Young Writers Society

Hello

Well I've always loved to read, so an interest in writing just came naturally to me. I don't know if I'm any good at it because I never show people my stuff, and I'm afraid to really pour my heart and mind out when it comes to school writing, so I've never worked up to potential in that respect. When I write for school I put on a sort of "brain mask" and I dont allow myself to speak my true mind. BUT, I've been looking for a writing outlet for a long time and I hope this is the place for me to finally just be me.

I like really out-there metaphysical writing (like Dantec) and fantasy. Anything where I can live an exciting life lol. I think I'd like to be a playwrite or a movie director, because I love to bring ideas to life. I think that's why I'm such a fan of books made into movies (even if they're terrible adaptations). I also enjoy reading non-fiction accounts of geisha life and culture. They are my biggest passion in life and have been for so long.

I fall in love with ideas very quickly and just as quickly drop them. I live in a permanent state of writer's block lol. I have to learn to create an idea that I love and hold onto it through the tough times and make something of it, so hopefully being here will inspire me to do so .

Hey Kikuyo! Welcome to the site!
Okay. I'm about to throw a bunch of rules, suggestions, and general facts at you, and I don't want you to be unprepared. Take a deep breath.


Are you ready?

Okay. First of all, everyone loves it when the new members read the rules! And it makes it easier to get to know the site, and there are some good guides there, so you should totally go check 'em out.

Here are a couple important one:
The 2:1 reviews-to-works ratio. Basically, critique two other pieces before you post your own, and keep up that ratio! This ensures that everyone gets their stuff done, and other members will be more likely to look at yours if they see you've spread the love.
Chatspeak is a no-no. Chatspeak is basically things like replacing u for you, not capitalizing, etc. Abbreviations like LOL and BRB are totally fine, but we do need to remember that we're writers, right?
Rate your works! You won't get chastised for not rating works, unless they should be R, which is if the literature contains swearing or graphic scenes. But if you do rate them, and they're not R, they'll show up on the front page, which is pretty sweet.

So, those are the biggies. Now, a quick guide to the site. Obviously, you've found the welcome forum! Yay! And then the literature forums are under the WRITING icon. That's where you can submit stuff for reviews or read others' work. Next to that, we have GROUPS. Groups are awesome! There are different groups for most everyone's interests, so you'll probably find one you like immediately. And, if not, you can start your own! Under RESOURCES>>KNOWLEDGE BASE there are a bunch of super helpful articles, and then under BLOGS you can comment on someone's journal or write your own. Pretty tight, eh?

Now, some of us do have different colored names. I'll run through those real quick.
Greeters greet! They welcome each new member to the site and show them around. Actually, some of them might be annoyed at me, cause I'm stealing their job right now. But whatever. They can answer pretty much any question about YWS and you can always go to them for help or anything. They're in that bright blue.
Instructors are painted in lavender. We buzz around and attempt to critique an insane amount of works in short periods of time, and you can trust us to give you a good, in depth review. If you want to request one, there's a whole forum for that. It's called Will Review For Food and it's under The Lounge.
Mods and Junior Mods keep the site from disintegrating into total chaos! They moderate, of course, and make sure us members aren't killing each other or whatever. This site can be an insane asylum sometimes, but I'm sure you'll grow to love it!
Administrators are red, and there are only two right now. Nate founded the site - he is our dear leader. Meshugenah is the junior admin, and she helps him run it.
Distinguished Members are orange. They're retired Mods.

So! Wow, that was long. But it's better to know than not know, right?

Oh, man. You must, must must learn to just pour out your soul! I know, because I've struggled with that, and still do, in fact. What I've found helps me is freewriting - basically, writing everything in your head down on a sheet of paper, not worrying about plot or grammar or ANYTHING. Then when you go back to it, chances are you'll find some good, heartfelt bits that you can build something around.

And, speaking of, I do believe that this site will help you get better at writing! Because it's really good when someone can read your writing and tell you what's good and what's bad about it. I think you'll be happy with it. I hope.

Metaphysical writing = win. I so want to read your work now! I don't know much about geishas, except the movie Memoirs of a Geisha (which, coincidentally, is a book made into a movie, so maybe you like that one?). But it sounds cool. Is it historical fiction then? Or still fantasy? Or both?

Ah, MC Escher. So good! Tell me, what are your favorite authors? Have you ever tried poetry?

This post has gone on for way too long, sorry!! I'll wrap it up here. See you around the site, Kikuyo, and I hope to see some of your writing soon! PM if you have any questions, concerns, etc.

-Mars

Mars wrote: *snippity snip*

So! Wow, that was long. But it's better to know than not know, right?

Oh, man. You must, must must learn to just pour out your soul! I know, because I've struggled with that, and still do, in fact. What I've found helps me is freewriting - basically, writing everything in your head down on a sheet of paper, not worrying about plot or grammar or ANYTHING. Then when you go back to it, chances are you'll find some good, heartfelt bits that you can build something around.

And, speaking of, I do believe that this site will help you get better at writing! Because it's really good when someone can read your writing and tell you what's good and what's bad about it. I think you'll be happy with it. I hope.

Metaphysical writing = win. I so want to read your work now! I don't know much about geishas, except the movie Memoirs of a Geisha (which, coincidentally, is a book made into a movie, so maybe you like that one?). But it sounds cool. Is it historical fiction then? Or still fantasy? Or both?

Ah, MC Escher. So good! Tell me, what are your favorite authors? Have you ever tried poetry?

This post has gone on for way too long, sorry!! I'll wrap it up here. See you around the site, Kikuyo, and I hope to see some of your writing soon! PM if you have any questions, concerns, etc.

-Mars

Thanks for that!

Yeah I know, I know, I have to learn to open up. Im a big believer in the idea that it takes risks and moving outside of your comfort zone to achieve something great. I like to practice automatic writing to see if I can pull anything from that (I'm a Surrealist when it comes to literature and art. Art is really my forte, but I'd like to be a writer as well).

Memoirs of a Geisha has been called a "Japanese Cinderella Story", which is a pretty good description. While it's complete fiction (written by a man, and an American man at that) and the movie has some horrifying inaccuracies*, I am a fan of both for the love story that they portray, not necessarily the geisha.

My favorite authors are: Maurice Dantec, Stephen King (his decriptive ability slays me!), JK Rowling (yeah, I liked Harry Potter), Amy Tan, George Orwell, Liza Dalby, Haruki Morikami, Peter MacIntosh, a few others but I'm drawing a blank right now . I also liked the book adaptations of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, though they're pretty much the scripts all fluffed out. I don't remember who wrote those, though.

~~~~~

*For example: kimono are always crossed left-over-right. This is a very basic thing. In the movie there is a scene with Hatsumomo, the "wicked step sister" of the story, answering the door wearing a mixture of a bathrobe and kimono underwear and it's crossed right-over-left, lol, which is only used to dress a corpse.

HI! I'm Teddy, and if you need anything you can PM me anytime. I love the topic of geisha too (though I don't know much about it). I love to read as well and I hope to see some of your works pop up here pretty soon. Anytime you need anything I'm here, have a great time here at YWS.

And what, may I ask, is wrong with liking Harry Potter?

"Out-there metaphysical writing"? Read any Proust/modernists? Or any of the Romantic poets? I never would have stuck those two groups together, but they're both so full of the metaphysical, but in different capacities.

Don't worry about abandoning an idea! Just write them all down somewhere, and read through it now and then! I finally tired it, and I find I like some ideas much better months or years later, and can flesh them out more fully then. But that's me, so!

Anyhoo! Welcome to YWS! Drop me a line if you have any questions!

Mesh

Hiya and welcome!
I too am kinda new here and i know how confusing and a little overwhelming it can be at first, so don't hesitate to ask me or anyone else! We'd love to help you!
Now that you have all the rules and such down we get to talk about the fun stuff! yay! ahaha like..
What are your interests?
How long have you been writing?
Have you ever met anyone famous? If so who and how?
What do you like to do when your not writing?

Hope you enjoy yourself here and I'm looking forward to reading some of your work!
-balletbabe12

Hiya and welcome!

Fantasy writing= Biggest Win Ever! lol I just love fantasy. I've been reading it for seven years, and writing it for five. ^_^

Hrmm, Japan..... That tugs a bell for a group's theme. If you click on "Groups" and scroll down to J, you should find a group called "Japanese Culture Club." The title is pretty self-explanitory.

YWS is the perfect place to start opening up. Reviews here can be harsh, but if you put a note that you want a nice review then people will comply.

If you have any questions, PM me.

balletbabe12 wrote:Hiya and welcome!
I too am kinda new here and i know how confusing and a little overwhelming it can be at first, so don't hesitate to ask me or anyone else! We'd love to help you!
Now that you have all the rules and such down we get to talk about the fun stuff! yay! ahaha like..
What are your interests?
How long have you been writing?
Have you ever met anyone famous? If so who and how?
What do you like to do when your not writing?

Hope you enjoy yourself here and I'm looking forward to reading some of your work!
-balletbabe12

Awww thank you for asking! I have to say that this site gives some of the warmest welcomes I've ever seen.

Interests: cooking, shopping, dancing (I've always wanted to do ballet but my parents never supported stuff like that, or anything that costs money), drawing, kimono, divination, practicing my 5 years of French, reading, pondering (I ponder A LOT lol), I'm a huge fan of Vin Diesel movies, geisha culture, learning Japanese, sewing, I'd really love to travel, paranormal phenomena, chatting online (I was an IRC addict at the age of 12), hanging out with my lovely boyfriend, doing yoga, makeup and girly things, dreaming (like, literally, I love to sleep and sometimes I can't fall asleep because I get so excited wondering what my dreams will be).

Writing Experience: I'll honestly say I don't even begin to call myself a writer. I'm yet to write anything with real meaning to me. I'm always, always itching to write but as soon as I pick up a piece of paper -- or in my preference, open up Word -- I just feel depressed and don't want to write. Or my idea chokes and dies right infront of me. I've lived my whole life constantly feeling like my muse is just out of my reach. I became seriously interested in writing about 2 or 3 years ago, but nothing has come of it yet. I write well, but that's just schoolwork. I want to write to explore the parts of my heart and life that I suppress, and maybe affect someone, not to be famous or for money.

Famous Encounters: I live in Massachusetts and I used to work at a sub shop called Angelina's. The woman who plays Kitty from "That 70s Show" has a house in my town, and one day she came in and I made a roast beef sandwich for her! I was so dumbfounded that I spilled mayonnaise all down my front. I also went to the play Cyrano de Bergerac the day before it officially opened and I saw Jennifer Garner for like 30 seconds after the show. She didn't stay long after the show because she had to go take her kid(s?) trick-or-treating. We (the group from school that I was with) also saw some other members of the cast. The only really famous people were Jennifer Garner and Christopher Sarandon. Cyrano wasn't really an "encounter" I guess, more like sight-seeing lol.

When I'm not writing, which is like all the time, I like to just be with my boyfriend and concentrate on schoolwork. I'm online most of the time when I'm not doing either of those things, chatting and visiting forums. I don't get out as much as I'd like to, but I don't drive (I'm too scared), so it's really my own fault. I need a job .

Hiyas Kikuyo! Everyone beat me here already, so there really isn't that much to say. I guess I can elaborate on the groups. Oh wait, Mars already did that. There's almost nothing left for me. Well, feel free to PM me for anything you need- reviews, answers, or friendship. See ya around sometime!