Challenge
When I Began
Late nights, early mornings, a rooster crows... I have had insomnia for as long as I can remember. I always would stay awake long into the early morning, when my siblings would be waking up to go to school but I would get stay home to play all day in my childhood bed which resided in a small office turned Harry Potter-esque closet of a room. What kept me awake? I rarely ever had a nightmare, and if I got scared of the dark I would turn on a night light.
By J "Griffin" Rooms2 years ago in Writers
News Worthy Influenced Writing
Creative writing assignments are wonderful homework exercises unless you allow a parent into the private conversation. Back in grammar school when I brought books like “Black Sunday” and “The Fifth Horseman” into class for the USSR program, better known as unsustain silent reading where forty-five noiseless minutes, everyone read, and the activity demonstrated news influenced my intellectual foundation.
By Marc OBrien2 years ago in Writers
Nigerian Media Landscape
In a bold shift, Nigerian youths are revolutionizing the nation's media landscape, reclaiming the narrative from traditional news outlets accused of distorting facts. This surge comes as a response to concerns that mainstream media has been influenced by powerful interests, contributing to societal challenges.
By Isheno Ebenezer2 years ago in Writers
A Funny Idea I had Recently
So I have read a fair few hundred books in my time, thousands, millions, every book written so I think I am the most valuable source of information on good and terrible books. No, I’m just kidding. But I do love to sit and read a book with a cup of coffee every now and then. So I have read loads of books and I have furtherly enjoyed some more than others. But that is how it goes for the general reader, you have your favourite genres, writers and tropes. For me…personally… It's a dystopian future book that has my heart, or a fantasy world where you need to go on a dangerous adventure to save the world, anything with magic that makes me so absorbed in the book I feel like the main character and if I’m feeling frisky you can’t go wrong with a spicy enemies to lovers romance trope.
By Terri Allen2 years ago in Writers
Safety Concerns for NYSC Corps Members in Northern Nigeria
Sending NYSC Corps Members to Northern Nigeria, where security is uncertain, has sparked a serious debate. People are questioning whether it's right to risk lives for what some call an unimportant national service.
By Isheno Ebenezer2 years ago in Writers
Rescued by Friendship: A Tale of Rediscovering Hope
In the big city of Horizonville, there lived a man named Alex. He felt really sad and lost hope in life. Even though he looked up ways to deal with feeling alone on the internet, he still felt really lonely inside.
By aman dolui2 years ago in Writers
Want to Feel Special. Read This
Author's preface: A comment on a recent story published here (thanks Kendall DeFoe) triggered something in me which caused me to recall a story I had written many years ago, way back in 2016. That article was published on a different web publishing platform, which I will not name, but rhymes with tedium, from which I have since been twice suspended and (apparently) permanently banned. It was written as part of my 1000 page view up all night write-athon which was some stupid thing I thought to try and do after I finally hit 1000 page views. I had started publishing there in early 2015 so it took me a solid year to hit the 1000 mark with close to 200 stories published in that first year. I was quite prolific back in those days and, exactly like today, I was not very popular, as those dismal stats clearly indicate. That said I was very proud of the achievement, and decided I would try a stunt where I stayed up all night (5pm until 8am the next day) and try and write and publish as many articles as I could in that time span. I conceived of the idea the day I hit 1000, and initiated the challenge the following evening so I did not have time to think much about how difficult a thing that actually could be. Also, exactly like today, I did not tend to think very much in advance about stuff, and figured it would just work itself out in the end. This other unnamed platform did not have a ludicrous and absurd minimum word count requirement like Vocal, nor did it have a roving censor brigade, and one could get away with just about anything in those early days on the site. As per my typical MO, I tended to take a very laissez-faire attitude with respect to the "rules" which obviously ended up hurting me fairly badly many years later when I got my first suspension, and then again a year after that when I was suspended a second time. This was about two years ago and that suspension has yet to be rescinded, despite several petitions, so amounts to a permanent ban. In any event I can't actually recall how many stories I banged out, but think I got close to fifteen. Below is just one of them which surprisingly holds up even today both in terms of its truth value (I am still an almost never read writer) and its overall quality (fair to middlin at best). Crazy how the computer references seem so dated and ancient. It really was not that long ago. lol! Enjoy!
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Writers
Clone Agent: The Story that convinced me to write.
The first story I remember writing was from back when I was 9 or 10. It was a very well thought out and invested piece, with carefully crafted characters and settings... that I'd "borrowed" from other pieces of ficiton.
By Malcolm Roach2 years ago in Writers
To Build a Liar
Authors pre-preface: I had very recently published the below republication of one of my first "serious" writing attempts from the 7th grade in Vocal's fiction community. When I saw the Writer's challenge to write about the first piece you had ever written I immediately thought to myself 'wait a minute I just did that.' So I am re-republishing it here for that challenge. The whole thing is very meta and confusing if you think about it too deeply so just don't. In the author's preface to that story (below) I talked a little bit about how the story developed and my critique of its quality. Generally speaking I still like the concept, it is kind of cute and humorous in a written by an awkward 7th grader trying way too hard sort of way. In case you were wondering in the intervening years my regard for Jack London's works has not changed much. I find them underwhelming and way too macho, like the guy is trying to prove exactly how much of a man he is, when really what is driving him are insecurities about his own manhood. I can say that I definitely had a shit ton of insecurities when I wrote the piece. I don't think there is a 7th grade boy alive who could not sympathize, it is a time when questions about becoming a man, being a man, and what that actually means are bubbling and bursting to the surface. Much like the pimples that were bubbling and bursting on the surface of my acne plagued face at the time. I will leave it with that enganging and distrubing visual. Enjoy. lol!
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Writers
