Squills 10/6-10/13/13

Welcome to Squills, the official news bulletin of the Young Writers Society!

What will you find here? Tons of interesting news about YWS, including but not limited to: articles about writing, art, and the world of humanities; interviews with YWS members; shameless plugs; link round-ups; and opinionated columns.

And where will all of this come from? Take a look at our fantastic creative staff!

Spoiler

Editor-in-Chief
Hannah

General Editors
Iggy
ShadowVyper

Friendly Neighborhood Robot
SquillsBot

Friendly Neighborhood Cow
CowLogic

Literary Reporter
SparkofDoubt

Community Reporter
Sapi

Storybook Reporter
AfterTheStorm

Link Cowgirl
megsug

Quibbles Columnist
skorlir

Social Correspondent
StellaThomas

General Reporters
BlackNether12
ArcticMonkey
HomeschooledTeen

Past Editors-in-Chief
GriffinKeeper
AlfredSymon

Of course, our content can’t come only from our staff. We also depend on you to help keep Squills successful. You’re all a part of a writing community, after all. If you’re interested in submitting to Squills, pop on over to the Reader’s Corner to find out how you can get involved by contributing an article or participating in other Squills activities.

Well, that’s all I have for now. So, what are you waiting for? Enjoy!

1. HOW TO NOT COPY OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK
2. HOW TO GET TO KNOW YOUR CHARACTER BETTER 101
3. A MOD MOMENT: RYDIA
4. ESSAY EXTAORDINAIRE
5. FEATURED RESOURCE ARTICLE
6. GREEN ROOM GALLERY
7. COW SAYS OCTOBER 6th, 2013
8. SOCIETY PAGES
9. STORYBOOK UPDATE
10. NEW ARRIVALS
11. THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 10\5
12. SHAMELESS PLUGS
13. SUBSCRIBERS

HOW TO NOT COPY OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK
written by Hannah < PM: >

Plagiarism: to writers, the greatest sin. We strive for originality and creativity, so why would we copy someone else's work? Beware the academic essay and take the following five tips with you.

1. Assess the Situation

We often think of plagiarism as something only terrible, nasty, dishonest people can do. In reality, a number of factors could lead a person to consider plagiarism, but many of these factors relate more to non-fiction writing. For members of YWS, the most common temptation toward plagiarism is a result of the academic essay. We want a good grade and don't feel confident that words we think up on our own can earn that, so we pick a little off an article here, sprinkle some in there and hope it comes out looking fresh and high quality.

Just take a step back. In most schools, if your teacher discovers any portion of your essay has been plagiarised, you will automatically fail the assignment, sometimes even the entire course. Some universities expel students for any instance of plagiarism.

So what's really worse: a low grade and a chat with the teacher to plan how to make it better, or losing your chance at a degree entirely?

2. Use Direction Quotations

If you find yourself in the situation where no other words will do, have no fear. This does not mean you have to submit yourself to terrible risk and moral turmoil. You just need to learn how to use direct quotations.

Direct quotations are used when you want to signify to the reader that these words come directly from another source and are not your own material. You must cite the source (which can happen any number of ways) to finalize the announcement that you are not claiming the text as your product. It is, however, your essay, right? Which means you can doctor the direct quotation to fit with your sentence.

Instead of copying an entire sentence with extra information, cut out what you don't need and replace it with an ellipsis. If you need to add or change words in order for the quote to make sense with the rest of the sentence, use square brackets [like this] to let the reader know what you've inserted is, in fact, your own. Read more on direct quotation MLA standards on the Purdue OWL website here .

3. Paraphrase the Information

If you've found your essay littered with quotations and you can't fit in a single sentence more, but you're still not confident in claiming the information as your own, try paraphrasing on for size. Paraphrasing is the practice of intaking information, processing it, and churning it out in a way that it is distinct from the original presentation.

To paraphrase, you should avoid using the same words, sentence structure, and thought construction as the original passage, but leave the main idea and original source reference intact. Check out some examples of the differences between a good paraphrase, a good summary, and a plagiarised (but slightly altered) passage at the Purdue OWL's page on paraphasing .

4. Synthesize a Revelation

Arguably the most difficult, but undoubtedly the most effective way to avoid plagiarism is to read so much information on the topic you want to present that you've absorbed the information and can pull from genuine memory instead of heavily referencing your sources. It's difficult because often what you're assigned to write about for school is a topic you have no base information on, which means you have to start from scratch.

But start from scratch you will, if you must. Instead of leaning heavily on one website that seems to give you all the information you need, act like a skeptic. Pretend you need proof from at least two other websites before you can believe the information you found at the first. By the time you've read through all three pages, you'll have a more general idea of the content instead of specific sentence structures clogging up your attempt to produce original material.

5. Orchestrate a Celebration

Have you done it? Have you survived another pressure-cooker exam season? Are you more confident in your ability to present your own work with pride? If you've learned even a little bit from this article, pat yourself on the back and remember that as proud as you are of your fiction and poetry, that's the quality and enthusiasm you are capable of putting into academic essays and articles as well.

HOW TO GET TO KNOW YOUR CHARACTER BETTER 101
written by SparkOfDoubt < PM: >



As we approach NaNoWriMo, @SparkOfDoubt prepares articles about NaNo prep!

Characters are difficult. If anyone knows, it's me. In my new novel for NaNoWriMo, I love my main character's brother more than I love my main character, and I want to make the novel all about him... Even though that wouldn't be in the novel's, or his, best interests. This is why I've decided that the topic of characters is the best first post for my NaNoWriMo prep series.


How To Make Your Characters Your Characters

There are going to be a lot of people in your writing career that tell you they have the magic recipe for a perfect character.

That's most likely not true.

No one is ever sure about their characters, if they're any kind of a writer at all.

Basically, if you think you don't have any control over your characters, that they just do whatever they want, you're on the path to something awesome, but something also very annoying. Throughout these preparation posts, I'm going to be refrencing my saving grace (and writer bible), Spilling Ink by Ellen Potter and Anne Mazer.


Grab your computer, your pen, your paper, whatever you use to record your thoughts and get ready for a tell-all session worthy of a sleep over.

Next, make a list of all the questions you want to ask your character. You might start with asking what their favorite color is, or what they like for breakfast. They'll answer. You just have to listen. One question Ms. Potter says is the most important is:






Unlocking your character's heart's desire might just be the secret to getting your character to do what you want. Knowing what they love or what they need in life might truly be the super secret special ingredient to your magical character recipe.

After you finish asking your character all the questions you can think of, you'll know them better, or at least be at the beginning of a relationship with your character.


Tune in next week for an article about how to get over the plot-funk: when your plot just doesn't seem to be going to way you want it to.

A MOD MOMENT: RYDIA

written by Iggy < PM: >

Is there anyone here that remembers Kitty15? Well, as it turns out, a lot of people do, actually! And if you don't, that's the former username of the beloved @Rydia, one of the wonderful admins here on YWS. Squills sat down with her to see what it was like to have ultimate control a top position on the YWS Team .



Rydia: Oh dear, that is a tricky test! I can tell you the exact date I joined YWS because I used it as a password for a while (used - I would so not be admitting this if I still did!) so I joined on the 15th May 2007. I could hazard a guess at the others, let's try that. I'll even tell you the correct answers afterwards as I have it on my LinkedIn.

Soooo I think I was here six months before Nate asked me to be a JM which makes it November, which is the YWS birthday month and always awesomely busy so maybe they waited a few weeks, uh 3rd Oct 2007? [Correct Answer: 6th Oct 2007]

Then I was a JM about a year before I became a GM and there is a tendency to bring people on toward the end of the year so I'm going to guess the 28th Nov 2008. [Correct Answer: 30th Nov 2008]

The last one I think I actually know! It was the 24th December 2012, I'm almost certain! I was excited for Christmas so I was staying up late and of course that means checking e-mails and stuff on YWS. Then boom! A message from Nate with just 'Hey' in the title. I had to ask him about something anyway so I figured maybe he'd already thought about it and what's Christmas without fixing something on YWS? But instead, he was asking me to be an admin and I accepted that night and was made all shiny and red just in time for the 25th! Obviously, this was a test on Nate's part because only crazy people who are on YWS after midnight on the 24th December get to be admins! [Correct]

Woah. That was... way easier than it should have been?



R: I'd like to think he still likes me! Haha, but yeah, we get on well. I think he appreciates my dedication to the site and my willingness to be forthright. That's very important when you're an admin because you're the last line of defense and if something's a bad idea or there's something we need to be doing better, you need to be ready to just come out and say it.




R: I've never thought of it as a very high-pressure job, but it is stressful at times. When there's a tricky case and you're deciding on whether to ban a member or not, that's hard. It's hard because you know YWS is this great place which could really help that person, but you've also got to think about the safety of the other members. It's never an easy one.



R: A mistake, huh. That's a tricky one because I totally haven't made any mistakes ever, nope, not me! Obviously I'm kidding. It's hard because I've actually made a lot. You can't be a mod as long as I have and not have some black holes in your past.

One of the best was the very first time I made everyone pink. I was in chat at the time, but my attention was really distracted because I was testing out the new ability to change the colour of people's usernames. This was a while after becoming a GM, when Nate wanted some extra help with the site so he decided to expand the GM's powers a little. Sep 16 2011 apparently (YWS Screencaps ).

Of course, I was totally down with this and decided to explore making my username pink. Not my favourite colour I'd like to add, but it had become my YWS colour because the very first time I went in chat, Dono (Hunter/ @Ego/ Buscador/ stop changing your name already!) had pink writing and at that time nobody else used pink because pink was Dono's colour! Being a mischievous and impetuous newb, I therefore decided I was going to have pink.

Right, so I made my username pink and people in chat started protesting that of all the colours I could choose, pink was such a bad choice. I think a few people disagreed, but the majority didn't seem to like the idea of pink. I don't remember after that if somebody dared me or if I just couldn't resist, but I made a group called Kitty's Minions (Note: my username was Kitty15 until about a year ago so that's why people call me kitty!) and I added people and turned their username's pink.

Now you're probably wondering where the mistake comes into this. Well, like I said, I'd been experimenting with changing the colour of usernames, but what I hadn't tried was changing them back. I must have put 20 or 30 people into this group, many of which were parts of the mod group or the greeters and instructors groups at the time. The trouble came when it was time to change them back. I was getting sleepy and @Meshugenah (yes I'm telling this story again darling) had come into chat and said I had to fix it before I went to bed. But then I realised I didn't know how to fix it and even though I begged Meshugenah for help, she said I had to work it out on my own. Which eventually I did, but part of the working out included having to remember what colour everyone was supposed to have and setting them back to default in the right groups!

I learned a valuable lesson that day... not to turn anybody pink.

Well actually, anyone who knows me knows that isn't true, but the lesson I learned was: always know what you're doing on a small scale before you attempt to do something big.



R: If you want to be a JM, then do as the JM's do. I don't mean telling people off because that's over-stepping the line, but review a few times a week, welcome members, run a few contests or discussion posts. There are a lot of different reasons people are picked for being a JM and every mod has a slightly different idea of what they're looking for. We also look for different criteria for each section so it's not as simple as 'this is how you be a JM' but if you're friendly, active and helpful, that's a good combination. It also helps to be good at gladiatorial combat, trust me.

ESSAY EXTRAORDINAIRE

written by KnightTeen < PM: >

Have you noticed the essays on technology that have recently been floating around our humble little home? When I can back after a very brief away period, this is what I came back to. Naturally, I was very confused, and upon questioning some of my friends, I found out that an entire school had joined, all in one day, in order to get feedback on their essays.

Many of these ended up in the spotlight for a period of time, and that brings us here, to the Featured Work Interview. As much as I would have loved to include all the essay writers in this (and what an article that would have been!), there can only be one Featured Work Interview. I think...

There were many good essays, but the one I chose to investigate was Technology: A Great Contributor by @christiantiquis, who I am happy to say has decided to stay on at YWS.



christiantiquis: I just registered here in YWS to upload an essay for my project, but I think this thing will make me an active member of YWS.



CQ: Only few of us will be active here. I'm really surprised of those people who reviewed on my essay and liked it.



It may have seemed intimidating to have so many essays on the same topic clog up the Green Room, but in times like that it's nice to remember the students who submitted them are people just like us. And who knows -- they could end up the next member at the top of the monthly leaderboards.

FEATURED RESOURCE ARTICLE written by SparkOfDoubt < PM: >

Often ignored, the Resources Forum is a treasure trove of wonderful knowledge. Every week, @SparkOfDoubt ventures into the Resources Forums to find articles to feature in Squills.

This week's featured Resource Article is Review the User Above You topic.

To mix it up a bit, I ventured into the Will Review For Food to see what I could find there, an adventure which lead me to this amazing little thread posted by @Kyllorac.

It's very simple: just review the person above you. Post a link to the work you'd like reviewed, and before you know it, you'll have a review to match! The rules are very simple.

Review the person above you, play nice with good reviews, and if you've reserved a spot, don't take longer than a day to review the person above you.

How awesome is that? It's a fun and creative way to review different people, genres, and types of literature while keeping the game going!

So what are you waiting for? Get to playing!

Be sure to check out this awesome topic and stayed tuned for next week's "Featured Resource Article" (formerly known as "Featured Writer's Corner Article").

GREEN ROOM GALLERY

written by KnightTeen < PM: >

We had a Review Day recently, and let me just say that it was easily the best since I joined back in May.

We not only emptied the Green Room , but ever since then many of the Knights have been striving to keep it to a decent number. Normally after a Review Day the GR fills right back up, to our average of about thirty. Thanks to the efforts of some of our most popular reviewers, the number hasn't even hit twenty yet.

Once I'm done writing this my next stop is the GR, where I hope assist in keeping that number down. If we all pitch in, it shouldn't be long until the Room is empty again. I know that we love to write, but we can't write without reviewing. That's what makes our world go round.

And that's why I'm here. To keep the world turning with the Green Room Gallery, meant to bring the GR works to your attention.

You all should know the drill by now. However, if you are a new member just reading Squills for the first time, my job as the GRG agent is to feature one Green Room work per week. The works in the GR have either never been reviewed, or only been reviewed once, and you can earn bonus points for reviewing them. Doesn't it sound fun? I think it does, which is why in the past few months I've completed over 150 Green Room reviews. If you think that's impressive, think again, because that's nothing compared to what some of our users have done.

This weeks Gallery is centered on The Invasion Chapter One written by @WritingAngel777, who has been a member since late July.







I think it sounds interesting. How about you? I have to tell you though, that this has a rating of 12+ with language, so if that bothers you, please don't read it.

What are you still here for? There's hundreds of works out there just waiting for you to discover them.

Go forth, and review!

COW SAYS OCTOBER 6th, 2013written by CowLogic < PM: >



So, in efforts to figure out the best search engine on the internet, I interviewed the most popular choices.

To each, I posed the question (in search form) "What is your secret?" to understand how each worked to be so popular.

Google replied with a link for me to go to a website to post my own secrets. This question-avoiding tactic of "you first" frustrated me, and I vowed immediately to not use Google anymore.

Bing showed me to a website in which the lyrics of a song called "What is Your Secret" were displayed. I admired their dedication to the soul of music and their ability to argue a case with evidence.

Ask directed me to a bunch of news articles under the header of "What's your secret?" Then and there, I realized that Ask.com sold out to the man. They had tapped into the mainstream thought circle and embraced believing everything they read in the news. Unable to believe this harsh trust of authority, I asked Ask the followup question of "How can you be so blind?" Rather than answering me like a free-minded individual, when it replied it was with links that advertised shades and blinds, expecting me to buy them! As a last attempt to show them the light of autonomy, I typed in "I don't want what you're selling, man!" Then it asked if I wanted to resell printed products through Vista.

In light of their compliance and enlightenment, I have to choose Bing over the others as my search engine of choice. Let me Google real quick to see how to make it my home page...

SOCIETY PAGES

written by Stella Thomas < PM: >

Don’t you love when trends take off? @Paracosm must, with the whole of YWS buzzing about their serial challenge, and both @Alvarin’s and @Blackwood’s first instalments being featured on the front page. Watch out, YWS, you’re about to get inundated with these things! I think the fame has been getting to @Blackwood’s head, because the People tab is full of pictures of a purple man (no, not Charlie McDonnell, sadly). I feel like an explanation is required…

Chat were having fun the other night reading each other’s ancient fiction, and a novel by an eight-year-old @OmarEhab resurfaced. Lady S still hasn’t elucidated all the facts about this piece of work but eye-witnesses say it was something to behold. “Eight years old and still full of hormones” was one of the phrases used to describe it. I’m sure we’re all dying to read it…

Meanwhile, our members are off having real lives. Like @Dreamy who was a part of a Guinness (wait, wasn’t Arthur’s day last week?) world record. Wow, pretty cool! Personally, I’d only enter if it was the Guinness world record for ‘most pairs of designer shoes’…

@Letiki has gotten a new tablet and won’t stop talking about all the amazing things it can do. We shall await with bated breath the results. @FatCowsSis had a band competition this week, I’d also love to hear the results of that. You’re all terrible, telling a girl only half the story and never the ending. Why I think I might just swoon…

@MooCowPoop got braces fitted- oh, I remember those days. Let’s hope the tightenings don’t get too painful- I hear the only cure is a hot whiskey but let’s not advocate underage drinking, shall we?

It’s October now, so apart from choosing what stylish Halloween costume you’ll be sporting (I recommend going as Lady S, your favourite columnist), NaNo preparations are in full swing. @Jager is taking the lead and starting workshops. I personally always thought half the fun of NaNo was watching everybody panic towards the end of October. Perhaps this year it will be a more civilised affair…

Finally, all the old members- and I mean the really old members (by which I insinuate @Meshugenah) gathered together on @Nate’s blog to reminisce about the old days before all these young upstarts joined YWS. What a strange notion, that the community was once so small and they were so young… oh how the times have changed- but isn’t it nice to have 25,000 of us here?

Don’t worry, I’ll stop being sentimental now.

Drop me all your drama for next week at this address,

xxx

Lady S

STORYBOOK UPDATE written by AfterTheStorm < PM: >

‘Ello, gov’na! (I totally just wrote that while saying it in a Cockney accent.) Welcome back to another Storybook Update, written by your Storybooking eye in the sky, AfterTheStorm. I’ve been stalking watching over the Storybook tab this week, collecting info just for you. So, allons-y! Read on!



Please give a round of applause for @Dante, the Storybooker of the week! I had the chance to chat with Dante on Wednesday, and recorded the interview for your reading pleasure.



Dante: It was close to my second year on YWS. I say second cause I really wasn't interested at the time. It wasn't until close to a year later I actually became active on YWS.




D: I'm not entirely sure, to be honest it was one of those things where I dived in blind. I barely had enough understanding of how storybooks worked that I liked it.




D: A lot of my characters have been found to be dark and brooding as opposed to bright cheery girls a lot people seem to make. As for the role, I used to do magical characters a lot. But now I find myself drawn to clever stealth kind of characters.




D: Angel Raziel: Angel comes from a family of young and talented people who each have a Mastered trade. The story changes slightly depending on the storybook. in @ReisePiecey's latest storybook Alimento Mori , she was given up at birth to repay a debt. Angel became the stealth of a team of four.




D: Tip: Never join a storybook and never post. Because that annoys the heck out of others who have joined the storybook.




D: Anytime, Storm.


Next up, we have @crazycraz to thank for this Storybook in the spotlight: Ashfall! After the eruption of a super volcano underneath Western America, darkness consumes all light, ash engulfs the sky, and the remaining humans scramble to survive. Crazycraz wrote,






With no outside help, and only your own skills to depend upon, how will you live through Ashfall?



Rose of the Empire , The Lost Island , and Major Arcana are definitely three hot off the press Storybooks! Rose of the Empire and Major Arcana both joined the SB section this Saturday, and The Lost Island was posted up on Tuesday.

We have the talented @Skyguy to thank for his fresh Storybook, Rose of the Empire. When the beloved princess Rose of the kingdom Travyon is kidnapped, only the greatest warriors will rise to find her! What will your warrior race be? Dwarf, Elf, Human, or even a Minotaur? Do you stand a chance against the princess’s ruthless captors? Click on over to Sky’s SB and find your place among the knights of Travyon!

AriaAdams wrote about her Storybook,





Check out more of Aria’s Storybook here . I’m honestly thinking about joining this one...



I wanna hear from you, the Storybooker! The question of the week is, “How often do you Storybook, and what affects that frequency?” Here’s what y’all replied with!

@Cailey answered, “I check every so often with new SBs interesting enough to join. And then I storybook as often as I can without writing every other post or something.”

@hightop responded, “Rarely. I joined a SB a while back, but had to leave because work stole all my YWS time. After I got back into checking the site the SB had become so complicated that I couldn't just jump right in, so I left it.

I started a SB though, and I'm hoping to become more active in that section!”

So. That wraps it up for this Storybook Update! See ya around, and as always: Write on!

NEW ARRIVALS
written by ShadowVyper < PM: >

Take a moment to welcome this week’s newest members to the site!

@SarcasticMockery has only been on the site for one short week, but has already began writing awesome reviews to help her fellow writers. She's also posted the first chapter of her novel. If you have a minute and want to a piece to review, I'm sure Removing The Mask won't leave you disappointed.

@James20 is also quite new to the site, but he, too, has started spreading wonderful reviews around the site. Unfortunately, he hasn't had a chance to post any of his work, yet. However, I'm sure that with a bit of encouragement, he'll open right up and give us lots of lovely works to read.

@CaraF has busied herself with writing several amazing reviews. She's also a talented poet, and has given us a sample of her work. Re-peat , she says, is a poem that she wrote about mental illnesses. It's quite chilling, and worth your time to read.

@DragonNextec has been keeping busy writing reviews. He hasn't even been on the site a whole week, but has already earned his first star! Why not encourage that awesome reviewing spirit by leaving him a review on his piece We Will Fight ?

@nadinefampo is very new to the family. However, she hasn't let that stop her from being an awesome reviewer! She, too, has already earned her first star -- less than a week after she joined! Check out her awesome essay on technology, The Unveiling of the Disguise .

@akosisab is starting to write some awesome reviews around the site. She's also starting to post some awesome pieces for us to read. Go check out her essay, Technology- in various ways .

@RachelLescano has been keeping herself quite busy, pouring out lots of awesome reviews in the few days that she's been a member. She, too, has already earned a star for all of her hard work! Why not give her a break and return some of those awesome reviews, on her essay, Technology- A Pro At The Society ?

@krizshelbenalycabral is also quite new to our family, but has already earned herself a shiny little star to wear under her avatar. Why not encourage that awesome reviewing drive, by leaving a review on her essay, Expressing Technology ?

@AiraPatricia has also been keeping herself quite busy, writing lots of awesome reviews and posting a lovely essay Gazing into the Future .

@glecile has also earned her first star, for writing so many awesome reviews! Why not urge her on, by returning one of those awesome reviews on her essay, Technology, Life and Humanity ?

@ValenciaAndrea has kept herself busy these past few days since she's joined, writing lovely reviews and posting an awesome essay. You should go read that amazing essay, Pros and Cons Nowadays .

@brielle has only been a member of the site for a few brief days, but has already written lots of awesome reviews. Unfortunately, the first chapter of her novel, The Life For Now has been left rather abandoned. Why not drop by and give it an awesome review?

@avidav has already spread lots of awesome reviews around the site. Why not return some of those amazing words of wisdom on one of her pieces? She wrote this poem, Imagination Damnation and is looking for some poets to help her polish it up.

@Pako is also staying busy, writing lots of awesome reviews. Why not encourage that amazing drive, by reading and reviewing his lovely poem, I want .

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 10\5
written by megsug < PM: >

Ahoy! I see me five links for this week!


Got something on your chest? Want to get it off? A new club is up in YWS that will save you that money going to therapists! YWS Confessions has given users a way to anonymously… or not so anonymously… spill their problems. @VeerenVKS made the first confession:





Have something to say? If you don't mind a name being put to the confession, just post on the club's wall. If you do want anonymity, put your confessionin this Google document or PM @umaima. She'll keep your secrets.


Reviews on poetry can be some of the hardest reviews to give. @Monster gives a fantastic tutorial on the 'what to do's and 'what not to do's of poetry reviewing. This article breaks the technique down into rather basic concepts: honesty, improving the writer and not the piece, and not being hateful. Some of the best advice in the entire tutorial:





That's for all reviews, not just poetry reviews.
wHy DiD i HaVe PoEtRy CaPiTaLiZeD lYk ThIs? Artistic license. What that has to do with poetry reviews? I guess you'll just have to click the link to find out.


Like staying in the lines? No! No coloring books involved. I promise. It's a color blind test basically. Look here to check it out. Take the test. Share your score even if it makes you a little concerned. You won't be the only with a high score. @ArcticMonkey shares:




I got a 55. Smaller scores are given to those more able to discern colors. Some members have scored are 12, 10, and 15. Their owners make excuses about glare, tired eyes, and the brightness of their screens. I think they did pretty darn good despite their trials! What's your score?



The Knights of the Green room have reached fifty knights! @Hannah is asking for a rousing huzzah from everyone. @fortis gives a tear jerking example:





Why do you care? Every person who huzzah's for the Knights, gets fifty points. No questions asked. Don't need any more points? Give it to a newb in need instead.



Are you ready? If you are, you’re better than I am. If not, you still have time. If you’re wondering what NaNo is... This is awkward...
Nano is actually shortened from NaNoWriMo which is shortened from National Novel Writing Month. During National Novel Writing Month, the goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Sound crazy? It kind of is, but our mods have come up with preparations for us this year! What have they come up with? Workshops. Four, to be exact, and the next one coming up is on the 13th. @Jager explains this workshop:





Another workshop on the 20th will cover sources of inspiration and references and there'll be yet another on the 27th where you’ll be free to discuss plot outlines.

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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Ever thought theme music for your character would be an awesome idea? Or you would like music tailored just for your novel, or perhaps storybook? Click here and it'll happen!



The YWS book club will be doing The Outsiders for their October novel. Contact @Sakuragirl1 or @Sparkofdoubt for more information.



http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/5050- ... /x/4872367 Hey! It's Actawesome! Also known as Adam! I go in chat a lot! Why am I talking with tons of exclamation marks?! It's because I have an advertisement, my first and very likely only! I'm lucky enough to be a part of a documentary! This documentary is called 5050 Years: a Documentary! We plan to film, to edit, to love, and to put out something very artistic! Please help support me and the rest of the documentary crew by checking out our indiegogo page (it's like kickstarter but better)! If you can donate, even a single dollar, that would be loads and loads of help, and there are some cool incentives for you guys too! http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/5050- ... /x/4872367 If you have any questions I'd love to answer them in a pm! Well that's all for now! But I'd love to talk to you guys more! Bye!

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