Young Writers Society

Hey, guys!

I am so happy I remembered this site! I'm quite old now *cough* 26 *cough* but I used to be obsessed with this site all through my teen years! I had a dream the other night that I was writing a story on my computer, which I haven't done in a very long time and I miss writing so much, and it was this website! It's like I had a divine intervention telling me to get back to what I love to do. College kind of drained me from creativity.

I am looking forward to reading everyone's stories and am excited to re-learn how to bring out my creative side! If anyone wants to give me a few pointers on how to navigate the site it would be much appreciated .

Katie

Hi Katie and welcome back! I'm a fellow old person, having first joined the site in 2004 and been here on and off ever since. I don't know if our paths ever crossed in the old days, but if they did, hi!

Yeah the site has changed a lot over the years. Here's some of the major ones:

-The People Tab: Older YWS versions had walls, but this had a serious facelift a few years ago, so it's a little more like Facebook or Twitter. You can post status updates and follow people to see theirs. The feed also shows you when people you follow post new works, and review/like things. A lot more social activity happens on the People tab compared to the forums these days.

-The Big Black Bar: You may have noticed the top bar, which has a lot of important things on it. "Me" has quick links to your profile and works, "Messages" are your PMs, "Notifications" can notify you of various topics/clubs you're following, and the Publishing Center is where you go to publish a new work.

-The Green Room: This tab on the right side of your screen is very important! These works have only 0 or 1 reviews. When your work is first posted, it will automatically show up here and users get extra points for reviewing these works, so it's like extra publicity for your work. You need points to post literary works, which you earn by reviewing. Everyone starts out with 200 points (enough to post one work).

Literary works aren't in forums anymore, but rather in the tabs you see on the screen ("books" for novels, "poetry" for poems, "shorts" for short stories).

Let me know if you have any other questions and welcome back!

Hey sophie, welcome back!! We're happy to have you

If you're looking for things to review I'd recommend starting with the green room and if you don't find anything that fits your fancy there I'd recommend the tabs niteowl mentioned.

If you're looking to talk about writing or see what's happening around the site I'd recommend checking out the forums. This is also a good way to meet people.

If you're looking to meet/connect/chat with people I'd recommend going to the people's tab. It will default to people you're following, but you can also click on All Members on the left-hand side to see everyone. If you want to follow someone, go to their profile by clicking on their name, and on the right side under their picture and info it will say [ follow username ].

Sometimes people will post links to writerfeed pads that you can join. This is basically an extension of the site where anyone can come and write and add to a document and chat. Sometimes people will use pads to run events or workshops. Sometimes people will use pads to work on something with a specific person, and sometimes they're open to all so you can write or work on whatever you want. Pads are great places to meet people!

All of the people in light and dark green are moderators and can help you with whatever you need. The people with blue (and soon to be brown) names have those colors because of RevMo, our annual September mission to write 50 reviews. Once you reach a certain milestone your name color will change. More on that here.

Let me know if you have any other questions or need anything at all as you get used to the site again!

Hey there, Katie, and welcome back to YWS!!

Hey, Katie! Welcome back to YWS! Glad to hear you've come back

I hope you can get back into the swing of writing! What kinds of things have you written in the past?

Welcome back!

Hello~ Welcome back to YWS. My inbox is open if you need help. I hope you enjoy your stay.