Fiction

Yours in the Meanwhile
Dear God, I am mailing you this letter even though your address is “Tomorrow.” I am mailing it in a bottle made of all the milestones I have missed. If it reaches you, water it. And please please let it grow into an acceptable form.
By Madhu Goteti 4 months ago in Critique
Limbo
Writing is hard. Don't let anybody tell you any different. Granted, some days it's easier than others. There are times when I can open up my laptop, hit that "create story" button and the words literally come pouring out of my fingertips. Other days... well... I think everyone who writes understands that feeling of staring at a blank page. A canvas ready to be filled, but the inkwell of creativity within one's soul has run completely dry.
By Natalie Gray4 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 Taylor4 months ago in Critique
Dialogue and Flashback
FROM THE AUTHOR: I am writing my first real novel. I excel at descriptive language (growing up loving Tolkien will do that) but writing dialogue is new to me. Things like pacing and mundane stuff like formatting are enigmatic right now. I believe ive made progress, and im ready to test it out on a critical community.
By Thomas Speer4 months ago in Critique
Still Waiting
I have a story that has been sitting unfinished for years. Not abandoned. That would be easier. Abandoned things have a certain honesty. You admit they failed, close the folder, place them somewhere quiet, and let them become part of the archive of who you were.
By Alain SUPPINI4 months ago in Critique
Reflections on A Languishing Manuscript. Top Story - July 2026.
Years ago, I was president of a town’s writing group, but it disbanded. Ten years ago, a character appeared in my mind and poured onto the page, words frothing from my fingers like sudsy waves at the shore. My hip replacement cemented my decision to retire, and recovery meant long hours outdoors on sunny days with my aging dog. Her love and devotion grounded me. I finished the book that summer. Two years later, my faithful companion was gone, and the manuscript remained untouched, saved in a file that moved only when the computer did, still unseen.
By Andrea Corwin 4 months ago in Critique
A Love That Sits Immovable as Stone. Honorable Mention in Not Quite There Yet Challenge. Content Warning.
I have a backlog of stories of all lengths waiting for one reason or another - many over a decade old by now. One is more disappointing to watch sit than the rest, because it's simultaneously one of the shortest and most complete tales I have planned.
By Megan Baker (@thegothofsawpit)(@shadowsitheghoststrikebwr)4 months ago in Critique
Trials of Tobit
--The following is an unfinished children's story I was writing based on the book of Tobit from the apocrypha. No matter your view of religion, one can find happiness in the simple adventure of children. My patron abandoned the publishing project, so this book went unfinished. Please let me know if you think it should be completed. -- Thomas
By Thomas Speer4 months ago in Critique
Suspended Animation
Abby, I owe you an apology. You’ve been waiting for months, possibly years, for me to finish your story. Who knows how time works for fictional characters? You don’t age unless I let you. You don’t move unless I tell you to.
By Laura Roodenburg4 months ago in Critique
Margaritas and Meltdowns
The sun sparkled on the turquoise water of the resort pool, light and shadow patterns dancing across the bottom of the shallow end. Mary Elizabeth poured herself another margarita from Mandy’s Rubbermaid pitcher resting inside her enormous beach bag and tried to call Josh again. She was dying to tell him that Mike and Mandy rented. It went to voicemail after a few rings. His phone was probably on the cart, so she’d try again in a few minutes.
By Harper Lewis 4 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 Jin4 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 4 months ago in Critique