Latest Stories
Most recently published stories 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
Looks Like Team Spirit
Today, October 20, is National Day of Writing, which encourages everyone to express themselves through sharing their thoughts to others. Since becoming a creator on Vocal back in 2018, I've written a plethora of stories that might be relatable to others, such as baseball, video games, and tidbits regarding my personal life. In the last several years, book bans have been one of the main talking points, mostly from conservative politicians and the most well-known writers have accused them of censorship. If there were books that discussed gender identity or race, chances are that you won't see them in public schools or at your local library. You can't shield children from everything, because they deserve to know about topics that they're curious of. Books about race, gender identity, and other progressive issues are needed, because it might be relatable to many people. Conservatives always claimed that these book bans are about "protecting children", but I've never bought that excuse. Protect them from whom or what exactly? Also, their other claim is to stop the indoctrination of children. Indoctrination has been a huge buzz word amongst conservative politicians. It's just a low-key term for brainwashing. Teaching children how to treat others with respect is not indoctrination. It's called being a decent human being. If only they put so much energy into passing common sense gun control laws instead of policing libraries and schools on which books children can and can't read. My point is that having an imagination is not a crime and as John F. Kennedy once said, "Libraries should be open to all---except the censor."
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Writers
What I Do When Loneliness Hits in a New Country
The Side of Travel People Don’t Talk About One of the greatest privileges of being a digital nomad is waking up in a brand-new city. The sunlight looks different, the air smells new, and the day stretches wide with possibility. You sip coffee in a café you have never seen before and feel the quiet thrill of knowing that you built a life that does not fit inside borders.
By Jasmine Bowen3 months ago in Writers
Light in the Darkness
This time, the electricity was very troublesome. The light came after twenty-seven to twenty-eight hours and even after that, it kept blinking for three days. "In some areas, electricity came after four days." Hearing this, we also remained patient and grateful. Alhamdulillah, the generator is running. We sit comfortably under the fan and think of those who do not have this facility. May Allah Almighty make things easy for everyone and give good guidance to the government.
By Aftab Ahmad Khan4 months ago in Writers
Understanding SOA OS3: A Modern Approach to Service-Oriented Architecture. Content Warning. AI-Generated.
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, businesses are constantly seeking ways to make their systems more flexible, scalable, and efficient. One architectural style that has stood the test of time for achieving these goals is Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). Among the various iterations and standards within SOA, SOA OS3 has emerged as a noteworthy concept that enhances service integration and orchestration.
By Ayesha Fatima4 months ago in Writers
Life at the Borderland: Seventy-Five Years of Becoming
I was born in 1950 in a displaced person’s refugee camp, on a frontier between the ruins of the old world and the beginnings of the new. My very first breaths were taken in that liminal place, a borderland where history itself seemed suspended between devastation and hope. For me, that idea of the border — between nations, languages, cultures, and even ways of being — has shaped much of my seventy-five years of life.
By Ulrich Semrau4 months ago in Writers
