alwaysawriter
is back to writing and critiquing.
Speaker of the Forum
Gender: 
Age: 14
Joined: 04 May 2008
Posts: 899
Reviews: 126
Country: Hiding where , somehow, everyone can find me.
342 Points
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 Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:54 am Post subject: Completly Lost? Come here! |
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Hi, welcome to YWS! I'm guessing if you're reading this, you're new and/or completly lost. Don't worry; it happens to everyone. When I first came here, I couldn't tell you how to do anything. Now, a short four months later, I can navigate pretty well. This is complied from Nate's Five Most Common Questions of a New Member in the Lounge. In no particular order:
1. Why can't we use chatspeak?
This is a writing site. We concentrate more on spelling words the right way than we do trying to find shortcuts for them.
2. Where do I put my story?
That depends. What is it about? Is it set in the past? Put it in Historical Fiction. Is it Nonfiction? Put it in the Nonfiction section. As Griffenkeeper put in Fiction Discussion and Tips:
Action Adventure Fiction has action stories that are set in modern times.
Science Fiction has a story set in a futuristic setting or an alternate reality.
Fantasy Fiction is set in a world with mythical, usually medieval, settings. If your story has dragons, elves, or knights in shining armor, this is probably where your story belongs.
Romantic Fiction are composed of love stories, with love as the central theme.
Historical Fiction usually has stories composed of a realistic past setting. If you're writing about an American GI on the shores of Normandy Beach, this is probably where your story goes.
Fan-Fiction is fiction done by fans in honor of a certain author or story.
Other Fiction is fiction that doesn't fit into the above categories.
Non-Fiction is composed of a factual account. You don't make up non-fiction stories, you tell them. Essays usually fall in this category.
For poetry, simply look at the info under each poetry review forum.
3. What's a review?
I'm glad you asked this question. When you review, you basically edit a story or poem. For fiction, you talk about grammar, plot, characters, setting, etc and for poetry, you talk about line breaks, stanzas, literary elements, etc.
Remember the 2:1 ratio: you must review two other works before you can submit one of your own.
4. What are points?/How do I get them?
Points are used to help determine the Featured Member. Points are reset to 300 every two weeks to help determine the next Featured Member. Points are also used to post stories/poems and in Storybooks. To get fifty points for a post, you basically need forty words (250 characters). Points aren't available in places like the Lounge, Randomness, and In the News. Places to get them include usergroups, reviews, the Welcome forum, etc.
5. How can I post things?
I probably should have listed this first. Find a thread you'd like to comment in then go to the very bottem of the page. Right under This Thread was created on... you'll see a Post Reply button. Click on it, say what you want to say, then press Submit then you're done! You can either view the message or go back to the forum. Don't forget to go to the last page if it's a debate so you don't end up arguing with the person on the first page in a forty-two paged debate.
Posting a story/poem costs 150 points while posting a topic in Advanced Critiques or Storybooks will cost you 500.
6. How can I add friends?
Go to the person who you want to become friends with's profile. Right under the banner add, there should be a thing that says Add To Friends. Click that. You can either personalize the message or leave it as is and submit it.
7. Who are the people in colors?
The green people are the senior and junior mods. Senior mods control and look over all of the forums while junior mods can only look over specific areas. Senior mods are dark green and junior mods are light green. You can see what mods are in what group by looking at the forums and clicking on the green groups next to Moderatered By...
Greeters are the blue people. They help new members learn their way around the site and participate in the Welcome forum frequently.
Instructors are the purple people. They post writing tips, have the best reviews, may offer online classes, and may even help people improve their reviews.
The red people are the administrators. There are few of them and they can do anything on the site: lock/delete threads, etc.
8. What are ranks?
Ranks depend on how many posts you make:
New Member: 0-4 posts
Novice: 5-14 posts
Junior Writer: 15 - 49 posts
Writer: 50 - 99 posts
Senior Writer: 100 - 249 posts
Novelist: 250 - 499 posts
Speaker of the Forum: 500+ posts
Master of the Forum is 1,000 and over, I think, and no one's ever said what the other two were.
9. What are the stars?
Stars depend on how many reviews you have. I'm working towards my fourth star.  :
Yellow Stars:
5 Reviews = 1 Star
25 Reviews = 2 Stars
75 Reviews = 3 Stars
150 Reviews = 4 Stars
250 Reviews = 5 Stars
Blue Stars:
350 Reviews = 1 Blue Star, 4 Yellow Stars
450 Reviews = 2 Blue Stars, 3 Yellow Stars
550 Reviews = 3 Blue Stars, 2 Yellow Stars
And so on and so forth
Red Stars:
850 Reviews = 1 Red Star, 4 Blue Stars
950 Reviews = 2 Red Stars, 3 Blue Stars
And so on and so forth
10. How can I get those fancy letters below my name?
You become a Novelist at 250 posts, in which you go to My YWS and can type in a custom title. The custom title will go under your username.
I didn't list every question because this was getting too long already.
Credit goes to Griffinkeeper for a basic idea of what was what in Fiction and Nate for the ranks and star system. You can find all of those here: http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewarticlebody.php?t=19230&sid=6bb09fcc4b03f17b5e319c9b485ab1d2 http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?t=813 and http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/topic11936.html
As always, PM me for anything and/or questions about this article.
-alwaysawriter |
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Need help? PM me or e-mail me! A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong. -Orson Welles. [JabberHut] 4:41 pm: I love how you say you're late when you're not late, Always XD -on me zoning out |
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