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Most recently published stories in Writers.
A Scene With Two Characters
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - Write a scene in which a character’s body, as well as his mind, is engaged in doing something — stage business. Possibilities listed below: Explore how various activities and settings can change what happens within a scene. For example, what happens when characters are planning their honeymoon if they are painting an apartment or one of them is cutting the other’s hair? Or what happens when characters are having a confrontation in public — say, in a fancy restaurant — rather than in the privacy of their home. It is also instructive to analyze how a writer you admire handles the interweaving of dialogue and body language. Go through one of your favorite stories and highlight all the body language and choreography. We guarantee this will teach you something. The Objective — To give a concrete life to the scenes our characters inhabit. To understand how action and choreography relate to the objects in the scene and how all of these relate to and help shape dialogue and the engagement of the characters.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
How to Write About Your Opinion When Terrified of Conflict
One of the most common pieces of advice I read is to write about what makes you angry. I always cringe a little when I read this; I am notorious for picking harmless topics that no one can get offended over. I’m so afraid of conflict that I avoid controversial topics like they’re medieval plague doctors. I avoid subjects that I want to write about because I’m afraid of the reaction I’ll get.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA3 months ago in Writers
Leadership Summits Highlight The Rise Of Calibration-Driven Leadership
In a time when business landscapes shift overnight and yesterday’s plans quickly lose relevance, effective leadership is no longer about staying the course. It is about knowing when and how to recalibrate with confidence.
By CXO 2.0 Conference3 months ago in Writers
Thoughts On The Vocal Outage: October 2025
Introduction Just a few observations on the current lack of Vocal Down SO AWS has caused Vocal and Blue Sky to go down. Although this stops us from publishing on Vocal, it does not stop us from writing and creating.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 3 months ago in Writers
Power rangers - being omniscient is the only way to be
when we were little kids my cousins and I would come up with dozens of may-believe games, a lot of them included reenacting famous cartoons , tv shows , movies and even tv programs . I remember one of them causing a particular kind of chaos around the house lol and that was Power Rangers , we’d all pick a colour and put on the closest thing to the outfit that we can find , grab any two sticks we can find and take off causing a mess all over the place , We lived in a four-story house set right in the middle of a piece of land, surrounded by tall trees that made it feel like a tiny forest which was a great material for wild imagintion. The house had four separate apartments, plus a roof and a ground floor that were shared spaces where everyone could gather . The thing is now that I'm thinking about it 20 years later I have come across something I’ve never noticed before . I was such a shy kid you know ? the kind that would feel very awkward in the simplest non-awkward situations . But In those times when we pretended to be something else whether power rangers , famous WWE champs , CIA agents , totally spies or the Winx saga fairies I wasn't shy anymore .I was fierce , fearless , loud , chaotic , carefree ,confident , wild and wildly untamed . Have you ever watched the amazing millennial romcom " Never been kissed "before ? there was this scene when in the Lit class they were discussing the deeper meaning behind Shakespear's masterpiece " As you like it " and how Rosalind finally acquired the courage to confess her love to Orlando but only when she was Ganymede , that was when Sam quoted something i haven’t been able to let go of ever since . "When we're in disguise , we feel freer . We do things we wouldn't do in ordinary life ". well even if you haven't watched the movie and the closest you've ever been to Shakespear is thinking Romeo was an idiot , you probably know the saying "Fake it till you make it" ? . What if that's what it's all about ? what if we most of the time genuinely have no damn clue what we're doing or what we're ought to do ? what if we start pretending we do ? will we break free beyond all the fences of limitations, expectations and perfectly planned rules ? will we finally be free of the weight of the conventional ? And if in disguise we’re finally free to be , why not buy a million costume ? ..
By Daisy Evermore3 months ago in Writers
LET GOOOO - the art of being in a world of becoming
Cause life's too short and too damn beautiful to live on a script . .. live for the plot twist . live on the edge of the one liners that made you freeze at 2 am . take that class , try that recipe , go on that trip , take that job .. then quit 2 months in ! at least you've tried .. take the extra shift .. ditch the whole thing and go hiking .. buy the guitar . read the book . paint the picture, even if you don't know how to hold a brush . your heart will carry you through it .. get that degree . hang it on the wall then join a cult . open that shop .. create that page .. run to the meadows , lie down and watch the sky .. cry then laugh some more .. let it out then let it go .. take a break , then try again .. REPEAT THE OUTFIT ! go on that date , who knows ? maybe they're the one .. or maybe they'll make one hell of a Christmas eve story lol learn Spanish . or Italian hell LEARN GERMAN . try skating . who cares if you sprain a joint or two ? buy that dress and pretend you're a Victoria's secret super model .. maybe you can be one ? sing out loud! even if you can't remember half the lyrics .. kick the ball back when it lands under your feet . go jogging , until you can't breathe anymore .. stop more to smell flowers . feel that pain . it only makes u more alive ..We’re always too obsessed with becoming. Becoming this , becoming that ! That we hardly ever get to be … bottom line is . life's messy it can hurt hell it can break in pieces but it also builds ... it heals and it loves more than you can ever imagine .. but only if u are capable of loving it back . It's full of flaws and is always missing something . and honestly ? that's half the beauty of it .. cause it's yours .. we own nothing in this world but what we choose to do with it .. how we choose to fit that missing piece .. and even if you can't have it the way you want , don't you dare have the guts not to wish to .. so listen up kid ! when you can have so much more don't you ever dare settle for too little .. get off of the floor.. The universe is huge , the stars are watching after you . and your heart ? is already a little bit warmer ..
By Daisy Evermore3 months ago in Writers
Anemoia - Nostalgia for a time or a place one has never known
I have always lived my life with half a heart . As if I gave up the other half a long time ago somewhere I can't even remember .. Was it somewhere ? Someone ? Or even something ? Uhhhh I'm not sure.
By Daisy Evermore3 months ago in Writers
Tunnel Vision
I had this fleeting thought when I was sitting at my go to cafe sipping my coffee wannabe since I only order half the espresso shot and a huge cup of milk to overpower how it tastes trying to get some work done .. What spiked the idea was (not to your surprise) if you’re a regular guest here is Absolutely music . I had my airpods on and shuffled through spotify to find the right song for the moment because the people chatters was louder than the speakers on , it wasn’t until I paused for a sec that I heard “Riptide” blasting through the speakers and realised I have missed my fav verse in one of my fav songs ever , it’s “there’s this movie that i think you’ll like, this guy decides to quit his job and heads to new york city“ if you were wondering .. sorry for wasting your time if you don’t care about that tho . That’s a bit dramatic huh ? ‘heavily sighing‘ … Well to my luck we have music streaming apps now, I can replay it whenever I want. But what about the things we don’t get a second chance at ? no re-dos, no another attempt or better luck next time you idiot. ? You see ummm .. the problem here is always one thing or the other, it’s either that we think we know it all , we have it figured out ,we know that this and only this is what we want blah blah bleh, OR! that we know nothing at all.
By Daisy Evermore3 months ago in Writers
200 Stories on Vocal.Media. Top Story - October 2025.
Once again I struggle to find the words to describe what this accomplishment means to me. Even now I flounder in the deep end of my doubts, wondering if I can support myself in the future with my writing, and yet I still haven't given up on the dream.
By Amanda Starks3 months ago in Writers
What is a Silent Beauté?
A silent beauté is a moniker that allows for interpretation. You can be literal and say I'm a deaf pageant queen, or symbolic saying that it’s a beauty that has no words or does not speak upon itself such as flowers or sunsets. Additionally, you can be figurative and say that it’s charisma that radiates from within and slowly seeps to the surface. I think it’s much simpler than that. In my opinion, I’m a beautiful person, inside and out, that just happens to be deaf/hard-of-hearing (HOH).
By M'chelle Nicole3 months ago in Writers
Role Play and Real Play
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter - What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts - The Exercise - Have a fellow writer do this exercise with you. Make up situations involving two people who disagree about something - for example, two friends who have planned to shoplift something, and one is getting cold feet. Or a landlord and a tenant disagree about the terms of a lease. Next, tape your dialogue as you and your friend "act out" the two "roles" in a scene. Don't decide what you're going to say ahead of time. Improvise, through dialogue, as you go along. Then transcribe the dialogue exactly as it was said. Here is where your writer's ear comes in. Read over the written account of your scene. How much of the original exchange is useful for your story? How much of the dialogue might you summarize? And are there any "perfect" lines that you would keep? Finally, try writing the scene using the transcribed dialogue to give shape to the scene. How much of the original dialogue would you keep? The Objective - To hear and see how real talk is repetitive, disjointed, and boring. At the same time, to train your writer's ear to transform actual speech into carefully crafted dialogue.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
