Resources
From tips and tricks to product updates and inspiration, explore our resources to learn how to grow as a Vocal creator.
Challenges
Last Call Challenge Winners
There were plenty of ringing phones and closing bars in Last Call , but the prompt took us to some unexpected places too. A fading birdsong, a goodbye that doesn't quite get finished, and people who don't suddenly become better versions of themselves just because time is running out. Some held on, some let go, and some missed their chance entirely. That's what made these stories stick.
By Vocal Curation Teamabout 23 hours ago in Resources
Twenty-Four Hours Challenge Winners
The best Twenty-Four Hours entries weren’t really about fitting as much as possible into a day. They were about showing us a version of a place that felt personal, shaped by favorite stops, old memories, local quirks, and the little things you only notice only after knowing somewhere for a long time.
By Vocal Curation Team7 days ago in Resources
The Most Overrated Challenge Winners
The Most Overrated challenge wasn't really about tearing down popular things. A lot of the best critiques came from writers who understood the appeal, sometimes even loved the work, but had one particular thing they couldn’t get past. That made for arguments that felt less like hot takes and more like conversations with something the writer had actually spent time thinking about. They gave credit where it was due, then got specific about characters, choices, or ideas that kept the hype from matching their experience.
By Vocal Curation Team15 days ago in Resources
Static Challenge Winners
Static was fun because there really wasn’t one way to take it. Across the top 30 static became everything from radio noise and crossed signals to grief, attraction, anxiety, memory and the general buzz of having too much going on in your head. The prompt could stretch pretty far, and a lot of you ran with that. Whatever static meant to you, the trick was making us feel it.
By Vocal Curation Team27 days ago in Resources
Say It Again Challenge Winners
Looking across the shortlist, one of the things that really stands out was how rarely the repeated lines stayed put. They started as excuses, clichés, reassurances, jokes, or things we say without thinking, then came back a little different. Say It Again was a lot of fun to read because best entries didn’t just repeat themselves, they took the same words and kept finding something new.
By Vocal Curation Team29 days ago in Resources
The Posthumous Author Challenge Winners
As writers we spend plenty of time wondering our work will be received. The Posthumous Author asked what might happen when they’re no longer around to explain it. Across the shortlisted pieces, reputations were built from unfinished manuscripts, private archives, family memories, critical disagreements and plenty of misunderstanding. Some writers were celebrated, some misread and others became people they might barely have even recognized.
By Vocal Curation Teamabout a month ago in Resources
You Had to Be There Challenge Winners
Some memories don't survive because they were dramatic. They survive because the people who shared them never forgot how they felt. For the You Had to Be There challenge we asked writers to find meaning in moments that might sound ordinary to anyone else, and trust the small details to do the heavy lifting.
By Vocal Curation Teamabout a month ago in Resources
Not Quite There Challenge Winners
What was really cool about this challenge is that a surprising number of entries weren't held back by craft. They were held back by conscience. These writers weren't just trying to solve plot holes or tighten a structure. They were questioning whether they were being fair to their characters, their memories, or the people who inspired them.
By Vocal Curation Team2 months ago in Resources
Don’t Turn Around Challenge Winners
Ok, we are finally getting back to our regularly scheduled programming, thank you for bearing with us. Fear doesn't always announce itself. Sometimes it arrives as a prickling at the back of your neck, a familiar street that suddenly feels unfamiliar, or a detail that refuses to let go.
By Vocal Curation Team2 months ago in Resources
Out of the Dream Challenge Winners
When we launched Out of the Dream, we definitely expected plenty of shadowy figures and things lurking in the dark. We certainly got those, but we also got impossible cruise ships, surreal cults, lucid dream interrogations, apocalyptic visions and a truly alarming number of snakes.
By Vocal Curation Team3 months ago in Resources
They Shouldn't Have Come Here Challenge Winners
When we launched They Shouldn't Have Come Here, most of us expected horror to dominate the shortlist. And while plenty of writers embraced an eerie, more unsettling side of the prompt, one of the biggest surprises was seeing how many different directions it could go.
By Vocal Curation Team3 months ago in Resources
