Young Writers Society

So, I have a plot bunny that won't go away. Basically, it's Battle Royale meets Marie Lu's stuff meets Divergent meets Uglies, in cyberpunk'd Rome.

Basically, teens are recruited by competing boarding schools, either because they have talent, their families signed them up, or they were forced by the government because of their families crimes, etc. They compete, against each other or against different schools, in one on one challenges. Gladiator-style combat, challenges of intelligence, beauty pageants.... They train within their school to build up credits to spend on enhancements (hence the cyberpunk) like pills to stimulate your brain, cosmetic surgery, implanted devices under their skin, etc. They're then matched totally randomly, so you could be a newbie and matched against someone whose been at it for years and has all the tech. Many challenges end in death, and if not, massive injury or public humiliation. I'm thinking of focusing on a school for girls aged fifteen to twentyish.

I know that there plenty of younger ones on this site, so would something like this be too dark? It wouldn't be as gory as Battle Royale, more along the lines of The Hunger Games, and I'll use warning tags where appropriate. Still, should I bring this elsewhere?

It's definitely still appropriate for YWS!

We have a handy rating system in the Publishing Center—you might have taken note of it already—where you can rate your works, chapters, etc. according to the level of violence or mature content present. As a result, because it would be tagged (with 16+, 18+, whatever you feel appropriate for the work), then it's perfectly fine to be on YWS!

Not everything here (thankfully) is all G-rated butterflies and rainbows, and this sounds at about the same level of literary darkness as some other stuff that I read and keep up with on here.

I wish you luck!

The novel I'm writing atm is similar to your idea. I posted the first chapter on here, but it didn't garner much attention... so while it can be considered "appropriate" I'm not sure YWS is the right demographic.

Then again, it could just be my writing style, or the fact that it was the opening chapter.

Just my 2 cents.

-shrug-

It definitely still sounds appropriate for YWS!!
While it's called 'Young' Writer's Society, there are still plenty of older teens and adults that write and read up here. I actually love the sound of your story, so if you write and post, please tag me! I'll follow the story
Definitely use the rating system, as Arkhaion suggested, to make sure your audience knows what they're getting in to.
As for Deskro's comment about YWS maybe not being the right demographic, I think it's more of not being able to advertise your story. I know I'd love to read both you and Deskro's stories, but it takes searching the literary list and green room to find it, so sometimes it can be a bit hard.
Maybe we should make a club for people who write darker stories... Just a thought...
Anyways, good luck with your story! Whether or not you post all depends on how comfortable you are with sharing; the site itself is very welcoming with most forms of writing.

@Sherri

The Writers Corner forum is more than just a place to ask project-specific questions: it's also a place to advertise your project. The most successful advertisements in the past have been project threads where the writers talk about their plans, trials and tribulations, post up extras, and answer questions. It's always an option, in addition to linking to your work or project thread in your signature.

Clubs have been made in the past, but they tend to get less attention than threads in this forum.

Oh, interesting!! I didn't know; sorry about that. I should probably do research in order to help people asking questions better.
I don't personally advertise, but it's amazing YWS has a tool as useful as that! Thanks for sharing it I'll have to use it to find new things to read in the future.

@Kyllorac thanks for the idea about linking works in the signature, I never thought about that. Definitely something that I will start doing

I will add it later, I would be honoured if you did decide to read it @Sherri & others.

OT: I would like to see how @CarolineHart writes the story. Start a movement!

Anything and everything is perfect for YWS! There are readers for every genre and all kinds of writing.

So write it, post it with the correct ratings, and you're set!

(Btw, your plot sounds amazing... and I love Hunger Games, so I'd be game to review it when you post it.)

Thank you all so much for your support! I will get on writing this soon!

@Deskro

You'll need to use the URL tags to make links work in your signature.

@Sherri

Research is always a good idea. ;P

To be fair, not a lot of people know that Writers Corner can be used for advertising (even though it's in the forum description) so there's plans to make it little more obvious (and easier to find new projects to follow).