Young Writers Society

Well, first of all, I best start with my name, which is Ryan. I don't really like my name; it's far too common for me to like. I'd love a unique name, which, when I publish my novels, I plan to use a pen name.

I'm pretty nice and random most of the time. I get straight A's, a 4.0 GPA (sometimes higher due to AP classes), and love to read and write. I sadly tend to be at school more than my own house--I might as well just move it there! I arrive at school at about 7am and leave around 9pm. This is not because I like to sit at school doing nothing, but because I'm in so many extracurriculars.

Sometimes I spout random bites of knowledge, so beware. I love to read (and write my own) quotes, especially nice, warming, loving ones.

I'd love to be your friend so just PM me...

1. I do a lot of research on (often random) stuff.
2. I'm an over-achiever.
3. I have three novels written, one in the editing process and I'm planning to take it to a publisher.
4. I'm also a winner of NaNoWriMo! Yay!
5. Most of my friends aren't writers, so I searched for an online society to at least help me make some writer-friends.
6. I'd love to review/critique your work, just PM me.
7. I love Twilight, Harry Potter, and Warriors, but I'm not obsessed with them.
8. I play sports and love music.
9. One of my favorite books is {Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson. Anderson is a really brillant and amazing writer. I love her work. I swear that book was about me, just when I'm older and as a female. I fit the character in many ways.

My Writing-I tend to write poorly (at least I think so), especially at poetry, but others disagree. If I focus on something, I achieve it. If I focus too much on it, I tend to focus so much I lose sight and do it without knowing. That usually with my commas >.< Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

After writing a novel, I usually make a YouTube video of actors that look like the characters and a song that relatively fits the book. I sometimes also makes covers and/or graphics for it.

If I were to say what the hardest part of a novel is, I'd say it'd be pressure, time, and finding the right title.

I'm tall, blond, and blue-eyed. My hair is short and I love to hang around my friends. My favorite band is Linkin Park. I just love them. I'm in Choir at my school and love to sing.

Thanks for reading!

*squee!* A new member! Yays! Hi Ryan! I'm June! Welcome to YWS!

Quite an intro! Yay! You sound extremely interesting! Common names are cool. Unique, weird, exotic names aren't exactly cool when you're born with one. It's funner to just use a "plain" nickname when you have one, haha.

GPA at 4.0? Whoa, you're smart! Gosh, your school days are long! When do you find time for hobbies and writing?? Eek! You like writing quotes? That's fantastic! I have a collection of quotes that my friends/people I know wrote... Who knows? Maybe one day one of your quotes will be in there!

Three novels!? Whoa! That's awesome! So far, I've only completed two, and am halfway through a zillion others. It's a habit of mine not to finish stuff, haha. A NaNo winner!? Yay! We have those here too.

Psh. Judging from the formality of your introduction, you can't be that bad of a writer! (Everyone has difficulty with poetry, but it's fun to play around with!) Issues with commas you say? Pah, never mind that! A comma is basically a pause, so read your sentences aloud. Wherever you want to stick a pause, insert a comma! And then comma's also make lists: One, Two, Three, four, and five. See? Simple!

You're right. The hardest part of novel writing is finding the time. During NaNo, I was locked up in a room for hours, typing furiously, haha. And! The other hardest part is when the characters begin to argue with you in your head.

Anyway! Linkin Park? They're awesome! Anyway, since you're here I should probably do my job and introduce you to the table... (pardon my metaphors )


Rules first!

• We have a 2:1 policy here, which means that before you cook any food, you have to have eaten two meals by someone else.

In English, that would be, before you submit any of your literature, please write two reviews on someone else's work .


• No chatspeak! No bad words at the dinner table . We're chefs... I mean, writers! So we don't like people who say "Nyc 2 m33t u" instead of "Nice to meet you." It's annoying .

• Rate your work!

- If your food is good for all ages, rate it G.

- If it's slightly spicy... Like, contains mild swearing, mild violence, rate it PG -13

- If it's really spicy, containing the F word, violence and all other stuff that kids shouldn't consume, rate it R. Works that are rated G/PG-13 will show up on the homepage. Works that are rated R will not.


Hm, the homepage is the main table. You'll see everything spread out there-- the latest posts, the appetizers (snippets of recent works), and the main courses (the featured works).

Then, there's your place mat, aka your portfolio. Anything you cook up will appear on your plate, but other people can come to take a bite of it too, (aka review it). You'll be provided with a knife, spoon, and fork to tear up other people's work as well. But, please be kind in the tearing up and eating of other people's work . They work hard on it! I think...

Then, there's the other tables. I'm probably confusing you, but it's rather simple: Everyone's food (aka literature) ends up on the tables; they just have it collected on their plates (aka portfolio) as well. So, the tables are sorted out-- there's the poetry platters, the fiction platters and so on.

Oh, let's not forget the people with colored names!

The cherry colored people are the Admin/Junior Admins. They created this table... er, website, and help to make it run, so their names show up in red. They have a lot of work to do, maintaining all of the kitchen equipment you'll never have to see .

Then, there's the green-apple colored people. These are moderators; they help to make sure everything in the kitchen/dining room stays under control and take care of any problems that arise. They work hard!

Then! There's the lime colored people. They only have to pay attention to certain tables and such, so, while they work hard, they only have to focus on one area of the dining room.

And! There's the orange colored people. These are retired moderators/admins. So, they get to hang out, be treated like royalty, and remember the days when they worked just as hard .

Then, there's the grape colored people. These are instructors (like me!) We specialize in constructive criticism, sampling certain pieces of food (aka literature ) and giving you our feedback. You're welcome to bug us for reviews.

And, there's the blueberries. These are greeters. They welcome you to the kitchen/dining hall and help you find your way around.


-
There are other tables like randomness and the lounge. They're exactly what they sound like-- randomness and the Lounge.

The Lounge is where you can relax and talk to other members (Maybe even share your picture ). We also have a chatroom, but that's only open when a moderator can be in there.

And randomness is really random. You never know what you'll find on that table .

And! You can have your own cookbook, too to share your recipes. Haha, okay, in other words, you can have your own blog to ramble in . And, you can comment on other people's blogs and such.

How could I have forgotten your desk! Your desk is basically your profile. You can hang a pretty picture there by adding a profile picture. People can leave notes for you in your guestbook and such. It's major fun here.

*

Hmm... let's see. The more food you consume, the more stars you get! Here's how it works:

Yellow/Gold

5 Reviews = 1 Star
25 Reviews = 2 Stars
75 Reviews = 3 Stars
150 Reviews = 4 Stars
250 Reviews = 5 Stars


Blue Stars:


350 Reviews = 1 Blue Star, 4 Gold Stars
450 Reviews = 2 Blue Stars, 3 Gold Stars
550 Reviews = 3 Blue Stars, 2 Gold Stars
650 Reviews = 4 blue stars, 1 Gold star
750 Reviews = 5 blue stars

Red Stars:

850 Reviews = 1 Red Star, 4 Blue Stars
950 Reviews = 2 Red Stars, 3 Blue Stars
1,050 Reviews = 3 Red stars, 2 Blue Stars
1,150 Reviews = 4 Red stars, 1 Blue star
1,250 Reviews = 5 Red stars


And, there's also ranks! Ranks come with your post number and show up beneath your name:



New Member: 0-4 posts
Novice: 5-14 posts
Junior Writer: 15 - 49 posts
Writer: 50 - 99 posts
Senior Writer: 100 - 249 posts
Novelist: 250 - 499 posts
Speaker of the Forum: 500+ posts
Master of the Forum: 1,000 posts.

When you hit novelist, you can have your own custom title . A custom title is those bolded letters beneath your name. You can edit it as often as you wish.


So! I think I have ranted enough! If you can't tell, we are slightly crazy, but extremely fun. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or ask them here!

I would bombard you with lots of questions too, but I've probably made your eyes sore with the length of this.

Welcome aboard!

June

*stares open-mouthed at springrain*
~You really want to win this war, don't ya, June?

Anyhoodledoodle!
Hey there, Ryan!
I'm Meep, a Greeter, as June *glare* has mentioned.
It looks like we have quite some stuff in common!
Except...I'm kind of on the...not-too-intelligent side ._.

~I'll be seeing you around then!
Have a nice day
Meep(:

...June? Were you [s]going to leave anything for the rest of us[/s] trying to scare him away?

Golly, that right there should count as two welcomes for the instructors... >.>

Welcome to YWS Ryan! I'll have you know that I've not met a single Ryan in my life, and I've been all over the west coast of the USA. Can't be that common. Or maybe I'm just in the wrong spots at the wrong times. Either way, Ryan's a cool name. Used to use it on my dolls all the time when I was little. That, and Devon. Both are awesome.

Haha, you sound like me! We're both school obsessed. Maybe obsessed isn't the right word, but I think we bookworm type get called it often enough it doesn't matter. Now you, me, and Dream Deep can start a club, as a club's not a club until you've more than two people. What's your favorite subject? I'm more of a humanities girl, so no maths, but lots of history and art.

NaNoWriMo! Gotta love it. I've done it twice now, won both times, but would never call the resulting work a novel. Plan to save that title for something actually readable. Congrats on writing three, by the way! That's incredible! Geeze, what I wouldn't give for you writing muse, holly cow.

Hey, you should make a post in the Writer's Corner about the book you're editing. The Writer's Corner is basically for those people either writing a novel, editing a novel, or in the process of publishing one. No matter which you are, it's really cool to post about your progress, and even cooler for us to read about it. Yeah, yeah, we're a nosy bunch, but when one of our members is getting published, we want to hear about it! What should we expect, and when should we expect to see your book on the shelves?

Since you're in the process of editing that one, are you going to post any of it on YWS? I'm pretty sure you'd get reviews with it, especially with the war going on.

On the war! Because it looks like it's the only thing June didn't mention!

The purple people are instructors, yes, and the blue people are the greeters. However, there's a war going one. The purps basically scoffed at the greeters, saying their job was easy as pie, they weren't *really* important, etc. Greeters got huffy and said something to the effect of "Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try it. You wouldn't last a week. Critiquing's far easier."

So they switched jobs for a week. The instructors greeted new members, and the greeters critiqued. The greeters won the war, but there were mods (little green people) on both sides, so the instructors chalked the greeter's victory up to that, despite having mods on their side as well. After much debate, the groups drifted apart to simmer and consider. A few weeks later, another war was waged, and is currently taking place. This time, without the aide of mods. Whoever wins this one is the true victor, unless it's the Purps, in which case we'll probably have a tie-breaker.

...

As luck would have it, I became an instructor on the day the war started again.

When you post something, toss me a PM. I'd love to read it, and regardless of the current state of things, I am still an instructor. I just... do the greeters' work.

And on number 9 of your list, I once read a trilogy like that, where I could have sworn the author was writing about me, it fitted so well. Creepy, but downright fantastic. The first is called Assassin's Apprentice and they're written by one Robin Hobb. Fantastic books.

Can't wait to see you around the forums!

Hey! ......
You've come at an interesting time. Us purples are proving (succesfully) that we can do the greeter's job just as well as they can, and they are attempting to review work to our standard. (we are so going to win)

The other two have told you about.....everything, basically, including my customary tour. So, I'm going to ramble in a hopefully helpful manner!

You seem pretty smart, but if you want a little extra guidance, then there is a mentor system. The mentors are listed in the welcome forum under their own little thread, check them out, and if you like the look of one of our stock, erm, members, then send them a PM. They will help you out, answer questions, read your work, etc.

You've written three novels? Bravo! I haven't finished one yet! *high fives* I really need to do that. There is a special place where you put long works, forum159.html basically this is where whole chapters can go up, as posting long works in the ordinary forums can be intimidating for a reviewer.

You think you're writing isn't good? Ah, here we are all here to help each other, no matter our skill level. I have a learned a lot while I've been here.

Now, reviewing someone's work at the start can be intimidating, so here is a few things I do (and as an instructor, they have to be okay) :

The nit-pick: Correcting spelling/grammar. A lot of people on here will find each one, which is fine, but what I usually do is advice the writer to use a spell check and point out only reoccurring errors, such as misplaced apostrophes.

What is show, don't tell? You'll see this as almost the number one piece of advice given out here. So it's probably a good thing to know what it means. Showing is letting the reader come to the conclusion that you want them to have without actually stating it. So instead of saying she panicked, the writer describes how her heart rate rises, her face flushes and her breathing becomes shallow and thoughts erratic and illogical, maybe even without using the word 'panic'. Showing is almost always preferable, but there are times and places for the simple tell.

Sentence structure: I for one keep an eye out for this, as do many other established critiquers. Flow is a major part of story writing, so keep an eye out for those misplaced commas and awkward lines.

The overview: Not my strongest point, but important all the same. Basically, technicalities aside, this is what you thought of the plot, the characters, the setting, the theme, the tone and the voice.


Of course, this is just how I do it. There are other systems that people use successfully, and you are welcome to critique how you like, as long as it is constructive criticism. Don't stress too much over it at the moment, as these are just guidelines, and not to be adhered to. It's just a few tips on one way to construct a critique. ^_^

If you want to see what I mean, here is one of my own critiques: topic43879.html
(I'm near the bottom, however there is some brilliant critiques from some successful members on that story)

And I have to say, Welcome to YWS. If you need something critiqued or looked over, feel free to PM me, I review anything but poetry, lyrics and scripts. ^_^

Hopefully I'll see you around!

-Nutty

Dang.
The Purps are really stalking this forum.

I'm sorry for not typing a long, comprehensive greeting like the paranoid Instructors.
While they greet, I critique.
But anyway, to be super clear on the rules (Hah! I found something to say!):
Official YWS Rules
This should clarify any questions. If not, the Help & Support section should clarify things.
(The extreme right icon on the top of the screen)
If not, just prod the Mods, and ask them nicely.
Giving them cookies would help too.

Hey Ryan Welcome to YWS

Be glad it's a common name! At least everyone knows how to pronouce it -_-
What would your pen name be?

Wow, you sound like a busy guy!
I was never that motivated - and I'm not right now xD I usually just do what's absolutely compulsive (except in my English AP class, 'cause it's my favorite ) ...
I hate you for being that good in school!! ... Just kidding. I'm just extremely envious and starting to turn green.

Is your school schedule that long? I'd be sleeping most of the time during class if I had yours ... and I thought mine was bad!
What kind of extracurriculars do you participate in? Sports? Clubs?

Jeez, I'm getting soo jealous! I should have never read your introduction! Now I feel like a worthless worm xD
Awesome that you have three novels written! What are they about?
Good luck with the publisher!

Woohoo, Twilight! *takes out Twilight-sign and waves around with it* I guess you can see from my avatar that I love Twilight as well ^^ Well, the vibe is wearing off, and even though there are lots of parts I don't particularly like, I think it's an awesome series
And the last book came out on Valentine's Day - finally! *cheers*

Seriously? As far as I can tell from your introduction, you're an awesome writer! Take that and the three novels you've written and that you're an over-achiever (you said that! ) I'm kind of scared to read your works for fear I'll throw away my stuff xD


Okay ... sorry it's getting so long. I'm a rambling person myself and even though I try to control it, it doesn't always work.

Anyways, welcome to YWS again!
Hope you have a great time here! Feel free to ask for help if you need any
MySunshine

Ohhhhhh Ryaaaan! Welcome to YWS!

Yes! A fellow overachiever! Trust me, I know how it is. I think you calling yourself an overachiever has something to do with you writing three novels. I can tell you take your writing seriously, which is a good thing. I used to write like crazy too, and I finished so many novels (all which still need to be edited, AHH!).

This site will help you improve your writing over time, and meanwhile you'll get to know other writers and learn so much about writing and literature and just about everything actually, since writing encompasses everything. Try to check out our Usergroups to see if there are any groups about any interests you have, and check out the Blog section as well, as we writers typically like to gab up the blogs.

I have to say though, the best way to get to know others on this site is... reviewing! Reviewing other peoples works helps you get to know fellow writers, as they will send you messages pertaining to your review, and you can discuss writing and maybe even work on writing together. I've met so many people that way. And reviewing other peoples stuff helps with your own writing as well!

Anyway, as for me -- my name is Clo, I'm an Instructor, so I am here for your writing guidance. I'm always available to PM, so feel free to ask me for anything! I'm the friendly neighborhood reviewer...

I hope to see you around!

~ Clo

Oh, dear. Poor newbie. I'm terribly sorry that you've been mauled by us over-enthusiastic members. We are rather energetic, don't you agree?

I see that everyone else has more than covered the rules, and about enything you could possibly want to know. Except, of course, what I'm going to mention!

We have hoards of NaNo participants here, and, when the time comes, an entire forum dedicated to that crazy month of November. You'll realize that you are not alone in the crazy battle against the clock. So, join the club! Sadly, not all of us are winners like you.

I'm not sure if anyone's told you about Chat? Every so often a Mod (one of those nifty green people) will come on and decide to open up the Chat room. This happens randomly, as you cannot predict when a Mod will have time to open it, so take advantage of the Chat when it's open! It's a great way to introduce yourself to the YWSers and make some great new friends. Chat is so crazy, we can talk about anything under the sun!

Also, check out the Knowledge Baseif you'd like to read some helpful hints from our members. This is a collection of resources to help you with your writing, and tons of the articles in here are super-helpful. You can get assistance in Grammar, Character development, rhyming in poetry, and even finding your way around YWS!

So, I guess I'll be seeing you around then?

~Evi

Oh my gosh, you guys like restated every rule on this site in here

You could have post links, couldn't you?

Haha, we certainly did, Ryan! Although there might be a few we missed... Nah, maybe not!;)

Yes, we could have posted links... but... eh, that's like... so unpersonalized! It's funner to welcome them by typing up these super long welcome messages!

June

Haha,


Yeah, sorry. Like I said, we're instructors at heart. Our critiques tend to be as long as our posts on here (except for June's-- that's scary long. You can tell she's dedicated to this war a bit, no? ), and extremely thorough. The idea of not covering something we deem vital for you to know it.... insane.

So yes. Sorry for running you over like a crazy mob of overly-enthusiastic-wannabe-greeters. But hey, on the up side, you now have more knowledge upon joining than most members obtain in a month! That has to be something, right?

...Maybe?

Oh well. At least you're brilliant now in YWS as well as the real world. Can't wait to see you around the forums!

(And if you haven't already, check out the Writing Activities. They're under Community Forums and can be really fun.)

Hiya, Ryan!

Haha, see, it rhymed? Hahaha. Aren't I clever?

*clears throat*

Hey! I'm Demeter. I don't like my name that much either (I mean my real life name), because the usual living things with my name are dogs, cats, babies or grey-haired grannies. My parents were either really behind or ahead of their time, because nowadays my name is quite popular. Yeah. But I still don't like it that much. But I know how you feel, kind of.

Well. Enough of my name. Please, excuse my ignorance, but I haven't got a clue what a 4.0 GPA is, so... I can't really comment on that. It has something to do with school, doesn't it? Heh. I'm obviously not where you're from.

I apologize if my colleagues have choked you with stuff. It's what we do, because we're really Instructors, as [s]someone[/s] pretty much everyone have already told you. I hope you're not too scared

I like singing, too! What kind of music do you sing with your choir?

I love that introduction of yours. I think it's great when people really tell something about themselves, unlike me in my own intro, in which I just wrote "Hello. I'm new." or something

Well, it's cool that you joined, we're happy to have you here! You'll be making new friends before you can say 'Yay!' so be prepared PM me anytime you like, if you need reviews or just want to talk.

I'll be seeing you!


Demeter
xxx

Thanks for coming in and welcoming me everyone! This is really nice and amazing. I feel as though I've made a million friends in the few days I've been here. Everyone's just so wonderful and nice...and thoughtful.

Currently in Choir we are singing 60s music for our pops concert in a few weeks. Yay! We have a lot of music. Over our Spring Break, I get to go to Hawaii for Choir. GPA is grade point average, basically like an overall amount of how well your grades are.

I find it fun to watch you all fight over this, and hopefully I'll be joining to one of your groups soon.

0.0 = Fail (and the face it makes is appropriate, don't you think?)
1.0 Depending on your teacher, this is either a fail, or a horribly low grade
2.0 Average, about a C, for American letter grades
3.0 Above average by a bit. B in American letter grades, I think.
4.0 = A+, highest you can get.

Long story short? Kid's a genius.