Squills 4/9/2017 - 4/15/2017

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

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

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1. FM INTERVIEW: SHEYREN
2. SOCIETY PAGES
3. REVISION CHAMPIONSHIP'S PRISTINE FINISH
4. APRIL MADNESS UPDATES
5. THE WORD OF THE WEEK: ADJUDICATE
6. NAPOWRIMO INTERVIEW WITH JAGGED
7. SHAMELESS PLUGS
8. SUBSCRIBERS

FM INTERVIEW: SHEYRENwritten by Nikayla < PM: >

This week, we have a new Featured Member, and if you haven't heard already, it's @Sheyren! He's an avid member in the Storybooks section, and I had the pleasure of snagging an interview with him this week!



Sheyren: Heck no! I had wanted it, but I didn't expect to get it, since I really don't review frequently (though I did do more in the past month), and on a site centered around reviews, I figured that was a necessity.



Sh: As I said before, I've been reviewing more recently, and I think that might have made some difference. I've also been rather active in the Storybooks forum (I participate in 6 or 7, can't remember of the top of my head). Really though, I don't know why I was picked for such a prestigious title.



Sh: Don't use me as an example. Just review a lot, join a lot of storybooks, and be a nice person, and you'll get it eventually.



Sh: I intend to continue living under the storybook tab, and I also look forward to finishing up my novella, The Search For Answers, on here. Other than that, I'll go with the flow.

Thanks and congratulations once again to Sheyren on becoming Featured Member, and we are all excited to see what you do in the future!

SOCIETY PAGESwritten by EternalRain < PM: >

Welcome to another Society Pages!

With Mea on hiatus, Society Pages will be published once every other week from now on, though there may be weeks where there will be an exception.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s hop right into what’s been going on this week!

@ChieRynn has compiled a list on ten tips to recognize bad Star Wars fan fiction. My personal favorite is number 9,






@Ferruccio1234567 is working on building his 5th gundam. A gundam is basically a very large person shaped robot.

If you’re into music, @Morrigan has discovered a new band she really likes called Here Come the Mummies.

@ScytheMeister has a new story idea. The only thing they’ll tell us is that it’s about dragons!

Several new tags have sprouted up this week. The first one is #topthreefavoriteflowers , which is basically what the hashtag says. One of @Lael’s favorite flowers are bleeding hearts, which are absolutely gorgeous!

#anovelidea is where you can recommend a novel by someone on YWS. The point is to spread amazing stories you love and bring a bit more recognition to amazing novels!

Another one that’s come around is #imadiety , which is a tag where you answer a few questions about what you’re the diety of. @PrincessInk is the diety of hummingbirds, and @marmalade is the diety of community. What about you?

And the last tag that’s been appearing on the site is #favoriteauthor . @occymay’s favorite author is Garth Nix and @KaiRyu’s is James Patterson.

In other news, @AllisontheWriter has gotten hit with inspiration, @ReisePiecey has been researching feline diets, and @all claims coffee and pretzels are better than anything else in the world.

What shall we look forward to next week (or the week after)?

REVISION CHAMPIONSHIP'S PRISTINE FINISH

written by megsug < PM: >

@Megrim had a successful Revision Championship. After four nail biting rounds, @EternalRain got third place, @Mea got second place, and @PrincessInk got first!

Mea got to clean up a sci-fi fic about a bounty hunter learning the truth. EternalRain’s love story between the new kid and a magic boy got polished. Finally PrincessInk won by perfecting a story about a neighbors becoming friends .

PrincessInk answered a few questions about the Revision Championship and how it felt to win.



PrincessInk: I think the hardest part was to revise your story in such a short time. It was especially difficult at the Review Day week, because the reviews due date was extended to the weekend—so less time to work on the revisions.



P: It caused me to work on edits quickly and examine the reviewers' suggestions really carefully, so to keep up, I couldn’t procrastinate. I also gained a lot of great reviews.



P: I expected I’d be still competing for the first spot with EternalRain (because of Mea’s hiatus); so I was surprised when Megrim announced the contest had ended. I was thinking, “Really?...Oh yay!”



P: Oh, definitely! It was fun and challenging, and it was really amazing to see how everybody’s work improved, one way or the other.



P: I trained my inner editor in a good way. For example, I wasn’t particularly good at major editing but I’m sure I improved a little. I also had a lot of fun snipping my word count by 200 words or so, and from now on, I’ll probably try to shorten my work when I revise.



P: If there's another Review Championship, I'm probably signing up (given I have time).

The contest helped participants refine some great stories. Watch out for a second championship so you too can find the diamonds in the rough.

APRIL MADNESS UPDATESwritten by Aley < PM: >

April Madness is an annual tournament style battle of the poets here on YWS to celebrate National Poetry Month. This year the competition has been fierce already as we head into the second round. The first round settles the score between the winners, and those entered into the losers heat, which is a second shot at getting the title of The Winner of April Madness. Our winners of the first round this year were @Hannah, @PrincessInk, @Nikayla, @Willard, @TheSilverFox, and @Audy which means the rest of the participants now have to compete in the Losers Heat.

I caught up with a few of the participants before we found out the results of the first round to touch base and see what their thoughts were.

My first stop was someone our readers should be familiar with. @Lumi spent some time with me talking about April Madness. Here's the interview.



Lumi: I suppose I could stop writing for, like, two seconds. Sure!



L: My logic was that April was coming up and that I was overdue for a healthy dose of Madness, so I did some math, and since two and two make what I think is more than three, I decided that I'd try the most ridiculously difficult poetry contest on YWS for the third ( ? ) time!
Plus, I'm a bit addicted.



L: If I had to choose one aspect, I think it would be the look of the brackets. They're just so angular and cool. It's like playing a sport, only not gross and sweaty. But seriously, though, I think it's a case of being a glutton for punishment and seeing what the best poem is you can churn out within the time frames you're given. I've always loved that.



L: By what I've seen from round one submissions, the heavy hitters look like Hannah, TheSilverFox, and Audy. Their poetry is never, ever something to sneeze at. I'm also nervous about my round one fight with @Casanova and Willard. They both have strong showings. But if I had to put my points on someone, I'd probably say Hannah.



L: I think...my philosophy on NaPo this year is to experiment. With style, with voice, momentum and delivery. Just to shake things up. I think a lot of what comes out of my personal thread is going to be different than the Typical Lumi Formula, and I hope that lets me grow as a poet. Maybe that'd be cool for others, too. Maybe it'd make a good discussion.



L: Always a pleasure, Kurama. Good luck with your poetree.

Lumi guessed right when it came to who won. His round was taken by Willard! Hannah, TheSilverFox, and Audy also won their rounds.

Next I caught up with Casanova, who happened to be on Discord when I finished interviewing Lumi. As someone who has been in the poetry scene for a while now, I was interested to find out who he thought would get through to the final rounds.

Here is the interview.



Casanova: Yeah, sure.



C: Seemed like a lot of fun, and I've been trying to do a bit more poeting since I slacked off, and I like competing in things.



C: Well, I'm not personally doing NaPa- I don't have the time and I rarely can get access to a computer



C: I honestly didn't know about NaPo until April First, and I since I knew I couldn't finish it. I decided to not do it.



C: Personally, I think it's going to be between Lumi. Willard, and Audy, but in all honesty, any one of the poets competing has a fighting chance.



C: Thank you, and anytime!

As it stands now, for Lumi to pull into the last three, he would have to win the Loser's Heat, but he could do it! Right now his round is between himself, @Sheyren who is a new poet here on YWS and not participating in NaPo, Casanova himself, and @Meshugenah, a powerhouse in the poetry world on YWS as one of the two admins participating in this years festivities. If Lumi, Willard, and Audy won their rounds, they would also have to go up against either Hannah or PrincessInk, who is another newer member to YWS but already proving strong with poetry and reliable in activity.

My last interview I wanted to talk to someone brand new to the scene as we had several this year. I chose @silverhanded who was in a round against TheSilverFox who took their round, and @LMRayner, who is another newer member to YWS.

For the sake of ease, I will be A in this interview and S will be silverhanded.



silverhanded: I joined because I thought it'd be an extra layer of accountability, honestly. It's really easy for me to get wrapped up in school/work/life and not write, so that's important for me. I also saw some poets I really admire, so I thought it'd be fun to jump in and see how I fare.



S: I don't know that I'd say compete, because it's definitely all light-hearted, and I'd hate to give specific names and leave anyone feeling left out of the list! I think everyone involved is very talented. That said, Lumi, Willard, and TheSilverFox are the three I'm most familiar with and are all incredible poets.



S: I'm not sure. I'm planning to major in medical laboratory sciences on a premed track, and medical schools kind of require a superwoman. I don't know if I'll have time for NaPo at all, let alone additional parts of it. I also tend to have very different interests and priorities from year to year, and I'll go through long stretches of time where I hardly write at all.



S: Thank you! I'm pretty excited about med school.

I'm not sure I could narrow it down to one person, or even a group of people. Everyone involved is talented and has such a unique style of writing. The three poets I mentioned before are the three I'm most familiar with, but I would be hesitant to pick anyone as a winner when I'm not familiar with everyone else's work.



As you can see, more familiar names are popping up again as Lumi, Willard, and TheSilverFox are at the center of attention.

There will be a brief break for those who won the first round. The Loser's Heat round will start on the 8th and end on the 10th which means poems written between the 6th and the 10th will be use-able for participants. If you want to keep an eye on the rounds and cheer on your friends, check out their threads and give them encouragement and likes on poems you see them submitting to NaPo.

THE WORD OF THE WEEK: ADJUDICATEwritten by megsug < PM: >
Pronunciation: uh-joo-di-keyt

Part of Language: Verb

Definition: To pronounce a formal decree about an issue;
To act as a judge


Used in a Sentence: We asked him to adjudicate the baking competition.

Origin: Adjudicate comes from the Latin word adjudicare which means awarded judicially.

Related words: adjudicative, adjudicatory (adj); adjudicator (n); misadjudicated (adj); nonadjudicated, nonadjudicative (adj)

NAPOWRIMO INTERVIEW WITH JAGGEDwritten by Aley < PM: >

NaPo is one of the times of year when we see old faces popping back up on YWS. This year, we have a particularly special treat with @Jagged joining us for another attempt at NaPo. Their previous attempts have all been unsuccessful in completing this marathon of poetic intent, but nevertheless, very enjoyable to read.

In 2011 Jagged made it to 10 poems in the thread not even the rain and in 2012 they made it to 7 in the heart can be repossessed . This year's thread is getting off to a good start and you can find it here the laws of coming and going [sign]external-link-icon[/sign]

This just goes to prove that even if you don't finish NaPo, it is good to try participating because you never know what you're going to end up with. I managed to catch up with Jagged on Discord, and here's what they had to say to my questions about NaPo.



Jagged: i am



J: 1. i like poetry 2. i'm bad at making myself write/have fallen out of practice in the last years so its a good way to try and nudge myself back into it



J: when i remember
i am bad at time and dates so it's happened that it was june and i'd go like "oh whoops april is over"



J: just seeing all the people giving it a shot! it's a cool way to see different styles and approaches to poetry all in the same place at the same time



J: i've kind of drifted off YWS the last few years, mostly because writing's been harder for me so it's kind of fallen aside
i could have sworn i had a slightly more recent thread but i could be mistaken
time man
how does it even work
i am very fond of the site though so i kind of lurk back in and out every now and then



J: unsure. ideally yes, in practice i always say yes and then get distracted :<



J: uh
be better than me, who has never made it past day 12
i think napo brings different things to people. for me it's having to force yourself past the feeling of needing a spark or inspiration and sometimes 'settle' for something you may not normally be happy with
for others it's a chance to experiment with styles or length
maybe play with prompts, maybe follow structures you usually don't
i know i'm trying to use a theme as a guiding rope
to help and structure my thoughts and have something to well, prompt myself even if its not you know, actual prompts



J: trying is better than doing nothing
i mean obviously finishing is good
but any writing is practice, any writing can, potentially, help you figure something out about your own writing or style
if you're someone who writes to cope then hey, anything you've written may have helped yourself
and who knows, its helped someone who's read it too
if youre writing for fun then u had fun
fun is good
good job




J: its about being mixed / the in between places / belonging nowhere
its a thing i've been dealing with for a while
and i've been re-reading poetry by li-young lee
which is where i got the title of my thread from haha



J: im noticing more feedback in threads than i'd seen before, which is pretty nice



J: pretty cool for the competitive-minded



J: hrm, i dunno
the thing is
napo is kind of a personal thing
there's only so much you can do around it
in the end the important part is what the individual does with it



J: potentially maybe have a tagging system (which i think i saw implemented in writers corner?) for people who want/do not want feedback, just to keep things clear and encourage critique for those who want it
but thats really minor
other than that nope dont think so



J: you're welcome

All in all, if you get a moment to encourage this user to stick around, or just to chat, I'd recommend it. Jagged is a great person to talk to and their NaPo thread so far has yielded some interesting results. Here is one of my favorites.






I like this poem because it gives a sense of mystery at the end with the turn, or the twist, and yet it is a very clear poem with it's metaphoric use of a passport and traveling.

That being said, good luck Jagged on your NaPo goals! May we all succeed in completing NaPo this year.

SHAMELESS PLUGS

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SUBSCRIBERS

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