Top Stories

Stories in Writers that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.

On Art & Separation
I have many many thoughts on this subject, so strap in. It’s gonna get cerebral. And long, very long. (Multiple installments to come.)
By Mackenzie Davis2 years ago in Writers
Forget AI: use Scrivener!
I was in despair. I was quite a long way in to researching Chief Engineer, my biography of Washington Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a big undertaking: I had to learn about, and gather material on... oh, let's see, shall we? 19th century engineering. The Civil War. The history of immigration to the United States from Europe. Iron and steel manufacture. The history of women's education. I could go on — you get the idea. Now, bear in mind too: I'd written a few books, but nothing on this scale, and the question of how I would organize and order my material was starting to give me sleepless nights. I had a zillion Word documents which I named and renamed, put in this folder or that folder... yikes. I stared at my screen, my heart pounding.
By Erica Wagner2 years ago in Writers
Uncle Ben’s Sun-Ray Club . Runner-Up in Writers Challenge.
The topic was “How I Spent My Summer Vacation”. Boring, right? Unless, like me, you'd had the most enchanted vacation of all time.
By Marie Wilson2 years ago in Writers
Cover pics with Black characters have a serious lack of representation on Vocal Top Stories, plus other grouses.
Dear Anyone Ever since I joined Vocal, I have noticed that if I use Black faces to represent my stories it almost never gets picked for a Top Story, except one, and it was a caricature of a rather pretty witch. I have monitored the situation for a long time, and I need to state my case. After thumbing through recent pages of TS', I found two stories represented, one by me which speaks about Vocal, not my personal stories, and the other a story about Carlee, a Black girl who lied about an incident, not very flattering. Did she really have to do something bad to have her face make top story.
By Novel Allen2 years ago in Writers
When Writers Support Writers
It’s their first booksigning as a new author. They did everything exactly as they should to prepare, including sending out invitations. 40 people said they’d be there. 2 showed up.
By Judey Kalchik 2 years ago in Writers
Writer Part II
I wish I still had the first two stories that I wrote. Unfortunately, they have been lost in the annals of time. They are probably slowly returning to dust in some landfill, piled under years and years of items that other people considered junk to be tossed away. In my darkest days, I feel like those mostly forgotten pieces of paper are just rotting away under years and years of junk that I have piled upon myself. Not today. Today I dive deep, remember some of what was lost, and attempt to dig myself out and be reborn.
By Jay Zab2 years ago in Writers
The Scourge of the Pages
Writer’s Block. The thorn in our sides, the bane of the literary world and every writer’s worst nightmare... besides Plagiaristic Programs (a.k.a. A.I. writing programs) and plagiarism in general.
By Lilly Cooper2 years ago in Writers
Why Writing is so Difficult, but Worth its Weight in Gold.
Breaking into the writing profession (whether freelance or otherwise) is far from easy. Then again, I was not searching for the writing profession to accept with me with open arms. The profession came to me. In case you are wondering; the structure of this is part memoir, part wisdom.
By Justine Crowley2 years ago in Writers
Lust For Words 3
I always begin with the poem that inspired the theme of the list. The one that stopped me in my tracks, had me open the create story tab and start typing for another article.
By Kayleigh Fraser ✨2 years ago in Writers
#1
from a young age I’ve always enjoyed writing it seemed to be the only thing that could keep me together, in all the chaos of life. It wasn’t always the best, my child that is. There was a lot of rough patches, sadness and a lot of bullying. The only place I had to go was into the forest. With my pen and paper.
By Sarah urffer2 years ago in Writers
Why I Write
By the time I was 10 years old I was a published author. Ok, OK; so it was printed on a mimeograph machine and displayed in the school's front hallway on Parent's Night, but published is published, amiright?
By Judey Kalchik 2 years ago in Writers
Can We Stop Writing Stories with Titles That Are Questions Now Please?
Author's preface: Another story that was mysteriously not approved for publication the first time around. Somehow my account got flagged as AI or spam. Flattered but obviously not true. I am a real person I can assure you of that. Also, there is no such thing as AI, but that is a topic for a different article. LOL!
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Writers