Young Writers Society

Welcome to Squills, the official news bulletin of the Young Writers Society!

What will you find here? Tons of interesting news about YWS, including but not limited to: articles about writing, art, and the world of humanities; interviews with YWS members; shameless plugs; link round-ups; and opinionated columns.

And where will all of this come from? Take a look at our fantastic creative staff!





Of course, our content can’t come only from our staff. We also depend on you to help keep Squills successful. You’re all a part of a writing community, after all. If you’re interested in submitting to Squills, pop on over to the Reader’s Corner to find out how you can get involved by contributing an article or participating in other Squills activities. You can also subscribe to the Squills Fan Club , or PM SquillsBot to receive a notification each time a new issue is published!

Well, that’s all I have for now. So, what are you waiting for? Enjoy!

1. LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
2. GREEN ROOM GALLERY
3. '15 NANO
4. QUIBBLES
5. NEW ARRIVALS
6. SHAMELESS PLUGS
7. SUBSCRIBERS

LETTER FROM THE EDITORwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Hey, Squillsamigos!

BlueAfrica here to let you know that this is our last issue for November! As many of you likely know, Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. of A., so we're giving our staff a short break. Keep an eye out for our next issue, scheduled to be published the weekend of December 4th.

In other news, join me in welcoming @JustPerks to the Squills team! JustPerks is coming on board as our new Social Correspondent. Because she was just voted in, we can't enjoy her social corresponding just yet. So be sure to watch for her first article.

Thanks for reading! You guys keep us going. Tell your friends to subscribe.

~BlueAfrica

GREEN ROOM GALLERYwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

The Green Room is looking pretty full, and many of us have at least part of the upcoming week off for Thanksgiving. So let’s get cracking, Squillsamigos! There are currently 123 works with 0 reviews and 201 works with 1 review in the Green Room. The numbers are sure to go up in the week preceding the November Review Day. Be sure to check out some of the works below.

The Suicide Diary: Chapter 2 Part 1
@Gravity

This literary work has been in the Green Room since September, so let’s give it some love. In this dramatic teen fiction, Ellie tries to deal with the death of her best friend. Perhaps there are some clues to Sage’s suicide in a box of old things Ellie finds in her bedroom…

Fly in the Ointment (Part 2: The Fall of Kathryn and What Megan Thought As She Watched It Happen
@sinistercutlass

This short satirical novel by sinistercutlass shows two girls, formerly of the same Mormon ward, meet again after several years. While Kathryn--excluded from her new ward early on by the other girls--has moved away from the Church of Latter Day Saints and is impassioned by life, still-Mormon Megan is more concerned with the state of Kathryn’s soul than her own college prospects.

As someone who has read through the entire story, I can tell you: it’s brilliant. Click here to start with Part 1.

Trials of a Master Thief: Chapter 3
@Seraphinaxx

In this chapter of Seraphinaxx’s fantasy novel, the villain is scheming. It’s not a long excerpt, so if you’re looking for something short to read, this could be a good fit! Click here to start with Chapter 1. (Chapter 1 is rated 16+ for language.)

My Brother’s Bully’s Brother Is Hot
@EmbraceTheSass

A short Supernatural fanfic. Highschool AU. However, you can give a good review even if you’re not familiar with Supernatural. @Dracula says,

Even though I've never watched Supernatural in my life, I was able to pick up on what was happening in the scene

Enmity’s Captivity
@mintanchor
Rated 16+ for violence

An interesting combination of thriller and romance, this is the story of two best friends-in-love who suddenly find themselves in a hostage situation.

Eternal Ties- Part 1
@backroadstraveler

The opening of a fantasy novel involving princesses, castles, quests, and dragons.

Part 2 is also in the Green Room, so be sure to check that out once you finish Part 1.

Sinister Cutlass performs old-fashioned Arabian Nights fanfic for you, with great music!
@sinistercutlass

A dastardly plot to seize the throne of Agrabah, led by…



According to the author,






Note: Links in the main work take readers to SoundCloud to hear the story. Leave any reviews in the link provided!

10 Reasons why Nate is Afraid of Cell Phones
@CarsonTheArson

If you’re looking for laughs and something short to read, this is the piece for you! The title says it all.

'15 NANOwritten by Pretzelstick < PM: >

Heya Squillsamigos, Pretzelstick here with another long article about the single event that lots of writers participate in November… NaNoWriMo. I am so excited to bring to you some updates, but first let's start with the club that I am surfing and stalking daily:

2015 NaNo

With a total of 62 subscribers and 8 topics, I thought that this was the perfect place to start our exploration this week. If you want to learn more, or read the reports, then please feel free to do so at any time!! Also, on the wall there are daily prompts and challenges of things that you could include to your novel. They are very entertaining and give you... ideas. I was scrolling through the feed and remained quite entertained!

@StellaThomas introduces her characters, and my absolute favorite description of them was “Milady the Spider.” Here is the paragraph long description of the creature:






I have totally learned to appreciate fictional animal characters(doesn’t everyone?), because I believe that they are definitively the most entertaining characters that you can watch grow.

So far Stella has been the only writer to have introduced her NaNo characters? Where’s everyone else that is writing their character? I would totally suggest that you go and type up a reply about your character in this thread , created by @Omni. It’s a great mini-biography exercise

Have you ever had those favorite and beautiful lines that you have written but never used? Well then, this place is just right for you! It’s time to unload those works of art and store them deeply into the thread like a buried treasure chest. When I read this quote that @LeftyWriter wrote, I felt so so inspired and it’s a great reminder for everyone:






If you were wondering where you should just drop your summary or synopsis of your novel, there is a thread created by @Noelle for exactly that purpose. At the beginning of the month, before the month even started, @Arkhaion was the first one to reply with a short blurb of the project that she is working on this November:






I really love the sound of it too!(that’s obviously why I included it…) If you are interested feeding your creative mind with beautiful crafted rough sketches of novel ideas, then step right up and take some time from your day to read these!


Ever have this favorite line that you have written that you are very proud of and you’re dying to share? Well @CandyWizard started this whole process in the Forums of the club. And here I went, A Squills Scout picking and choosing which ones I wanted to included. I have concluded with these two that I am displaying:

@Deanie




@Carlito




Thanks so much ladies for sharing your works in progress sentences…

As it stand now, on the club forums at least two people have broke the 50K mark already with their novel. I would like to take a moment to give an a shoutout and a heart Congratulations for accomplishing their feat!



Mini-challenge:Guess which one-user- is which! If you PM me with the answer, then I'll give you a number of points...and one coupon for a review from me

Overall, I think that YWS is still really pumped about NaNo, and if you are interested in getting more information then please feel free to check out the club on our site or going onto the official NaNo website.

Adios Squillsamigos! Until next time, err… Next Sunday.(still NaNo month and Review Day!)

QUIBBLES
Wiggling With Who?
written by Lavvie < PM: >

People are confusing. I will never understand why the little boy I care for throws a complete temper tantrum when I calmly ask him to take a bath. I will never understand why the French throw an entire carrot along with their boiling lentils. I will never understand how there are actual live people who willingly pursue mathematics as a degree (no offence). And there are also lots of people who don’t understand the difference between two very important pronouns: who and whom.

Who and whom are two of the most commonly used relative and interrogative pronouns, meaning that they often modify a word, idea, or phrase in a main clause, or sentence. What is being modified is called the antecedent. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

People often confound these two pronouns because they are so similar and they tend to defy that age-old rule your grade five teacher taught you. What is that rule, you might ask? Well: “If it sounds correct then it is correct.” Usually, this applies to lots of things about the written and spoken word, but when it comes to who and whom, the distinction becomes a little less clear and a little more blurry.

A good trick to overcome your confusion over these two pronouns is to substitute the words for the use of other pronouns, such as he and him, her and she, and they and them. For the purposes of being politically correct (cue groans from the political right), I am going to use the gender neutral they and their. Here are some examples:

Who/Whom did Phoebe the Dog eat?
Phoebe the Dog ate them. Therefore, whom is correct.

Who/Whom scolded Phoebe the Dog?
They scolded Phoebe the Dog. Therefore, who is correct.

Next, things get a little trickier. We are going to tackle sentences that contain TWO clauses. I know. We’re growing up. It’s a big deal.

I know who/whom ate @megsug.
The two clauses in this sentence are as follows: I know and who/whom ate @megsug. In this case, we are evidently more concerned with the second clause. They ate @megsug. Therefore, who is the correct answer here.

@BlueAfrica wondered who/whom the dog conflict was about.
@BlueAfrica wondered is the first clause but we aren’t too concerned about that. The second clause is who/whom the dog conflict was about. The dog conflict was about them. Therefore, we must employ whom here.

It’s really just that simple. Some people might use whom more often that normal because they might think it makes them appear sophisticated. I don’t understand why, really, because if I were to write something like this...

@Lava, whom I know is supercalifragilisticexpialadocious, is my lavtwin.

...I end up looking pretty silly, because we all know the correct version is this:

@Lava, who I know is supercalifragilisticexpialadocious, is my lavtwin.

Why? Because she is supercalifragilisticexpialadocious.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >



@xv0nillaWriterx has earned her first two review stars in just one week of membership!! Head over to her wall to congratulate her .

@RainbowOfGayness has posted a poem called “This Girl.” Click here to read it .

@1998 has posted a poem called “Dreams.” Click here to leave a review .

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

We love to run articles and questions, but we also love to advertise for you. Let people know about your new blog, a poem or story you’re looking for reviews on, or a forum thread you’d like more traffic on through Squills’ Shameless Plugs. PM @SquillsBot with the exact formatting of your advertisement, contained in the following code.

Code: Select all

Place advertisement here. Make sure you include a title!

What's the Average Age on YWS?

In chat, @Blaspherica brought up the question - "What's the average age on YWS?"

Of course, we'll never get EVERYONE to answer this, but we can get a lot! It takes five seconds; just type in your age. Completely anonymous too! This is just a fun little experiment.

What's the average age on YWS? Click here to help us find the answer!


That's all folks~ Now send us yours.

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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