Advice

I Used Four AI Models to Write a 10,000-Word Article in One Night. Here’s What It Cost Me.
At 11:07 p.m. last Tuesday, I pasted a 10,000-word brief into my writing tool and hit go. Half an hour later, a red bar appeared: quota almost gone. I scrolled the draft. Correct. Boring. I deleted a sentence. Typed it again. Deleted it. The cursor blinked. I made coffee. Forgot it.
By Jin2 months ago in Writers
The Draft Was Clean. It Was Also Dead.
I had two sheets of paper in front of me. One described what the story had to contain: childhood, betrayal, a goodbye that never happened. The other described what the language must never do: no “truly,” no “it’s worth noting,” no narrator stepping in to summarize a character’s feelings.
By Jin2 months ago in Writers
The Colonel’s Drawer, the Taisa’s Wound: How to Write Military Characters in Detective Fiction
A Fusion Writing Guide for Military Characters in Detective Fiction A writer sits at a desk, wanting to write a retired colonel. The first image that comes to mind is a country estate, rose bushes, sherry, a tweed jacket, a copy of The Times , and a hound asleep at his feet. Then the writer gets stuck. The image is too smooth. It fits into any story. The reader takes one look and already knows what comes next: either he is the murderer, or the victim, or the eccentric old man who supplies the crucial clue.
By Jin2 months ago in Writers
Are You Dark Enough. Top Story - September 2026.
Are you dark enough? Would you challenge yourself to be darker? Is it something you could embrace? Or would you fear being darker or embracing the darkness inside you? For this particular reason, if you can't embrace the darkness, you're out of your depth.
By Jason Morton2 months ago in Writers
A Halloween story
Do you know who these skulls are? They know who you are and you better be looking out for them. You never know where or when they will appear. It could be a bring sunny day or a clear night maybe even on a cloudy and rainy night never know for sure. You must keep your eyes open from now till October 31. They will taunt you when and if they see you hoping that you are not that vigilant of a human. They are looking for a body to inhabit some way. So be on the lookout for them.
By Mark Graham2 months ago in Writers
When you know it’s time to let go
Breaking an attachment is hard because your life has started to include this person even when they aren’t physically there.
By Annam M Gordon2 months ago in Writers
I Have 99 Friends But
I find that writing makes you act differently, like you are role-playing with yourself on how to write and think harder. But you actually loosen up when you are in the zone. You forget who you are writing to and for whom.
By Edward Smith2 months ago in Writers
The Devil's in the Details
I had it recently pointed out to me by Paul Stewart that I am a very detail-driven writer. It wasn’t an insult; in fact, it was a compliment, as he said that it took my writing to the next level. RMS seems to agree as he made a similar observation when he awarded me with second place in his unofficial August horror challenge for my story “The Dreamwalker’s Battle”.
By Stephanie Hoogstad2 months ago in Writers
That First Job
Who remembers going out trying to get their first job? Actually, if I remember my first ever job and I do not think it really counts, but it was when I was 11 going on 12 when I would help my dad care for several yards for I my job was to trim the sidewalks and weed the gardens and, in the Fall, raking the leaves and there were a lot of leaves for the owners of the yards. Anyway, I took over cutting those yards the next year and continued doing those for the, I believe, almost 20 years or so. Like I said really do not think that really qualifies as a first job.
By Mark Graham2 months ago in Writers
Writing Reflections: Xerxes
Happy Saturday once again! This week, I noticed that a new batch of challenges was released here on Vocal. In particular, one that caught my eye was the Steal From Yourself Challenge . For those of you who haven’t seen this challenge yet, here’s the prompt:
By Stephanie Hoogstad2 months ago in Writers
The Haiku/Senryū (川柳) Paradox
Introduction A lot of creators are publishing daily Haiku/Senryū (川柳) based on songs of their choice and I have given them a little promostion in this piece:
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 2 months ago in Writers
Keeping Things Tidy On Your Vocal Stories
Introduction Although I have written about these things before (see the links in the conclusion) I am still wondering if most Vocal Creators publish their work and then forget about it.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 2 months ago in Writers