Newbie here! Trying to get the gist of this site...

Hi! I'm TheCodex, and I'm new here. So I'm just trying to get the feel of this website.

A bit about me=
I'm a teenage writer who lives in the USA.
I have several novels in the works.
I'm a procrastinator
I'm a big fanfiction writer.

If anyone has any tips for me using this website, please post them! Thank you very much

Welcome to the site, Codex! First of all, you'll find your place in writing at YWS; everyone is really welcoming -- and you'll probably find a slew of other procrastinators ... like me. C: As for me, I also have a bunch of novels in the work too, though I'm trying to concentrate solely on one. Which is hard, as ideas don't like being trapped, and you have to get the good ones down on paper ... or MicrosoftWord.

So let's start from the basic!

YWS: I use this button, the top, furthest left, for bringing me to the home page. The home page has information on the most popular works. Popular works are judged by how many "Likes" they get, which is sort of like a Facebook system. Then, there is also information on the "Leaderboards", which tells you who has the most reviews daily, monthly, weekly, et cetera. The homepage can also link you to the YWS chat, and it will also show you newly submitted works.

BLOGS: Well, this is pretty straight-forward. Find the fresh blog posts here, or create your own, or find you friends'. I think they're a great way to tell everyone what you've got in the works, and blabber on about your life and such! ^^

CLUBS: Chances are, you can find a club for almost anything. You can choose to "follow" a club, and by doing so, you can participate in activities put on by the leaders, chat about that certain thing, or participate in contests and recieve updates. For example, I am part of a Hunger Games club, and recently they put on a contest of the perfect movie cast!

COMMUNITY: Well, in the community is the welcome area! Yayay! The community also houses a number of chat forums, including my favourite -- The Lounge. It's full to the brim with crazy writer talk, an, "I finished a novel" thread, as well as "Post you Picture" et cetera. Writing contests can also be found in the community forums, underneath the Lounge. When you drag your mouse of the "Community" button, you'll see something called "Nominations". You can "nominate" people for badges you think they deserve. Things like "Reviewer 1" and "Reviewer 2" can be handed out to people that you find have done a great job at reviewing various peoples' works -- but they must fit the requirments! A storybooker badge can be given, if you find the person if active in the Storybook RPGs forum, and you can also give out a "Greeter" badge, for people who spend a lot of time in the greeting section welcoming new members to YWS! There is a "1001 posts" badge that you get automatically upon reaching 1001 posts. ^^ Make sure to nominate others, and you may get some in return!

DISCOVER WORKS: if you feel like reviewing a person's work, you can go into this forum and find all submissions, from dramatic poetry, right down to fanfiction. Things range from novels to short stories to scripts. You can also find NaPoWriMo, and NaNoWriMo forums here!

MY YWS: Full with things like edit your profile, like your signature and avatar and personal photo, to your user settings. "View My Profile" will bring you to your wall where you can interact with other members by "Following" them, or they might "Follow" you first! You can also go here to get to your Message center where you can send messages or view them, and view your gifts that you may recieve. Remember, gifts cost points to give out!

STORYBOOK RPGs: A for-sure favourite of a number of YWSers, I'm sure. Storybooks are like roleplaying, except with more freedom to interact with writers, and play with their characters, too. There's a wide variety to play around in. Some popular ones right now are Hunger Games and magic -- like always!

SUBMIT: Well, once all is said and done, you can submit your own work to be reviewed! Make sure to use proper punctuation and grammar, and put it in the right forum! There is a 2:1 review ratio policy, which means that you should review two works to every one submission/ post! It helps all get a review that way!

Now that the navigation is all done, let's talk about the user colours.
BLACK are normal users like you and I.
LIGHT GREEN are Junior Moderators. To become a JM or M, you must be nominated.
GREEN are Moderators. They have more power than JMs. They can locked and move threads, and monitor forums like JMs as well.
ORANGE are distinguished members. They have usually been through the motions of colours it seems, and have been very active on the site. They have a large number of reviews and posts, and have helpful tips for writing, in some cases.
RED is our Administration team. People like Nate, who created the site!

Anywhoo, I hope this helped you -- it's a bit long, I know, but YWS is a great site! It you have any questions, feel free to PM me, or a JM or a Mod. You could PM an Admin, but they're very busy, and it's hard for them to get back. But I'm sure anyone would be willing to help you out!

-- Flux

Hi! Welcome to YWS! This site can seem a bit large and confusing at first, but it's actually pretty easy to use once you get to know it a bit, and everyone is really friendly.

I think Flux has covered most of the usual stuff, so my tips are:

-If you want more reviews on something that you've posted, a good place to go is the will review for food forum, where there are loads of great reviewers that would love to give you a critique.

-There are loads of really helpful tutorials in the knowledge base with information about YWS, grammar, reviewing, and lots of writing tips.

-The 'Notifications' link on the top left is really handy for telling you if there are any comments on your profile/blog/clubs/topics you've commented on.

So what genres do you like writing? And what fandoms do you write for?

Hey Codex, welcome to YWS! Haha your description sounds a lot like me, though I write fantasy, not fanfiction. What are some of your favorite books? Movies? Food?

It's good to have you here; see you around!