Young Writers Society

Hey! My name's Zoe, but a lot of people call me zo zo, zoobers, or just plain Zoe.
My friend told me about this website after several years of emailing my poems and stories to my friends to try to get good feedback. It didn't really work, but oh, well......
I love reading, although I'm one of the few in my grade who reads for fun. It's a shame, actually; if only they would see what they were missing. I love fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery books. I'll read almost anything, though.
If you're wondering about the title, I have a slight tendency to answer in opposites. It's a habit I've had since I was young, and it drives my friends crazy....
I'm very excited to see what the website is like. Thanks for reading!

-zOe

Heyloo, Zoe! Lily, at your service. Welcome to our wacky family!

Before I start gushing out my welcoming words (or is that farewell?), here are two of our most basic rules, just in case you haven't read them.

1. The 2:1 ratio. For every piece you post, you are required to review two other works by someone else. This keeps the system of reviewing and posting balanced.

2. No chatspeak! I'm quite sure you'll be able to keep to this one, judging from your post above. Use abbreviations like POV or MC if you need to, but no "u" for "you", or "2" for "to". Capital letters are used for yelling. Also, restrict foul language to stories in the literature forum.

Now that all that stuffiness is out of the way...

If you're looking for feedback, you've come to the right place! Because in every reader is an editor waiting to be released, and essentially almost all writers are avid readers, people on this site love [s]brutalising[/s] reviewing. In fact, there's a section of the site called "Will Review For Food", where users offer to critique your works for the fun of it. (In case you lose your way, it's in the Community Forums, at the Lounge.)

I totally agree with you about the reading thing. It's the same here - kids in my form look at me funny when I read during recess or free periods. I have, however, managed to coax a few into giving it a try, and have been successful: joke books are the key! I like some sci-fi too, but most of those I read are by Isaac Asimov, and his books aren't sold very widely nowadays. My domain in the bookstore is usually the general fiction or classics section. What are your fave writers?

So genre do you write? Do you write mystery and fantasy stuff too? I'm not big on fantasy, but I do love a good mystery. Reading almost anything is rather dangerous, since there are some books that should never have been published, let alone put in a book shop.

What are your hobbies besides the obvious? Favourite football clubs and colours? Best-loved games? [interrogation/] Tell us about yourself. I do hope I haven't scared you off.. Almost everyone on YWS oozes with friendliness, no matter how harsh their critiques, so don't be surprised to see loads of people replying on your thread.

PM me if you need anything, or if you just wanna chat. Hope to see you round the site soon, Zoober!

Cheers,
Lily.

Hi Zoe! Welcome to the site! PM me when you have a poem posted and I'll look it over for you, if you want.

A quick run down of colours: if someone has an acid blue name, they're a Greeter, and there'll probably be horde of them racing to welcome you soon. xD Lavenders, like me, are Instructors, it's our job to give really good critiques (but there are, of course, lots of other members who are just as good) and generally help you improve your writing. Light greens are Jr Mods and dark greens are Mods, reds are Jack, Bek, and Nate, our admins, and orange members are retired moderators. (You might have noticed Big Brother on your friends list - that's the group of moderators. )

Aaaaaaand besides the boards, chat is a great way to get to know people. It's on the home page, on the bottom left.

So! Favorite writers, poets, etc? Books? Flavour of ice cream?

Don't hesitate to PM me if you need anything.

x Mars

Hey Zoe! I'm Chloe, but you can call me by my user name, if you'd like.

Yes, it is a shame that most people aren't reading anymore! And the ones who don't limit that are our age, limit they're material to Twilight and Twilight only. (blech)

So, you might have seen the stars under the avatars of others. They represent the amount of the reviews you've done. Here's the system...
Ze Yellow Stars
5 Reviews = 1 Star
25 Reviews = 2 Stars
75 Reviews = 3 Stars
150 Reviews = 4 Stars
250 Reviews = 5 Stars

For Blue Stars:
350 Reviews = 1 Blue Star, 4 Yellow Stars
450 Reviews = 2 Blue Stars, 3 Yellow Stars
550 Reviews = 3 Blue Stars, 2 Yellow Stars
650 Reviews = 4 Blue Stars, 1 Yellow Star
750 Reviews = 5 Blue Stars

For Red Stars:
850 Reviews = 1 Red Star, 4 Blue Stars
950 Reviews = 2 Red Stars, 3 Blue Stars
1050 Reviews = 3 Red Stars, 2 Blue Stars
1150 Reviews = 4 Red Stars, 1 Blue Star
1250 Reviews = 5 Red Stars
Yeah, that's a lot. But don't worry, most people aren't even close to getting a blue star.

So, feel free to PM me if you need any help, or would like me to critique something you've written.

Hiya and welcome!

One thing that hasn't been gone over is rating works. If you rate your works, unless rated R, they'll show up on the front page of YWS. You might even get more comments. Rated R works have the f-word or adult content.

YWS certainly is the place to get help on your writing. I've improved heaps just by being on here. I've also increased the number of works I come up with. Having a place to show them off helps. ^^

Fantasy! *Pounces* I love, love, Love fantasy. As you can tell by my username. Hehe. What subgenres do you like? Have you tried mixing any sic-fi and fantasy?

If you need anything, PM me.

~Rosey

Hello again. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Favorite books and authors? I have way too many to count. *sigh* My all time favorites include The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint, The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson, and the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series by Rick Riordan. Sometimes I venture back to the children's section, or explore the adult books, since most of the books I find in the young adult section are romance novels (bleh). Not that I have anything against them.....

I love swimming, and I play the violin and the piano. I'm actually pretty competitive in both.

Um, my favorite colors are green, black, and blue. I don't have a favorite flavor of ice cream, but I love ice cream all the same. I love any and all board games (though I suppose that's because I'm an only child and get bored a lot).

Well, that's about it. Thanks again!

-zOe

I play the violin and the piano.

Me too! Not very well, though, certainly not competitively.

Anyway, have fun!

Yay, Zoe! =D I'm so excited you've joined. Everyone's really nice, I promise, and you'll make tons of friends (who love to readand write!) and your writing will really benefit.

As for how to become a Greeter, first you have to be a member for two months. And the obvious requirement is that you have to be really active here in the Welcome forums, greeting new members such as yourself who come in, showing them the ropes, being a friendly face and such. ^_^ And then, when you want to apply for Greeter, you send in an application and the Moderators (in green) either accept or reject your application. If you're rejected, you can always apply again!

I see you have a poem here, and I'll try to get around to critiquing it soon! Just to warn you, though, I'm a little harsh. xD And I'm not using my first name on YWS, so if you can get used to calling me Evi on the site that would be great.

PM me if you need anything! ^_^

~Evi

Thanks A- Evi. Oh, gods, this is going to be hard, calling you by your username. *sigh* I'll deal with it, sooner or later.

Just to correct Evi up there, you only have to be on the site for one month. And when you want to apply, you just scroll down to the "applications" forum at the very bottom of the boards.

My jaw dropped when I saw Evi had posted in here. She usually avoids the Welcome forum like the plague. xD

Thanks Rosey. I'll keep that in mind.