The Benefits Of Unofficial Challenges On Vocal
A Few Observations
Introductions
While Vocal often drop multiple challenges and there is usually one going, they are attractive to members because of the prizes, but also attract a lot of entries, with many verging on AI spam, which I am sure that Vocal does not consider, but if people read and check for AI then that spammy creator has logged up money unless Vocal cancel their account, but this is not about them.
It is about the Vocal Creators who put together unofficial challenges and the ones who take part in these challenges.
Each month I collect the pieces I find in a monthly, unofficial challenge Vocal story. This is May's:
The Benefits Of Unofficial Challenges On Vocal
These give us prompts and ideas to write stories. Sometimes Vocal gives them a helping hand by making them a Top Story.
Some are simple and some are complex and cover many Vocal communities.
Prizes offered range from exposure to tens of dollars, but usually there might be only ten or twenty entries, whereas an official challenge will have maybe fifty times that many entrants.
Another benefit is that the entries to these unofficial challenges are often awarded Top Stories, which has certainly happened with many entries to my challenges, so that is a good reason to take part in an unofficial Challenge.
Some Winners From Unofficial Challenges
Conclusion
If you have shied away from the unofficial challenges, it may be worth dipping your toes in or even putting together one of your own. I do feel that these generally don't feel as pressured as the official Vocal Challenges, but the Vocal ones, by their nature, have to be stricter than the unofficial ones.
Thank you so much for reading.
The music is "Run, Run, Run" by Jo Jo Gunne a band named after a Chuck Berry song:
About the Creator
Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred
A Weaver of Tales and Poetry
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Comments (7)
I like the sense of community the unofficial challenges bring <3
Lol, that spammy creator. Yes, the unofficial challenges have less pressure compared to the official ones
Personally, I think the unofficial challenges are better. You're right—there’s definitely a flood of AI-generated content out there. Take the latest Tattoo challenge on Vocal, for example—there's no way that many people wrote original poems just for that challenge. It took me seven days to write four poems, and most of the entries I’ve seen seem to be older, previously published pieces. I doubt Vocal will disqualify them, though.
The Chuck Berry song made me think of "Back to the Future", lol. The unofficial challenges really are good to have. I wish I had more energy to participate.
Great summary of the benefits of unofficial challenges, Mike! I definitely agree with your points, as well as what Matthew said about reads below. Unofficial challenges are a great way to build an audience in addition to expanding your creativity!
I've often thought of trying some of these unofficial challenges. Thanks for the incentive!
one more benefit, and the one I think is most important: it guarantees you reads. If you're new, there's no better place to start building your audience.