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Keep Criticism Constructive
Introduction Vocal has four new Communities, and although they are not for me, I feel I need to have at least one post in each Vocal Community and I can always find a reason to write about almost any subject.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 2 months ago in Critique
Reconsidering The Situation Again
Introduction This is essentially kicked off by Mark Graham, a free Vocal Creator who said he is still getting paid for reads, when a part of the Vocal announcement was that free users would no longer get paid, which I think is wrong. Mark is very supportive, and because he is getting read is bringing in new readers to the Vocal platform.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 3 months ago in Critique
Don't Be Afraid To Do The Unusual Thing. Top Story - July 2026.
“Last saved 2 years ago”. That’s what my draft page says, though I know it’s actually been more like 3. This is a true story, about a real person who was born over 130 years ago. It’s the first piece that I ever started writing for Vocal Media, and it has been sitting in publishing limbo since the very first day I got the nerve to try and be a real writer on a public platform.
By Mama Magdalene3 months ago in Critique
My Self-Critique of My Writing Battle Entry (Part Deux)
This is a breakdown of my most recent entry into the Writing Battle that didn’t make it out of the peer judging round. I recommend reading it before you dive into my self-critique of why it doesn’t work because nothing says, “Hey go read this!” quite like leading off with, "Hey this didn’t actually place so it might not be very good!”
By Matthew J. Fromm3 months ago in Critique
Emerald Flame Might Just Fade to Black
Emerald Flame, Chapter One: A Kingdom Broken, A Brave Young Dragon, A Quest Begun (previously published on Vocal in 2022) There weren’t always dragons in the valley.
By Maddy Newt3 months ago in Critique
Slumber. Honorable Mention in Not Quite There Yet Challenge.
The Story Slumber I am dreaming of our old family house, the one we lived in before All That happened and Dad and Brian left me and Mother and we became inseparable the way loss makes you.
By Raistlin Allen3 months ago in Critique
Epically Stalling
There is a story that lives within me that I have longed to tell. It breathes in soft sighs under my skin, echoing in the tips of my fingers. It is the tale of undoing, of unbecoming, of a world that must shatter so that truth, and light can come pouring back in. It is the story that plays with the idea that history is written by the winners, but what if the winners were really the villains?
By Ellie Hoovs3 months ago in Critique
Oblivion revisted
Out of Oblivion is a story I began last year (2025) and which has stalled. I have currently published three chapters on Vocal, all linked to part one, which can be read here:
By Raymond G Taylor3 months ago in Critique
The 17-Year Unlearning
Last month I met a man in New York. He wouldn't let me use his real name. I call him Old Charlie. Charlie got into the industry in 2007, a full cycle ahead of most family office practitioners in America. He was twenty-six that year, working as a relationship manager in the Americas division of an old British private bank. One day his boss called him into the office and said, we're going to test something domestically, called a family office — would you like to come on board. Charlie said yes.
By Jin3 months ago in Critique
Truth or Dare
By the time the impromptu foursome made it to the green, the tension was tighter than a Delta blues combo in a New Orleans dive bar. Masie missed her birdie putt on purpose so that Ben could ask Josh for a truth instead of her. After Josh sank his bogey, she said, “Why don’t you ride with Marty and let Ben ride with me? Otherwise, I’ll walk the course.”
By Harper Lewis 3 months ago in Critique
The Damned be Damned?
Before I explain why I stopped the story in what I saw as the rising action, I am presenting the opportunity for it to be read and explored as an unfinished piece of work with no promises of completing it.
By Lisa Pulliam3 months ago in Critique
The Road to Somewhere Else. Content Warning.
A Road to Somewhere Else came out of nowhere, nothing personally witnessed or experienced, written in its entirety over four intense days and nights in the early 2000’s. Mike’s story has never left my mind all these years, a tale that continues to haunt me . . . with no clear venue but this to bring it to light.
By Katy Doran-McNamara3 months ago in Critique