Resources
From tips and tricks to product updates and inspiration, explore our resources to learn how to grow as a Vocal creator.
Challenges
Time Traveler Challenge Winners
We've all thought about it. Going back in time. What would we do? How would our actions alter the present and future? Of course, we can't take credit for this prompt, it's a classic, and for good reason.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 2 months ago in Resources
Time Capsule Haiku Challenge Winners
We've been asking ourselves lately why we keep doing these haiku Challenges because, frankly, they are very difficult to judge!
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 3 months ago in Resources
10 Ways Entering Vocal's Broken Mirror Challenge Can Make You a Better Writer
So, you're interested in writing a horror story for the Broken Mirror Challenge? Diving into the horror genre can do wonders for your writing skills. Not only will you learn to create a spine-chilling atmosphere and develop strong, relatable characters, but you'll also master the art of suspense and pacing. Horror writing encourages you to explore psychological themes, experiment with narrative techniques, and craft impactful endings. You'll become more resilient to feedback and improve your ability to engage readers emotionally. Ready to take your writing to the next level? Let's review the elements that define the terrifying world of horror fiction together.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 3 months ago in Resources
If Walls Could Talk Challenge Winners
If walls could talk, what would they say? Of course, there's so much more to walls, these ubiquitous, often overlooked necessities. Walls give us comfort but they also pen us in. They stave off the elements but also block us from the world. At once necessary and obtrusive, walls are often the only witnesses to our most intimate moments, and at the same time, the very things that allow us to be intimate.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 3 months ago in Resources
Uncommon Challenge Winners
Write a poem about something rare. The beauty of this Challenge prompt is that rarity is in the eye of the poet. For a new parent, sleep is rare. For a Hawaiian, snow is rare. For most of us, winning $1,000 is rare.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 3 months ago in Resources
Improbable Paradise Challenge Winners
When thinking about winter we tend to give all the cold credit to December and January. But every year we're hit with February, that sneaky, hanger-on that blasts us with one final sweep of cold. That's why we thought it might be a good idea to send our Creators (and ourselves!) on a vacation of the mind to a tropical island. Of course, this being Vocal, we had to throw a twist into the prompt.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 4 months ago in Resources
Quadru-haiku Challenge Winners
Every day, we walk into our offices thinking how we can make Vocal better. It's a never ending task that we love trying to accomplish. But what's most fun about this daily challenge is that we often look to our Creators to guide us.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 4 months ago in Resources
Reset Your Password Challenge Winners
Over the past few years, passwords have gone from secret little words to full on equations. Passwords are now outsize, elaborate, forever shifting labyrinths, complex enough that they could never be guessed person or machine. And while this is fine and good (if annoying) for safety's sake, there's a more bizarre project in motion. Each time we change our passwords, we have to take something of ourselves, a memory, a habit, a favorite food, and put it into the digital ether. We have to dig even deeper than the last password, come up to the surface with another memory, another name or reference that means enough to us that we won't forget it but not too much that we will degrade it by making it into a password that will undoubtedly have to change after the next data breach. We gain access to online spaces by giving of our secret selves.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 4 months ago in Resources
Full Moon Challenge Winners
Write a poem inspired by a crazy dream. In some ways, dreams are like poems. They often hide their meaning through imagery and allusion. It takes a keen eye to decipher both. And if you look at them too closely, you may not make out their meaning.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 4 months ago in Resources
Behind the Last Window Challenge Winners
Ah, dystopia. A playground for everything grim, hopeful and futuristic. For this Challenge, we asked you to start your dystopian stories with the following sentence:
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 5 months ago in Resources
So, How Do We Count Syllables?
In her story, Dear Vocal Judges/Fellow Poets, Creator Harmony Kent asks questions that we have been wrestling with ever since we launched Vocal. In reality, the very halls of linguistics have echoed with these same questions and attempts to quantify and measure all parts of the English language for a very long time. As often as we can, we like to defer to the experts on these issues, though even they, the keepers of the language, have conflicting views, and so do we.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 5 months ago in Resources
Blue Haiku Challenge Winners
We love haiku Challenges. Not just because poems are shorter and it's easier to give each work its proper due, though it's always a joy when we get to spend more time with each piece of writing. No, we love haiku Challenges because they push writers to their creative limits. How much can be said in so few words? How deep can one go, quickly?
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 5 months ago in Resources
