Vocal Challenges Made Me a Better Writer and Keep Me Writing

For new writers like myself, this article is meant to convey the things I’ve personally learned by participating in the various types of Vocal challenges; things that I think made me a better writer. I’m sure there are many more lessons than what I’ve listed, but these are the ones that brought me “aha!” moments.

The Impetus

In 2020, the midst of the pandemic, the world went through an existential crisis and I was no different. Facing what felt like a lottery of death, on lockdown, watching the Johns Hopkins pandemic worldwide death counter, while drinking daily and heavily, I thought to myself – You might die before all this is over. What haven’t you done but want to do before you die? My answer was, I want to be a writer. I think that would be cool.

My Pedigree

None. I have no history of short story writing or writing classes outside the required courses for my Bachelor of Science degree, nor are any of my family members writing-inclined. But I am a voracious reader--always have been--and I think it would be cool to be a writer.

Each challenge taught me a writing skill

Through trial and error, and my sweat and struggle over every Vocal challenge I entered, I’ve gained new skills and insights into the craft of writing. While I’ve grouped and ordered my "lessons learned" below, they didn’t come to me in that order. My path was and is a hodge-podge of lessons from short stories, poetry, and flash/microfiction. If each genre’s lesson were a musical note it would sound like chaotic jazz.

Poetry

Admittedly, my poetry is Vogon-esque (those who know, know). My analytical nature makes these the hardest challenges for me. The idea of conveying a feeling (at all) without naming (telling) it is still difficult. But each poem I struggled over brought me a new understanding with the doing of it. These are the poetry challenges "lessons learned" that I bring to my flash/microfiction and short stories.

Poetry Lessons for Story-Telling – Things made clear to me through my struggle to create poetry:

1. The rhythm and cadence of language. Syllable count and the stacking rhythms of poetry, when applied to a story, can put the reader into a kind of trance that places them “in” the story and creates a smoothness or flow to a story.

2. How to emote feelings, sensations, and pictures through word selection, and combinations (show not tell). Story example: “Jimmy went down to the store and returned with only one ice cream cone for himself and I feel hurt that he didn’t think about me.” Versus: “My heart sinks with every drip of Jimmy’s ice cream, his hand holding the melting cone purchased for one.” What a dick. Jimmy should be less selfish.

3. How to say it differently. Story example: “The big bent joists of the old barn were a perfect place for a hanging.” Versus: “Large and looming, the arch and thrust of the joists make for a perfect hanging place.”

4. Word Selection – each word has a different connotation and feel. I didn’t pay much attention to this until the poetry challenges. For instance, the word naked is usually the word of choice to describe embarrassment, unwilling vulnerability (stripped naked), and sometimes freedom–to name just a few examples. The closely related word bare is often used to describe voluntary vulnerability (to bare one's soul), bravery, and strength in spirit in the revealing. I could say: “I stood naked before the mirror waiting for my lover” (implying a forthcoming physical encounter). Versus: “I stood bare before the mirror waiting for my lover” (implying both a forthcoming physical and emotional encounter).

Flash/Microfiction

Soooooo haaaarrrrd! For someone who’s used to telling, with a lot of words in the name of clarity, these challenges are almost as hard as the poetry challenges. The limited word count requires a boiled-down essence of the story while keeping it exciting.

What Flash/Microfiction taught me:

1. The use, importance, and value of good dialogue to move a story forward. Before flash/microfiction, I wasn’t much for dialogue. Imagining what a character would say and what the other character would say back--bland and boring, to say the least. Then I wrote flash/microfiction. Dialogue, for me, became a necessary ingredient, as water is to soup. It sets the tone, gives insight into the characters, sets the scene, implies the back story (that I can’t write), and quickly moves the story forward. Before these challenges, I didn’t know dialogue could be used for these things.

2. Much like poetry, precise language and the economy of words are at the heart of these challenges. They force me to find a different way to say a thing. Example: “The huntsman swung his axe and sliced open the wolf's stomach, as the wolf leaped over him.” Versus: “The wolf leaped up as the axe came down, slicing open its belly” (17 words vs. 13).

3. How to imply a thing vs. using all the words. Example: “Panicked, my eyes dart to Midge and hers to the ogre beneath us.” From this one short sentence, we know there are at least two people. One is panicked probably due to the ogre beneath them, one is female, and they're above the creature hiding (presumably on a rock wall or parapet or something high). It feels like they're not supposed to be there – either sneaking in or out of somewhere. The genre is likely fantasy because there’s an ogre.

The short story challenges taught me:

1. Show not tell, but not too much – balance. My very first story was all “tell.” When I tried incorporating “show” it was too much, too detailed and the story wasn’t moving forward. Most of it had to be cut. For me, I learned that “show” should be woven into the “tell,” like weaving a tartan plaid.

2. Editing – cut the fluff. I’ve heard this a thousand times and it’s true. If that paragraph or line doesn’t give a piece of information that we need to know for the story to move forward, cut it out. Leaving it in makes the story drag and become boring.

Vocal Challenges Keep Me Writing

To be a writer, you have to write. It seems a simple and “duh” kind of statement, but doing it can be tough when it’s done in my spare time. However, when a Vocal challenge is put forth it hits me like a gauntlet to the face. And, like any “double dog dare” I feel the obligatory need to respond. I don’t always successfully meet the deadlines, but the motivation is there.