Young Writers Society

Welcome to Squills, the YWS news bulletin.

This thread is the equivalent of a YWS newspaper, with each post in this thread being a news article. The focus of this paper is on the happenings of YWS at any given day, but members are welcome to submit their own news items. Keep in mind that all postings must comply with the YWS rules.

Submissions will be taken over the span of the day. Tomorrow, this thread will be locked and a new one will take its place. This feature runs all week long, featuring special coverage during events and certain occasions.

If you have questions, news tips, letters to the editor, or if you would like to join the Squills Team, then please PM Griffinkeeper or AlfredSymon.

Creative Staff
Technical Adviser: Griffinkeeper
Editor-in-Chief: AlfredSymon
General Correspondent: SparkofDoubt
Community Reporter: ShadowVyper

Share the Love
This month of love, hear tips and experiences from our own YWS writers about writing romance and, well, love itself!

Good evening everybody (morning to those who're in a different time zone)! Here we are in Squills' newest featurette, Share the Love, wherein we can hear from our own YWS writers about the month of hearts!

Tonight's guest is Blues who, as everyone already knows, is simply one of the many wonderful photographers of the Young Writers Society! Let's sit down with him and talk about capturing love in photography!

AlfredSymon: Hey Bluesy! Thanks again for agreeing to our terms and allowing us to have you for today's Share the Love
Blues: Woot!
Thank you for this opportunity

Alf: Let's go on to our first question for today.
Do you think that February is a good time to find inspiration for photographic works?
Blues: When is it not time to find inspiration! Every season brings something new. Snow in the winter; Flowers in spring; the colours in Autumn; the atmosphere in the summer.

Alf: Of course it is! But how about 'love' and 'romance'? Do you think that photographers can benefit during this month?
Blues: Oh yes, definitely! Valentine's day is coming up so that can provide so many photo opportunities, whether you've found that special someone or whether you haven't met them yet. Capturing the atmosphere is the key, in my opinion, to Valentine's day photos (Of course, others may have other ideas!)

Alf: Mmm hmm. How about you? When you're trying to capture love in a photo, what exactly it IS that you're capturing?
Is it a couple of people? Scenery? Nature?
Blues: Personally? Candles. They emit a warm, orange glow that is both calming and romantic. I love to play with colours, so warm colours would be what I focus on. The warm atmosphere of the photo could be interpreted as the warmth in one's heart that they feel around that special someone.
Unfortunately, we don't have flowers in February, but if we did then I would definitely want to include that! xD

Alf: Wow! Very wise words there, Blues! I never thought candles could be this expressive.
Anyways, another Q: What should we focus on when capturing 'love' in a photograph?
Blues: I'd suggest that you create a mind map and think about what love means for you, and think about how you could reflect that into your photograph. Do you feel warm around someone you love (or would you imagine you would?) Maybe you would want to reflect someone's kindness in a photo. How would you do that? A facial expression? A physical object? An abstract idea?

Alf: Wow! Thank you Blues for that very informative reply I think you're very right with that; mind-mapping is a very positive step.
One last, but not a question. Rather a request
Blues: Ooh, go ahead!
Alf: Can we see a photo of yours that depict the idea of 'love'? I know our readers would like to!
Blues: Oh! Sure
Alf: Yay!



Blues: The photo symbolises love and how people have imperfections - hence the blue decorative water crystals - but that's what makes people seem perfect to the other half. I also believe that love doesn't necessarily have to be about romance; friendship and family are just as important and are your support through the hard times and the source of laughter through the good.

Alf: Beautiful. Simply beautiful. You have really written a thousand words in that one symbolic photograph.
Blues: Thank you I'm flattered! xD
Alf: Thank you Blues for the wonderful time you have given to us

And to that thanks does our show for tonight finally ends

Wait for more of Share the Love at this week's Squills!

It seems like we all find the things that we like to do, and fall into a rut. Whether spend our days Storybooking, reviewing, or following debates, many of us tend to neglect the Welcome Mat. In light of this, I give you New Arrivals, a new column to introduce the new members who post in the Welcome Mat. So without further ado, here is the inaugural New Arrivals post.

New Arrivals

opaquewillow is an easygoing lass who answers to many names, including Oj, and pretty much any variation of her name you fancy. She's already finished a novel, but needs to revise it, and is looking for friends to help her. She turns eighteen today, so go bid her welcome and a happy birthday!

arianaSarroyo enjoys writing poetry, and is looking for feedback on two lovely poems that she wrote. So go introduce yourselves and enjoy her beautiful words.

If you didn't know, or you haven't noticed, the Clubs tab has recently returned. Now, things have been pretty quiet, but Nate's working on making them return fully so that we can all enjoy them as much as we did a year or so ago. According to the last update Nate gave, you can now edit your clubs by going to Settings and clicking the tab that says "Clubs".


I've been playing with it all morning, looking at all the old clubs. It's quite fun, so go check it out and enjoy! And don't forget to check for Apollo updates here.