Top Stories
New stories you’ll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
Standing Still
There are very few moments in life where time truly stands still. When your breath is taken from your chest and your body hangs weightless in that moment. Just long enough for it to stay with you from that day onwards. Deep in the red sands of the Australian Outback, I found that moment and clung to it forever.
Kevin McLaughlinPublished 4 days ago in Wanderstay
i can never make them stay. they are like orbits always in motion around me but never holding my hand. they are like shooting stars
The first step
Writtten for the We'z Walking on... unofficial challenge hosted by Proud ViM: ~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~
Vocal Bonus Leaderboard: 05/15/2024
Welcome to the weekly update of the Leaderboard! We're thrilled to showcase Vocal's most discussed stories, popular picks, and rising stars. Let's dive into this past week's standout contributors and their remarkable achievements.
Vocal TeamPublished 4 days ago in ResourcesA Spoonful Short of Ecstasy
There must’ve been something in the water. Cuz when I looked at you that night I thought that maybe I would falter in my sense of what was wrong
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ELLEN MARIE
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ELLEN MARIE *** just had to know *** ++++++++++++ As Mike drove through the town he hadn’t seen in about twenty years, he wondered about those he’d left behind when he left for what he thought would be “greener pastures.” He wanted to make his mark on the world. Determination drove him and the little town of Meadowville wasn’t where he wanted to be.
Margaret BrennanPublished 6 days ago in FictionVocal Spring 2024 Updates
It's been too long since our last update, but we've been working hard behind the scenes based on your feedback from Discord chats and Creator Chat sessions, and we've got some exciting new updates to share with you.
Justin @ VocalPublished 4 days ago in ResourcesRed Shelves
Death is a black hole. Think about it. A black hole is the corpse of a star, something once warm and bright, now come to the end of its life cycle. But some will argue that the cycle of life does not end with death. That death is merely another path we must walk once our bodies expire and our souls ascend. In that moment, when the fuel in the star’s chemical tank hits empty and the shiny matte coat explodes into supernova, the mass left behind – the corpse – becomes a black hole. We understand that, around such a vast cadaver, dimensions work a little differently in death to the way we’re used to in life. For example, light cannot escape the pull of a black hole when it hits the point of no return. That’s where it gets its colour. Space itself is contorted by a black hole. That’s where it gets its funny shape. Even time. Time slows right down the closer you get to it. The closer you get to a black hole. The closer you get to death.
Matthew CurtisPublished 4 days ago in Humanspower shift
for millennia upon millennia, they ruled. when one passed out of all thought and time, another took the throne. whether a giant among the trees or a beast in the clouds,
Alivia VarvelPublished 4 days ago in PoetsCan You Drive a Ford Fiesta Through a Desert?
I’m flying down the B1 highway from Windhoek to Keetmanshoop with a map and a boot full of camping gear. I’m excited for the first stop of my Namibian road trip: the Quiver Tree Forest. I spot the sign and turn onto the C17, off the tarmac and onto the gravel. I’ll be there soon; it’s only ten miles or so. I am unprepared for what comes next. The car slides and slips across the road. I am not fully in control anymore. I slow to a crawl. The car judders and shudders, the noise deafening, the vibrations rattling the teeth in my skull. It takes me around an hour to drive the ten miles. I arrive at the campsite relieved to be in one piece, even if it feels like all my bones have been shaken slightly out of place. I will later learn that this is what happens when the gravel road becomes “corrugated”, and that the roads authority goes round once a week to “grade” them. Seems I arrived about 6 days after the grader had last been round.
Jenifer NimPublished 4 days ago in WanderLei Day
Meet me in Hawai’i the first of May On a sandy shore of a turquoise sea Greet me with “aloha” and wear a lei *** On the Big Island where the palms all sway
D.K. ShepardPublished 4 days ago in PoetsMayvillanelle: A Mikeydred May Dollar Prompt For All Vocal Creators
Introduction Every so often I set prompts in the Vocal Social Society and offer a dollar tip to three random creators who take part in it and ask them to share their stories in the comments and on the thread in the group.
Mike Singleton - MikeydredPublished 18 days ago in WritersExercising Creativity (& Vocal Prompters)
All of our skills are like muscles – we have to keep working them in order to keep them. I recently found some of the work I wrote in high school, and I've got to tell you, it took me on a bit of a trip. The works were all just first, second, or third chapters. I didn't often get much farther than that, at least not documented. I used to be a Wattpad writer, and spent even my middle school years writing half-assed novels that I thought were brilliant. I remember taking notebooks with me everywhere, writing things down and creating all the time. Camping trips were my favorite places for inspiration. Now? Things are a bit different.
The Bird Nest
Downy tufts puff out, Warmth inside a house of hair, Drowsiness abounds. A/N: I sometimes imagine what it would be like to sleep in a bird nest, provided I can be bird-sized in the fantasy of course. I think it would be cosy! More longer stories to come! -TWW
ThatWriterWomanPublished 5 days ago in PoetsThe Road to Nowhere
Trigger warnings: Violence, Death. "May the Sun burn your tongue out, woman," Fredrick's father screamed the curse into his mother's ear as their elegant little carriage rumbled along, its polished wood and gilded trim glinting in the torchlight. They had just left the small village of Saffron and were on an unnamed road to the capital for the Royal wedding. Fredrick leaned back in his plush velvet seat to escape into the passing landscape, but across from him sat the servant boy, a scrappy lad named Jack. Jack's eyes held a mixture of awe and fear, the kind that only a commoner could feel in the presence of nobility. Jack looked up and caught Fredrick's gaze, offering him a sad little smile before reaching into his pocket and retrieving a little caramel treat. This candy was no doubt stolen from the kitchen treat cupboard; if he was caught with it, he would be locked in the box as punishment.
Frank EnglishPublished 6 days ago in FictionLines in the Flesh
You lay your head on my chest I run my fingers through your hair You know it's my favorite thing to do I feel your body relax and it feels as if you melt into me
Mercedes ChavezPublished 6 days ago in PoetsTwilight Stillness
I like the darkness It is soothing Calm Quiet A few lampposts illuminate the empty street Outside my window There is peace
P.A. WilkinsonPublished 7 days ago in PoetsIgnis
Prometheus' pain Was your original cost How cheap you are now ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. J. ReddallPublished 28 days ago in PoetsSitting in DNA Soup
I am sitting in “DNA soup”- actually, a Jacuzzi at the Melia Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas. It might as well be a soup though, from the amount of people sitting in it. I’d wager that if you were to take a ladle from that hot tub and send it to a DNA testing facility, you’d have genetics from every corner of the planet.
Kelley SteadPublished 10 days ago in WanderMama’s Boy
I’ve been a fiancé for four years and three months. We’ve been together for six and a half years total, and we have a two-month-old son together. I can’t help but think that we’ll never get married. We haven’t even decided on a wedding date. When I bring it up, he tries to escape the room as if he’s late for something more important.
Real PoeticPublished 5 days ago in Chapters