February 14th: YWS Favorites KB Article Contest!

Poetry Readers

In 2017, @/Aley created the Poetry Readers club for discussing a variety of poets and poems. Members would take turns to select a poem and lead a discussion. YWSers who’ve been involved with the club include @/alliyah, @/BluesClues, @/Plume, @/Hijinks and @/LadySpark. I remember joining the club sometime in 2020 and participating in some fun and intellectually stimulating discussions in the club forum.

After @/Hijinks and I became mods in Poetry Crew, we took on the project of revamping Poetry Readers so discussions could happen on WriterFeedPads. Between 2021 and 2023 we aimed for having a discussion each month. I stopped running discussions since retiring as a mod, and the club hasn’t been active lately. But I often look back impressed on the quality of thought when we were all thinking together! So I thought I’d write a little love letter in the form of what I think that club gave us as a writing and literary community and what the experience of running discussions taught me, for anyone who’d like to run a similar event for discussing literary works of any kind (or even revive the club!).

Why I love Poetry Readers

I love how the club got us talking about poetry. We really got deep into the meanings, effects and sometimes context of each piece. One of the poems we discussed was ‘Meeting Point’ by Louis MacNiece, a poem that had been suggested by a member and which I’d not ever heard of before. We did a lot of interesting experimentation with that poem like replacing a particular word in the poem with a different word and discussing the effect, and finding songs and other poems the discussed poem reminded us of.

The club also gave us a chance to appreciate YWSers’ poetry. We started inviting a YWSer every other month to discuss the themes, style and effects of a poem they had written. It was all good conversation!

Another favourite memory was the special edition where we asked people to bring song lyrics they like for discussion. That one sparked a lot of energy and enthusiasm. We got into talking about the instruments and vocals as well and how that influenced how we interpreted the lyrics. I love that changing it up brought on people who we usually didn’t see in the discussions, and so brought on more perspectives.

Pointers for Future Readerly Events

- Having people who are engaged with poetry and lyrics was what could make or break the discussion. So it’s also essential that people could choose which poems were being discussed, and so choose the poems they had most interest in talking about. My feeling is that individuals directly choosing a poem to bring tended to work better and feel more personal than doing a group vote.

- Being able to carve out the time for the WriterFeedPad discussions was also important - they could sometimes last for over 2 hours and so could be quite exhausting if you’d already had a busy day. Participants could always dip in and out of course, but once you get sucked into a conversation with someone about an aspect of the poem you’re both discovering together, it can be hard to leave even if you need to get groceries.

- I also believe having a discussion prompt that can ‘hook’ people into thinking about the poem is also helpful, especially if people come in feeling unsure if they CAN analyse or interpret a poem. (They certainly can, they just don’t know it!) Sometimes a simple prompt like ‘What stood out to you in this poem?’ works best, and other times you get more out of a creative prompt like ‘What would happen if you changed the imagery?’. Another good prompt from my experience is to get people to summarise or narrate the poem as a piece of prose (and it’s one that has been used since the club forum era of Poetry Readers as well).

- It’s crucial that others in the group encourage people’s ideas. I think it’s better in a discussion like that that you get people talking to each other rather than trying to come up with the most well-argued interpretation.

When I joined in 2023 (omg it’s been almost 2 years ?????) I had no idea what the heck I was doing and relied a lot on my best friend @/Kaia to help navigate this site. One of the things she showed me is now one of my favorite things about YWS: WriterFeed Pad. Although I don't really join events other than review day, I cannot pass on a good WFP.

What is a WFP?

Basically, the best way I can describe a WriterFeed Pad is like a better People's tab where you can interact with people in real time - almost like you're texting in a group chat. Every WFP is unique to the creator (user) and there's usually always one lurking somewhere in the People's tab.

Why I love WFPs <3

A WFP is how I've met so many incredible people like @/EllieMae @/Fatherfig @/Quillfeather @/LadyMysterio @/Spearmint @/ToastK and so many other people! And there was never a moment where it was boring or I felt like I wasn't allowed to be there.
I love the WFP Party's. Especially the ones the mod teams set up because there's always something planned in them that make them so much more fun and unexpecting!
I also love the Workshops people make through WFPs as well. It's an amazing way to see how people are helping one another like the amazing community they are.

The Coolest Feature in my Opinion!

One of my absolute most favorite features (?)about a WFP is the color chaos. You see how people work together on projects, have fun, be there for one another or just the absolute random chaos. The colors show the chaotic cohesiveness of YWS which is encouraging and heartwarming.
I love putting my name in the "sign here" sections of WFP and seeing all the hearts people leave behind next to their friend's names.

The Best Feature!

The chat lol. Omg I love talking to the people here through the chat- again it's like a group text thing. You never know what is going to be talked about of where it will go. People love to change their name in the chat and stir more chaos but there's never a dull moment. It's just a bunch of amazing people having fun talking to one another.
Sometimes it can be a little confusing if there are a lot of people on and you can't keep up with the people's conversations but it's still so much fun!
It’s where I met all the amazing people I have met on YWS!

Fantasy is a popular genre here on YWS! You'll often see it floating around the Literary and Roleplay tab, and we can always see how much time and effort it takes to create a character from scratch-- especially when shoving them into a fantastical world where the natural laws of ours don't apply. We can sometimes get carried away with the free-reign of creating compelling and strong characters and we often forget-- it still has to make sense. There's an extremely low chance that a character doesn't have some weaknesses or flaws.

Understanding Power vs. Storytelling
When creating an immortal character, it's tempting to make them all-knowing, wise, and nearly invincible. On the other hand, creating an invincible character can quickly become boring or difficult to challenge, and will most likely make it harder for the reader to genuinely relate to this character. Even gods in Greek Myth had flaws-- Zeus was impulsive, Hades was angry. There are some things we could ask ourselves to get a better idea of who our OC really is:

╰┈➤ Does our characters immortality impact their personality or relationships?
╰┈➤ What are our characters emotional and physical limitations?
╰┈➤ In Roleplays, if a character has a pretty strong gift or power, we usually give that character a limitation-- such as attracting enemies whenever they use it, or it costs a large chunk of energy to use. Is your characters power too OP (overpowered) for the plot to make sense?

Emotional and Psychological Depth
Immortality isn't just the concept of never dying-- it's also the concept of living forever! That must come with some emotional trauma, scars, or crazy experiences, don't you think? I'd consider these tthemes while developing your characters personality:

╰┈➤ Ethics
╰┈➤ Loneliness
╰┈➤ Loss
╰┈➤ The long-term effects of time

Examples
Here's a made-up example of a character that could be considered OP or unbalanced:

Name: Aro the All-Knowing
Age: Immortal
Personality: Aro lives up to his name of being all-knowing. He doesn't take advice from anyone and believes that mortal beings are insignificant. He can adapt his personality to fit any encounter, making him the most well-liked wizard in all of the land.
Powers: Absolute immortality, control over time and space, can create or destroy anything at will, is well trained in every single combat type imaginable, knows all the knowledge in the land.
Weaknesses: Is mildly allergic to peanut butter.

Now, since you've met Aro, let's go over why he's not a balanced character. Aro has no struggles, no weaknesses (besides the peanut butter allergy :P), and no real competition or enemies. Because he has no real limits-- he could overcome any challenging obstacle at ease, which could make the story really boring.

On the other hand, here are some popular characters that are powerful or immortal, but have enough flaws that make them unique:

╰┈➤ Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter by J.K Rowling)
╰┈➤ Thor (Thor by Marvel Comics)
╰┈➤ Deadpool (Deadpool by Marvel Comics)

By focusing on storytelling rather than power, you can create a character that's not only immortal and powerful but also memorable.