Squills 8/2/26

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!

If you have feedback on this edition of Squills we'd love to hear your thoughts over at the Squills Fan Club . Thanks for reading with us!

CREATIVE STAFF

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Editorial Team 

alliyah 
EllieMae 
Liminality 

Friendly Neighborhood Robot 

SquillsBot 

Literary Reporter

 cocteau 

Community Reporters 

looseleaf 
alliyah 

Creativity Reporter 

FruityBickel 

Poetry Enchantress 

alliyah 

Resources Reporter

Available - PM Squillsbot if interested

Roleplay Reporters 

DungeonMaster 

Code Master 

Spearmint 

Associate of Pruno 

canopy 

General Reporters 

foxmaster 
redcarnation 
NadyaStatham 
pixels 
candyhearts 

Staff Chef 
LadySpark [/center]

1. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: DRAGONIGHT9
2. LADYSPARK'S BOOK & RECIPE PAIRINGS
3. LIM'S WRITING GAME RECS
4. LAST MORTAL STANDING (LMS VII) TAKES OFF!
5. LMS PROJECT INTERVIEWS PART 1
6. SHAMELESS PLUGS
7. SUBSCRIBERS

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: DRAGONIGHT9written by Liminality< PM: >

Hello hello Squills readers! This FM joined us way back in 2022 and became FM January of this year. If you've been on the site for a while, you will recognise them for their thoughtful reviewing, as well as their long-running fantasy novel featuring dragons as the central protagonists. That's right - recently I had the chance to chat with @dragonight9 about their reviewing and their novel Shadow's Rising, which you can read here.


dragonight9: Sure, you can ask.
It may take a while before I answer though, since I am not checking the site very much right now.

I'll try to provide some thoughtful answers when I can.


D: I was so grateful and honoured. The compliments they said about me made my day (if not month) and I instantly shared it with my family.
It made me so proud and glad to be a part of this site


D: I think the ingredients for a good review include lots of what you loved first and perhaps some things of note.

Then what you feel could be improved and some advice on how to do that.
Finally a bit more of what you liked (including some things you like about their character or writing style on a first review) and perhaps how you felt about the story as a whole.

I like to include lots of encouragement and if I review multiple works by the same writer I can comment on things they've improved or areas they may need to work on.


D: If we're talking about a story that stood out, "Feeding My Dog the Chocolate He Needs" certainly was different.

I've actually been more focused on writing my book recently so this review was from a while ago, but it was a bit different from the kind of stories I usually review so it stood out in my memory.

I would caution that this story's themes are not for everyone so it may make some people uncomfortable.


D: My book is actually the reason I took up writing as a hobby in the first place. I'll try to condense it down but I could honestly talk about it for hours.

It is a classic story of dragons, and magic set in a medieval world. I used inspiration from many series but most heavily from 'Wings of Fire', 'How to Train your Dragon', and 'Avatar the last Airbender'.

The general story follows Jarid (a human) and Shadow (a Night Wing dragon). Jarid raised Shadow after his mother died and loves him like a brother. However, most humans consider dragons dangerous monsters. Meanwhile, dragons consider humans as slightly dangerous prey. Neither side knows the other is intelligent (they speak different languages) when they are both about the same in reality.

The journey begins when Jarid sets off to Dragon Rider Academy so he can earn a license to own Shadow (that way humans won't try to kill him). As you may imagine Jarid finds how poorly dragons are treated there and makes friends along the way (both human and dragon).
Meanwhile Shadow has his own journey where a dark prophecy is revealed that entangles the fate of all the friends they make along the way.

The story explores themes of racism, classism, slavery and how hard it is to fit in when you're different.


D: The dynamic between Jarid and Shadow is one of close friends. Brothers not by blood but by bond.

Jarid is the older brother. That means he is protective (perhaps even over-protective), encouraging, and takes the lead in most situations. He wants to grow stronger to protect his little brother from any humans or dragons who would hurt him.

Around Jarid, Shadow is confident and comfortable being himself (though he is often shy/timid when around others). He trusts his brother completely. He also loves challenging Jarid and showing off to him when he can. He trains hard, not to surpass his brother, but to stand at his side and achieve their mutual dreams.


D: If I had any advice for my fellow writers and reviewers it would be this,

It is fine if you are a new writer or find reviewing difficult. If you are honest in your comments and approach works with the mindset of supporting the writer you are reviewing, I think that is great! We all need to learn and grow in both writing and reviewing so take even the most negative comments and think about why they might have said that. I find I grow the most from doing so.

Young Writer's Society is one of the most positive and supportive sites I've been a part of and it is only that way because each and every one of you choose to apply criticism and correction well.

The fires of your passion can ignite the flames of inspiration in others. We just have to be careful with our burns. Heh, heh. I wish all of you well.

May blazing dragon-fire light your path and ignite the flames of your inspiration.


D: You're welcome. I was glad to help.

I hope you find just as much enjoyment and inspiration from this as I did.



Join us in congratulating dragonight on their FM thread or on their wall!

LADYSPARK'S BOOK & RECIPE PAIRINGSwritten by LadySpark < PM: >

Welcome! I am so excited you’re here to cook with me today. I know many of you are younger and may not have access to a kitchen or the ability to make a grocery list — but I also know there are also some of you whom are emerging adults on the cusp of facing meal planning and preparation on your own for the first time. Cooking has become a deep passion of mine, and I love sharing it with the YWS Community.

Through Cooking with LadySpark , I am trying to create a community of people who want to nourish their body with yummy foods. Over the coming months, I plan to introduce different content with the hope that I’m providing resources as well as a down to earth view of what cooking and grocery shopping looks like for young adults in 2026 (tough!).

I want to do something a little different with my Squills contributions, however. I thought it would be fun to take recipes I’ve created and loved and pair them with books that I’ve enjoyed. The pairings are going to be pretty vibe-based. I can’t promise there will be much consistency on what I pair with what! But it will hopefully be a fun little anecdotal inspiration for your own kitchen and book shelf.



Book Selection: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

Recipe Selection: Mac - N - Cheese

I’m starting y’all off easy with a side dish recipe. My Mac is pretty popular, so you’re lucky I’m letting you in on the recipe. But first, let’s talk book.

This quickly found it’s way onto my top comfort reads list after I first read it in 2023. Since, I've re-listened to it at least 3 times and enjoyed it immensely. The characters are fresh, unique, and engaging. The story is timeless enough to feel nostalgic, but original enough that you feel yourself anticipating the next plot point in the story line. Found family is one of my favorite tropes, and this book does it flawlessly. I also love grumpy characters that turn lovable— and boy, oh boy, does this book have that! This is such a feel good book with the coziest of vibes. Refreshingly, the plot still moves forward and has excellent rising and falling action that truly comes full circle. This novel feels complete in the very best way.

But Sizzle, why did you chose Mac as the pairing for TVSSIW?

Well, my darling sous chef(s), mac - n - cheese is a cozy, feel good food. First off, the kiddos in TVSSIW would love my mac, but I have served it at family dinners enough to my own group of lovable characters and know the joy of watching them scrape the dish clean. Plus, I just wanted to share my favorite recipe with y’all, heehee.



Okay y'all, this is my best recipe. Hands down, when I make this, people absolutely rave and can't get enough. It's a casserole style mac n cheese, so get out your pyrex! If you don't have a casserole dish of some kind, you can get the disposable pans at the grocery store that work just as well! And then there's no clean up! Some of them even have lids for storage in the fridge later.

Here’s some things you’ll need…

• Pyrex Casserole Dish/Disposable Pan Dish
  Varying Sizes, but recipe makes a lot!
  
  
• 1 Package of Your Favorite Pasta
  Sometimes I even do tortellini, but it can get heavy on your tummy!
  
  
• A little bit of olive oil
  
  
• 6 tbsp of unsalted butter
  
  
• 1/3 cup of all purpose flour
  
  
• 3 cups of whole milk
  
  
• 1 1/3 cups of heavy whipping cream
  
  
• 4 cups of sharp cheddar cheese
  Shredded!
  
  
• 2 cups of gruyere cheese
  Shredded!
  
  
• Panko Bread Crumbs
  
  
• 4 tbsp of salted butter
  Melted!
  
  
• 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
  Shredded!
  
  
• smoked paprika
  
  
• the usual suspects (salt & pepper)
  
  
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
  Roast these (either in the oven or airfryer, here's how ) and then smash
  
  
• 1 Container of Refrigerated Queso
  You can also get the solid blocks too!

Here’s how to make it…

• Preheat to 350 degrees F, grease your baking dish/pan
   
  
• Cook Pasta almost all the way, drain and put in large bowl, toss in that lil bit of olive oil, salt & pepper. Set aside.
  
  
• Melt unsalted butter in a deep sauce pan. Whisk in the flour over medium heat until bubbly & golden.
  
  
• Gradually whisk in the milk and heavy cream, roasted garlic, the usual suspects, and paprika.
  Season with your heart!
  
  
• Add in the queso and cook until blended, then add of the four cheeses, blended, gradually. Continue cooking until creamy and smooth, it should be nice and thick.
  
  
• Stir pasta until combined.
  
  
• Pour half the mac in your baking dish. Top with rest of the blended cheese, then layer on the other half.
  
  
• Combine panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, melted butter, and paprika in a bowl. Sprinkle over the top of the mac.
  
  
• Bake for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. Read a chapter or two of TVSSIW

Enjoy, friends! Let me know if you read the book or try this recipe, and definitely give Cooking with LadySpark a follow!

Happy Cooking,
Chef Sizzle

LIM'S WRITING GAME RECSwritten by Liminality< PM: >

Recently, I've been playing a couple of games related to writing. I thought I might share some of them with Squills readers because you have good taste All these games are technically free, though some of them have 'name your own price' options for tipping the game designer. The links take you to the game's page on itch.io. (itch.io hosts a bunch of other games with different content ratings, including mature ones, so please be mindful of that.)

Now on to the list!

1. CentoQuest

This game filled me with nostalgia for the experience of playing my first text-based adventure game as a kid. But at the same time, it was super fresh and exciting, because it's a detailed adventure game that involves you writing a poem! A cento is a poem made of lines from other poems. In this game, you explore a house and take words from the homeowner's various poetry collections and chapbooks, as well as some less conventional sources, to create a poem.

One of the fun parts of this game is that people share their creations in the comments. Whenever I visit, I always enjoy having a look at what others have collaged during their time in the CentoQuest house.

2. The Eternal Garden

This game is a solo journalling tabletop roleplaying game. It is basically played through writing. You can read the rules on the game's itch.io page: it involves you telling the story of six worlds born from seeds, as they grow and die throughout the seasons. Something I love about this game is the many ways you can interpret the seeds. Are they planets? Different versions of reality? Concepts? You have to play to find out!

Here is an abridged example of how to play, from one of my own playthroughs. I decided to do six fantasy worlds, based on different story concepts:

Idola - a world where deities grant their acolytes magic powers in small, isolated communities
Penser - a world made up of thought circling around as fibres
Lamplight - a world that softly glows in the darkness
Bracken - a world of green foliage and mysterious forest kin
Delphi - a world where a single person has the ability to predict the future
Purgatory - a world of little white rooms where people have pointless conversations and keep moving from room to room

Then I rolled a six-sided die for each cycle. One of the longest-lasting worlds was Delphi, so I've chosen to show you that part of my game. On Cycle 8, I rolled a number between 4-6, which meant one of my seeds/worlds would grow. I chose to plant Delphi.



Cycle 8 - I plant Delphi. A village chief discovers one of their children can predict the future and builds a temple for them, making them a centrepiece of the community.



The story of Delphi continued, as I continued to allocate my growth rolls to this world.



Cycle 13 - In Delphi, the oracle has grown into a beautiful young man with many admirers. He predicts that one of them will be his husband.

Cycle 14 - The oracle marries his predicted lover, the chief of a nearby village. Together they unite the surrounding communities into one nation.



The game rules say 'describe what grows', and this can be whatever makes sense for that world and story.



Cycle 16 - In Delphi, the elderly oracle builds orphanages and shelters to house those in need of them. The nation becomes a kinder place.

Cycle 17 - He prepares his council and the people he cares about for his eventual death. He plants a bodhi tree in the square of his village, which has now become a city.

Cycle 18 - The oracle's life and legacy inspires a generation of new leaders, who confront the world together now that predicting the future is no longer possible. The oracle's past contributions to knowledge has led to the birth of astronomy and agricultural sciences.

Cycle 20 - In Delphi, the bodhi tree reaches maturity. People come from far and wide to take a walk under its branches.

Cycle 22 - A school forms in Delphi to account for the remarkable case of a single seer, sifting through stories of fortune-telling and finding most of them to be bogus. There are heated arguments over drinks, there is laughter. Young people become grown looking for answers.



But then on Cycle 23, I rolled a number between 1-3, which meant blight. At the time I had no other worlds remaining, as they had all succumbed to blight. I had been sacrificing them in my blight rolls, as Delphi had been a kind of 'favourite' for me in this game. But The Eternal Garden is about loss as much as it is about growth, and so Delphi went.



Cycle 23 - Delphi dies. An unexpected, unpredictable plague sweeps through the world's crops. Many lives are lost in the ensuing famine, including in the oracle's city. The kindness and openness of a prospering society trickle down the drain as the council becomes a spartan, suspicious government. A wall is built around the centre of the city, where the bodhi tree is. Without its citizens to visit it, the tree suffers ill health and eventually succumbs to the plague.



To me, this game is a really intriguing way to explore a world and the possible stories that might arise from it. It's also dramatic and I really enjoy that.

3. RUMOR

Also a solo journalling TTRPG, RUMOR invites you to use a playlist of your choice and a 12-sided die to come up with aspects of a world. The prompts given in the game are somewhat oriented towards creating villages or towns in a fantasy setting, but with the power of interpretation I find you can play the game in any setting. The game also has a second version that lets you do the same exercise for character development.

Here is an example of how to play.


Conflict: two townsfolk are in conflict over which of them should perform the lead role at a show [FALSE - this rumor was spread by a rival troupe hoping to sow discontent]

Bonds: this town was founded by a cosmic entity and an astral mage, who developed a close friendship [TRUE]

Geography: this town is built in the snowy alpine mountains. It is surrounded by large snow wolves who seem intimidating but mostly keep to themselves. [TRUE]

Faith: these townsfolk believe in ghosts as beings inhabiting places. They change parts of their architecture and activities to accomodate signs from ghosts delivered through magic mirrors. [FALSE - they don't just *believe* in ghosts, the ghosts are real, even though outsiders are skeptical and so spread this as a rumor]

Geography: numerous squirrels live in the pine trees surrounding the town [FALSE - this rumour was spread by a werewolf trying to protect the forest]



The game has an optional rule of flipping a coin to see if something is true or just a rumor, to make things more interesting. When you roll something as a rumor, you also come up with who came up with said rumor and why, which for me, led to this cool werewolf character.

Do you have a favourite writing game? Let us know by submitting an article to Squills! (You can do that by sending your article in a PM to SquillsBot.)

LAST MORTAL STANDING (LMS VII) TAKES OFF!written by Liminality< PM: >

Round VII of Last Mortal Standing (LMS) began June 15th. This exciting contest was started by @Tenyo all the way back in 2014. The first LMS had a medieval fantasy theme, where participants entered as Warriors or Sages. Warriors wrote works and Sages reviewed them.

At its core, LMS is a week-by-week writing challenge where participants typically have to write and post a certain number of words to stay in the competition. If LMS goes on for too long, such as 40+ weeks, the Blizzard phase happens, where the word count goal is increased exponentially each week . . .

But we're getting ahead of ourselves! Returning to LMS Round VII, the theme is space opera and the YWSer behind it is @Spearmint. This year comes with all-new categories of the contest.

Categories

Pilots do a long prose project and must submit 1000 words of a draft per week. Navigators are participants in poetry or scripts, where the poets aim to write 14 lines of poetry and the script writers aim for 60 lines of a script. Both Pilots and Navigators officially compete for the Last Mortal Standing title. Stowaways, meanwhile, set their own goal to complete each week. They are our swift and sneaky friends making writing progress in the engine rooms and the galleys. Last but not least, Mission Control are the modern-day 'Sages' who review and comment on LMS works.

This round of LMS started with 41 participants total including Mission Control and Stowaways. 23 people, including Pilots, Navigators and Stowaways, reported in for the Week 1 submissions. LMS is a tough challenge to undertake, and that's why it's so important to reflect on what is working for you and stay motivated.

Messages from Space

In early July I asked several LMS participants what they have liked about LMS so far and what they found challenging. @LadyMysterio and @redhood found LMS to be motivating for their writing projects.

LadyMysterio [Stowaway]: Hello Lim! Well, I'm doing LMS very casually, I'm just a stowaway, who's editing one chapter a day(providing my workday allows it) but it's always nice to be apart of a fun challenge, helps motivate me to write!

redhood [Pilot]: Well, I've always wanted to write a novel, but I'm not the best at consistency (maybe it's ADHD or smth idk lol) so I felt like I would give LMS a try. I know that my writing isn't the most cohesive, but I'm proud to get something on paper and that I'm actually getting something done. I think the most challenging thing thus far is not getting into my own head and just writing. I'm going with the flow :).


Maintaining the flow of words can be difficult when the inner editor strikes, but hopefully yours can't follow you into space! @romanticchemist also mentioned why LMS helps with making progress.


romanticchemist [Pilot]: So far it's been smooth and my motivation has been high!! I feel like I have to moderate myself so I have things to write for the next week, lol. I love how it gives me a specific goal to work towards - 1,000 words a week is a lot more specific than, say, "I want to write every week" and it helps me make bigger jumps in my project :)

@TinkerTwaggy gave a detailed and systematic report of what they've seen in their part of the galaxy.

TinkerTwaggy [Pilot, Mission Control]:

Writing, of course♪ Nothing like a tournament arc to get the blood flowing, — especially since in my case, I really wanted to start with as little foundation as possible in an effort to build everything as I went along.
Good training.
While I do this, I've also been lurking around LMS topics, and it's been wonderful — please keep the italics <3 — to witness everyone else grow into their own. We can absorb ideas from one another and form inspiration through them which I do find...
...terribly exciting♪
↑ Pretend that pseudo-creepy phrasing is starry-eyed instead.
But really, you can expect detailed encouragements from me later. Honestly, I'll probably create a separate thread in which to mention people just to comment on everyone's work. Hoho, that'll be fun too.


The usual! Doing everything at once, that is. I'll elaborate, with the hope that my full reply can be present here (no hostility here, it's a genuine hope).
It seems as though more LMS threads have surfaced this year, and as both Mission Control and Pilot, I have to balance between reading them to provide encouragement, as well as working on my own story. Now, the way I work usually involves:

•Creating and managing one document dedicated to just the words of my story (sometimes with a few extra notes for the next week),
•Another document dedicated to the worldbuilding of my story, which usually includes things like territories, a power system and the various ways in which it influences the story, and cultures. Oh, yes, and references that influence my work. Helps me remember where it all comes from.
•And another one dedicated to character building. Usually, including things like current clothes, personality traits (both static and evolving), fighting styles — there's always a tantalizing tussle with me — and how said fighting styles are going to evolve.

I'm also making sure all of this can be made routine and ready for Blizzard; and though it is difficult to think in such long terms, it remains necessary.

That's a Wrap!

Whether you made it through one week or six, what's important is the motivational boost it brings to being creative and the words you wrote (or deleted) along the way. If you would like to cheer on our LMS participants, you can find an index of LMS projects here!

LMS PROJECT INTERVIEWS PART 1written by Spearmint< PM: >

As an event runner for Last Mortal Standing (LMS), I'm reminded every week of the incredible dedication and creativity of the participants. Through these Squills interviews, I hope to spotlight some LMS projects for all of you readers! I'll continue these articles throughout the competition, interviewing a few participants each time.

First up is @SylvanusGrace, who is working on a novel. Check it out here: LMS VII: The Gateway To The Kingdom . I would rate it 12+.



SylvanusGrace: "Can the two vulnerable heroes — a young woman and man — save the magical Kingdom by finding a profound connection in the face of the advancing Darkness that can change reality?"

Can I answer your question with this question? (pitch idea question)



Sy: The idea for this project came as a challenge to write a fairy tale that my dear friend threw at me. I've made some short drafts for a fairy tale, started to write it but then stopped because of life obligations and everything. And then I saw the invitation for LMS round VII and I thought to myself: "Maybe I could finish the story using this fun challenge." Then I started to write a story which would actually serve more as a prequel to the fairy tale, and here we are (from one to another)  Thank you YWS for this fun challenge <3



Sy: It's a hard question to answer, but I'll try
"I cannot let my fear dictate the outcome of me."
"She listened to him as she felt that she was always there, with him and for him."
For now, let there be these two lines



Sy: I think I'll go for a nice long walk ^^



Next up is @Meshugenah, who is working on a couple of poetry collections. Check it out here: LMS VII: Crimes in Diaspora . Note that the thread may cover a variety of themes, though it likely won't go into anything 16+.



Meshugenah: I'm doing a poetry project, so this isn't a traditional pitch! I'm experimenting for LMS - some is very much what I usually write (short and compacted), and I'm at a point where I am throwing different things at the metaphorical wall to see what sticks. I am playing with my "california gothic" series, and have some things brewing about the nature of my home state that would definitely be adjacent to that.



M: Oh, that's tough, mostly because thematically I feel like I'm all over the place right now. Most interesting to me is what I've been struggling with the most, most of which I haven't posted: some is too raw, or more politically charged than I ever share, or simply too angry; some is all of the above and in a long-form I'm not sure I like. Of what I have shared, the things I like the most play on themes I've done before, focusing on my direct environment and spiraling both outward and inward.



M: My main goal is to keep writing consistently, especially once school (work) starts back up in a few weeks. That aside, I want to keep experimenting thematically and pushing what I am writing, though it may not all get shared on site. I've done better this year than I have in probably a decade at consistently writing, even if it's only a couple of lines every few days.



M: Oh, that's tough because I don't have one specific end goal in mind, but several smaller ones - including adding to some of my loosely themed collections. If I end up with enough to make an actual collection then I have to decide if I want to do anything with it or not. I haven't looked at publishing in any fashion since I was a teenager, so that may be an avenue to explore.

I've already celebrated that I've written just about double what I did last year, though!



@WeepingWisteria is working on a novel series. Check it out here: Wist's Stowaway Thread: The Heart of San Lobato . That thread is mostly to keep track of progress, so read on for a deeper look into Wist's project!



WeepingWisteria: The Werewolf’s Steeple is a contemporary urban fantasy. Charlemagne Kenway, a disgraced priest quickly ruining his own life, finds the ghost of his daughter stricken with visions of horrific murders. As he desperately helps her to solve them, Lorelai Materson is trying to do the impossible feat of magic transfer consciousness between bodies to give her brother the ability to practice necromancy. However, the ghoul she raised seems to be consuming her entire life. Can Charlemagne save San Lobato when he couldn’t save his own daughter? Will Lorelai stay loyal to her brother when her creation promises her so much more? Only time will tell.



W: The Werewolf’s Steeple is the first book of a series that’s called The Heart of San Lobato. I’m writing it with my girlfriend. It’s inspired by so many things: my favorite horror novels, my girlfriend’s favorite fantasy games, internet horror, cryptids, and our own struggles as disabled and mentally ill people. Our goal is to write a fantastical story that shows the beauty of diverse communities and the power of uniting with our fellow people.



W: I adore our vampire lore. I worked very hard to entrench it in the real world by using queer and disabled history to make it feel real. The powersets vampires have are so fun to write with.



W: Celebrate!! And then look for avenues to get it published.



Finally, we have @Ventomology, who is working on a novel. Check it out here: LMS VII: I am going to finish Loosely Lawful dangnabit . I'd rate it 18+ for strong language.



Ventomology: Seraphina has been making ends meet as a middling adventurer-slash-clergyman, and she likes it just fine, thank you! But then her goddess sends her on a wild goose chase of a quest that forces her to team up with an old frenemy, fight monsters in civil court instead of with sharp, pointy objects, and reckon with the past that she's been trying very, very hard to ignore.



V: Fight scenes are probably the easiest and most fun, actually! Loosely Lawful might be in the fantasy/adventure group, but because the main character serves a deity who is all about law and justice, fights are few and far between. It's easy to make sure every beat of a fight pushes the story forward when I go long stretches of time between each one and have so much that is already set up and planned before they start. And action is super fun in general haha!



V: I'm pretty loosely goosey on the planning. Typically I have a rough idea of what the emotional and mystery-solving beats of the story should be, and then I cross my fingers and pray that the actions derived from the characters' wants and needs will go the way I want them to in order to hit those beats. It keeps things flexible, but does mean I sometimes end up scrubbing whole chunks that didn't go the way I needed them to!



V: Oh man... probably same as I did the last time I finished a project, which is to bury it forever in a sea of new projects that may or may not last. But Loosely Lawful is meant to be the first of five parts, so I don't think I'll be done any time soon!



Thank you to all the interviewees, and all the best on LMS writing! For the LMS participants who haven't been interviewed yet - keep an eye out for a message in your inbox sometime For all the readers - I highly encourage you all to drop a friendly comment in someone's LMS thread! A few kind words can mean the world. See you next time with a peek into more LMS projects!

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@SquillsBot • @Carina • @Shady • @ArcticMonkey • @Hannah • @KingLucifer • @Caesar • @veeren • @megsug • @StoneHeart • @Skydreamer • @Love • @Aley • @Rydia • @Alpha • @skorlir • @KnightTeen • @crossroads • @neko • @Aquila90 • @DudeMcGuy • @kayfortnight • @Cole • @Blackwood • @manisha • @Rook • @Gardevite • @cgirl1118 • @KittyCatMeow • @Willard • @ChocoCookie • @carbonCore • @Auxiira • @Blues • @Paracosm • @Sparkle • @FireFox • @Dakushau • @wizkid515 • @yubbies21 • @PiesAreSquared • @FatCowsSis • @CelticaNoir• @BenFranks • @TimmyJake • @whitewolfpuppy • @WallFlower • @Magenta • @BrittanyNicole • @GoldFlame • @Messenger • @ThereseCricket • @TriSARAHtops • @Ventomology• @Evander • @WillowPaw1 • @Laure • @TakeThatYouFiend • @KaiTheGreater • @Cheetah • @NicoleBri • @Pompadour • @Zontafer • @Crimsona • @vluvswriting • @GreenTulip • @Audy • @EllaBliss • @eldEr • @Deanie • @lostthought • @CesareBorgia • @Obscura • @Morrigan • @AfterTheStorm • @BrumalHunter • @Arcticus • @Wolfi • @Pamplemousse • @Sassafras • @gia2505 • @ExOmelas • @SkyeWalker • @Noelle • @elysian • @TinkerTwaggy • @kingofeli • @SpiritedWolfe • @malachitear • @GeeLyria • @AdmiralKat • @Clickduncake • @rainforest • @Seraphinaxx • @Pretzelstick • @WritingWolf • @EternalRain • @Tuesday • @Dragongirl • @JKHatt • @Lucia • @donizback • @Que • @BlueSunset • @artybirdy • @IncohesiveScribbles • @cleverclogs • @MLanders • @ClackFlip • @PickledChrissy • @racket • @Lorelie • @Gravity • @BluesClues • @hermione315 • @Steggy • @willachilles • @tintomara138 • @AmatuerWritings • @TheLittlePrince • @TheForgottenKing • @Shoneja123 • @Mageheart • @Mea • @klennon14 • @fandomsNmusic • @Meerkat • @HolographicLadybug • @Sevro • @DragonWriter22 • @RippleGylf • @amelie • @Morrigun • @Megrim • @Kazumi • @inktopus • @OreosAreLife • @Saruka • @rosette • @PastelSlushie • @Strident • @darklady • @Jashael • @TheBlueCat • @Mathy • @Lives4Christ24 • @manilla • @Danni88 • @Elinor • @fishsashimi • @TheWeirdoFromBeyond • @shaniac • @neptune •
@Storybraniac • @WritingPrincess • @Starve • @JosephHGeorge • @Amabilia • @Fantascifi66 • @paperforest • @alliyah • @Lib • @Dossereana • @atlast • @EverLight • @AlyTheBookworm • @mckaylaam • @JesseWrites • @lillianna • @IcyFlame • @writingbright • @RadDog13579 • @Euphory • @LUNARGIRL • @yoshi • @momonster • @rida • @twiggy • @ForeverYoung299 • @MailicedeNamedy • @RandomTalks • @QueenMadrose • @Phillauthet • @MC • @Zyria • @OrabellaAvenue • @Roxanne • @NadyaStatham • @Avian • @ash120819 • @NovemberCrow