Advice
12 Ways Anthony Bourdain Broke Every Rule of Writing
Modern commercial writing has become an optimized, soul-crushing assembly line. Young authors are fed a relentless, processed diet of algorithmic YouTube tutorials, sterilized TikTok tip-sheets, and MFA-approved workshops — all engineered to churn out a single, bloodless product. The goal? Write exactly like The Hunger Games . The publishing machine demands lean, strong active verbs, lots of action, minimal description, and a near-religious, absolute obedience to “show, don’t tell.”
By Scott Christenson🌴about 4 hours ago in Writers
The Parents We Never Got To Choose. Content Warning.
Children don’t choose their parents. Given the chance, many children would say that they wish they could. Tag, you're it. First of all, let me say this: Consider yourself blessed if you can have children. Many women can't. Now, moving on to the story.
By Nerissha Huntabout 4 hours ago in Writers
When Music Memory Makes The Point
Who remembers this one then? Because I most certainly do; that's for certain. I wrote about the latest that's been happening concerning our current house move in THE WAITING GAME, which Vocal published seventeen days ago; it was only a short three-minute read, but seventeen days on from that story, and it has forever reminded me of a song from 1985 that has stuck in my head ever since. This one particular song replays over and over again, every time I stumble past a packed and sealed box... which is currently every single minute of every day, typically because there isn't any room in our house that doesn't contain... boxes... small boxes, medium-sized ones, and extremely large and heavy boxes, labeled neatly for when the time eventually arrives for that move.
By Jonathan Townendabout 7 hours ago in Writers
FROM PAIN TO POWER. NO FATE UNCHALLENGED.
There’s something strange about creating your own world. At first, it exists nowhere except inside your head. You can see the characters. You can hear them arguing. You know what they want and what they’re afraid of. But nobody else can see any of it.
By Lyon Gabera day ago in Writers
Writing a book
This is not a short piece on writing a book, but a question that I would like to ask whoever may know. I have written a book that I titled 'Acrostics of Just Random Words' for which I wrote over 50 of them. I am thinking 50 one per page for 50 pages, but some are really short so they will probably be on one page or maybe not. So, that is what I am asking is 50 pages a good length for a book like this? If it is I am now working on Book two of Acrostics now.
By Mark Graham4 days ago in Writers
Recovery Mechanics
For a long time, my post-breakup survival script was written in advance. The moment the silence became too heavy, the routine took over. I would reach out to an acquaintance or find a technical stranger, using someone else's body to temporarily dull the sharp edges of my own trauma and validate my existance as a desirable woman and nothing was wrong with me. It was never a quick fix, But a familiar way to numb the ache, but it always left me feeling more disconnected from myself than before Always resulted with me in a downward spiral of self loathing.
By Syl De'Vil5 days ago in Writers
The Sovereign Ink
There is a common delusion among phantoms that because they occupy a corner of a memory, they somehow hold the pen. When a name ripples through a piece of writing, or an old echo from twenty years ago provides the raw spark for a paragraph, the ghost often mistakes themselves for the creator. They look at the architecture of the prose, the depth of the emotion, and the fierce gravity of the words, and they flatter themselves with the belief that they are the ones driving the current. But a muse is not an architect; a muse is just a passing stone thrown into an ocean that was already infinitely deep.
By Syl De'Vil5 days ago in Writers
Fault Lines
Fault Lines The pain of a mild dysautonomic storm is a constant, grating, pounding friction, that if you do not manage in time will turn severe in a moments notice. On paper, today shouldn't be a total loss. The symptoms aren't catastrophic, but they are entirely debilitating all the same. It is a quiet undercurrent of exhausting physical pain that keeps my body locked in a state of high alert, hijacking the energy I need just to think, let alone create.
By Syl De'Vil6 days ago in Writers
