community grow. They eliminated the word count minimum for pieces published in PRIDE. They have also added "fiction" and "poetry" tags. This is important so queer fiction and poetry don't get buried in the Fiction and Poetry communities on Vocal.

Our group is small, and we have done well accomplishing our objectives in the group. Now, it is time to grow. That is where you come in. We want you to join our group!

Group Features

We have several features and threads in our group designed for engagement.

Monday and Wednesday, we have a feature called Pride Picks, where we share an article from the PRIDE community.

Tuesday is the Alphabet Game. A letter is posted for the week, and content that begins with that letter is shared. We encourage group participants to read a piece if they share a piece.

Thursday is Open Mic poetry. Group members post their latest or favorite poetry in the comments.

Friday is Queer Artists feature. The admins share articles, videos, and stories from queer creators outside of Vocal.

Saturday is a group discussion on a specific question the group admins pose. This feature is designed for everyone to get to know each other.

Sunday, we have two features. The Sunday Funnies thread is a place to share funny stories, memes, pictures, and jokes.

Also on Sunday, we have the "A picture is worth how many words?" thread. One of the admins posts a pic with a stated word count.

We also have a character hunt game, ' Where's Whatsitsface', that runs throughout the week. A Vocal creator is selected, and their profile is posted. The game's object is to find the story on which the character specified is based. The winner will then be featured in the next post.

Unofficial Challenges on Vocal

Our group has run three contests so far as well. Contests or challenges that we run will be for the group only, and others will be opened up to all Vocal creators, though the group is for queer creators only. (At this time.) Each contest outlines who will be judging or if it will be community judging. Prizes are given in the form of tips.

Here are the winners of our first three challenges.

What Does PRIDE Mean To You?

A Queer Sensory Experience

Springtime Sensory Challenge

We also have about another week on our current challenge, Letters to Queer Youth. Still time to enter!

Here is the link to that challenge article:

There are a lot of great things happening in our group. Here's the link.

The only thing missing is you.