Top Stories
New stories you'll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
SWS: Leave the Light On Challenge Winners
For Leave the Light On, we asked for stories that unfold over a single night. Between sunset and sunrise, you gave us rooms thick with memory, countdowns that tightened with every passing second, forests alive with prayer and doubt, and hauntings that refused to stay buried.
By Vocal Curation Teamabout a year ago in Resources
The Slasher Problem. Top Story - September 2025.
Imagine you're reading a story about someone who's trapped in a room with a hungry tiger. As a normal, comparatively weak human being they have no hope of besting the tiger in a fight. However, in the far corner of the room is a high-caliber hunting rifle: the perfect defense against a dangerous predator, if they could only get to it. Through trickery and careful maneuvering, the protagonist finally manages to secure the rifle. They turn it on the tiger, aim, fire, and the shot hits the animal directly between the eyes. The tiger immediately falls to the ground. It's a wound deadly enough to kill anything, after all.
By Daniel Bradburyabout a year ago in Horror
Businesswoman Chapter 241. Top Story - September 2025.
Inside the new company, there existed no home office. The headquarters remained a PO box in Wilmington. Lisa allowed the users to power the site. Each amount of scrolling added to the revenue. No ads popped up on her site. She had gained a million subscribers in ten days and the number kept scaling upward.
By Skyler Saundersabout a year ago in Chapters
Notebook Entries. Top Story - September 2025.
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: Write one page a day. Concentrate on observation and description, not feeling. For example, if you receive a letter, the ordinary reaction is to write in the diary, “I received a letter that made me happy.” (or sad). Instead, describe the size of the envelope, the quality of the paper, and what the stamps looked like. Keep your diary without using the verb to be. Forms of the verb to be don’t create any vivid images. By avoiding its use, you get into the habit of choosing more interesting verbs. You’ll also be more accurate. For example, some people will say “John Smith is a really funny guy,” when what they really mean is “John Smith makes me laugh,” or “I like John Smith’s sense of humor.” Experiment with sentence length. Keep the diary for a week in sentences of ten words or less. Then try writing each day’s account in a single sentence. Avoid use of “and” to connect the long sentence; try out other conjunctions. Switch your diary to third person for a while, so that instead of writing I, you can write about he or she. Then, try mixing the point of view. Start the day in third person and switch into first person to comment on the action. By interspersing first and third-person points of view, you can experiment with stream of consciousness and the interior monologue. Try keeping your diary in an accent — first the accent of somebody who is learning how to write English, then the accent of somebody learning to speak English. Keep it in baby talk; Baby want. Baby hurt. Baby want food. Baby want love. Baby walk. Try making lists for a diary entry — just a record of the nouns of that day: toothbrush, coffee, subway tokens, schoolbooks, gym shoes. The Objective: To enhance your powers of observation and description without having to juggle the demands of characterization and plot.
By Denise E Lindquistabout a year ago in Writers
Jogger's Trail by Donna Fox In Review. Top Story - September 2025.
So gather round, friends, for a review of another Vocal writer's self-published book. This time, we are focusing on The Queen of Acrostics (as assigned by me), Donna Fox (HKB), and her rather excellent YA supernatural tale Jogger's Trail.
By Paul Stewartabout a year ago in BookClub
9/11 Remembered: Debi & Sandra. Top Story - September 2025.
As the the 24 year anniversary of the September 11th attacks approaches I wanted to get the perspectives of those who were effected, whether that be directly or indirectly by interviewing them. In this interview I spoke with Debi Saunet who lost her cousin Sandra Taylor in the attack on the Pentagon that morning.
By Joe Pattersonabout a year ago in Interview
Awakened Potential. Top Story - September 2025.
We are living in a time, where spiritual awakenings are becoming more commonplace, and with these awakenings taking place within individuals, and collectives, it is something that I don't believe there is much navigation in regards to.
By Kaylon Forsythabout a year ago in Humans
Deviltry. Top Story - September 2025.
Dad met me at the door, wearing a slightly dorky wizard’s robe. With a sparkly pointed hat, no less. When I got inside, I saw the living room curtains were closed. And Mom and her coven had rolled up the carpets, chalked the circle, and lit the candles.
By Meredith Harmonabout a year ago in Fiction
Social Anxiety and the pain it inflicts. But also the victory when you overcome… . Top Story - September 2025. Content Warning.
I was certain that every encounter would lead to bullying. These strangers all had a plan, and they would turn their backs on me. I would be burnt like sienna if they rejected me. I would never leave the house again because of it, my body and mind would be like an open wound.
By Caitlin Charltonabout a year ago in Psyche
