HeyA!

Hey! You! Yes, you! Let me tell you something!

What…? No, I’m not an astronaut! I just love the movie Wonder!

I see a lot of popular folks on Vocal guessing that everyone in the platform is an adult. And sure, a lot of people on this platform are, especially all the Top Story creators. (Y’all are fantastic, no matter what anyone says!)

But that stereotyped guess does not include me!

I’m in ninth grade… as clearly seen from my bio. I don’t know about you, but most people in ninth grade aren’t adults. For privacy reasons, I won’t say my own age, but I am not an adult.

This is probably a mind-blowing, eye-opening thing for many people to read on Vocal, especially because most of the Creators are adults with day jobs (or night jobs) and children and dogs.

Well, I do have dogs. But that’s about the most similar I am to these amazing Creators.

I want to reveal this (though it’s not quite a revelation, it’s been very real for a while now…) because of a few stories that got Top Story lately. Stories with swears and excessive curses that I neither like nor am inclined to read. Everyone seems to assume that because the age limit is above 13, everyone’s own age is above… well… 20.

But the limit is above 13! Not above 20! Which means, obviously, that there can be and probably are people on this platform that are not adults. Like me. I am a teenager. That’s about as far as I’ll go with that, though.

What does this mean? What does it mean that I am not above the age of 20 and am on Vocal?

Well, it just means that I have a much harder time on here than most. I can write daily, because I don’t have a day job, but I think it’s somewhat more difficult for me to be recognized here. I strive and hope to one day win a Challenge, but I’m still polishing pretty much all of my writing skills. The others on here have already done that, and their writing pieces are perfect— or close. I understand that I might have a harder time being on here.

But I still am here. (I also still try to not read stories with a whole lot of curses in them… Sorry for all the Creators who use ‘em!) I sometimes take small breaks because I absolutely have no inspiration. And then I come back and write some little stories that, for some reason, end up getting Top Story! And then I take breaks again, because I get bored and feel burnt out.

I’m still going to try to be on here, though. I’m still going to strive for what I want. And because I’m still a teen, I do get upset when I don’t win, or get what I want, but I don’t bully anyone about it. My mom used to tell me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. So I encourage and congratulate others, and if I’m upset, I don’t bully. I don’t swear. I just don’t say anything at all. It very much helps with being kind.

And I wonder… how many Creators on here assume that everyone is an adult? Or how many other teenagers are here that assume that everyone is an adult? I would like to meet any Vocaleers who are around my age, and who don’t spam AI content into the Latest Stories section… or who don’t plagiarize Top Stories and change some of the words to make it “not-plagiarized…”

Yes. You get it. And I get it, too. Everyone knows those “writers.”

Aaaanyway… I just wanted to share this for the comfort and intelligence of everyone on Vocal. Not everybody here (at least not me!) is an adult! I won’t force you to tone down your swears or curses, but I will warn you that if you do have a lot of them… You probably won’t see me on there. Still love y’all, but just my fair warning and announcement to you!

(Secretly hoping this gets famous so that everyone will know…)

Alright. I’m going now. If you wanna read any of my Shadow Child stories, go check out my profile. Part 3 of the series is out now. That is… if you like horror stories written by a freshman. You have no obligation to read ‘em.

And also… don’t subscribe if you’re not gonna read my work. Capiche?

Ciao.

To Vocal, and from Chloe.