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.

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

1. NEW MOLD!
2. BRING BACK OUR GIRLS
3. STORYBOOK UPDATE
4. ASKPRUNOGRUNO
5. ADVENTURES IN WRITING
6. GREEN ROOM GALLERY
7. KANOME'S RANT OF MEDIA
8. THE CODE BREAKER CHALLENGE
9. NEW ARRIVALS
10. THIS WEEK'S UPDATE - 6/8
11. SHAMELESS PLUGS
12. SUBSCRIBERS

NEW MOLD!written by ArcticMonkey < PM: >

Around a month ago, YWS got itself a lovely new set of Junior Moderators. If you don’t know what a Junior Moderator is, they are members picked by the staff to help run the site. Their usernames can be found with a light green username and they are always there to help if any member is feeling lost. They have to go through a process before they are picked, and these are the survivors: @Aquestioning, @Aley, @magpie, @Birkhoff, @SubtleSanity, @SushiSashimi333, @Laure, @GoldFlame, @Pompadour and @Silverlock. Congratulations to them all!

So I thought I’d find them in their newly-modded glory, and ask them some questions on how they feel about being a Junior Moderator of YWS.

How did you feel when you got that PM asking if you want to be a JM?

@SushiSashimi333:






@GoldFlame:






@Magpie:





@Aquestioning:






@Birkhoff:






@Silverlock:






@Aley:

Why do you think you were chosen?

@magpie:






@Aley:

What was the first thing you did using your new modly powers?

@Aquestioning:






@Birkhoff

Are you enjoying your time as a JM?

@GoldFlame:






@Silverlock:

Any difficulties you have come across?

@GoldFlame






@Aley






And there you have it! Answers from the new mods about their experiences and how they are dealing with their new responsibilities. Remember to let us know what you thought of this article on the Squills Fan Club .

BRING BACK OUR GIRLSwritten by Hannah < PM: >

On April 14th, 2014, nearly two months ago, hundreds of school girls were kidnapped from their classrooms in Chibok, Nigeria. Reports vary, but the general consensus is that they were abducted by a group called Boko Haram for religious reasons. Imagine that. Hundreds of girls. Taken out of their classrooms. And nearly two months later, most of them are still missing.

When tragedies happen in countries other than our own, it’s often difficult to get a grasp on them. We may not even know the name of the country in which they happened, or where that country is on a map, so how could we know anything about these girls. For many people, it’s as far away and unbelievable as if someone wrote a story and put these girls within it.

But for other YWS members, this story was no work of fiction. It hit hard and close to home, and resulted in a set of three special literary pieces being submitted through the publishing center.

YWS member @beeyaay says she wrote her piece, Juju , on March 8th,






Juju is an article that reads like a poem, like a rant spoken in the heat of grief, that speaks of the recent tragedy. @beeyaay combines an intimate view of her country with the words of the song by the same title by Ice Prince , and creates a multi-layered, well-textured narrative of response. Her writing aims deep and tells a true story, including micro-narratives such as,






And @beeyaay is brave enough that she has not kept her voice to herself. She has gone so far as to submit the article for publication in her local newspaper, around the same time that she published it on YWS and released it to the world.

As a result, another YWSer from Nigera – @Temi – read her piece and was inspired to create even more. In @Temi’s own words:






Thus were both Juju: A Tribute and A True Nigerian written and published.

Juju: A Tribute takes a closer look at the minute-by-minute narrative of that morning in school, and @Temi presents us with such lines as






to try to bring the situation home for those who have never even stood on the African continent. The piece contains bitingly sad and genuine lines about the reality of living in a place where such danger has become, for some percentage of the population, part of their Normal.

In A True Nigerian, @Temi asks if in the midst of this corruption, there is still a place to be proud of their country. It is a broader look at the implications and emotions that an event such as the abduction of the Chibok girls illustrates. It speaks to every Nigerian, and at the same time speaks to everyone who wants to consider for a moment what it might mean to be a Nigerian.


This is how history in literature is built. We read historical poems in Literature survey classes all across the globe and study how the events of the current time affected the message in the poem. For many of us, we remain at a distance, separated by time, distance, and apathy.

But there are people writing and speaking and creating the fabric of the literature and history we will leave behind. @Beeyay and @Temi have taken a tragedy and brought it closer, made it more real, to thousands of YWS users that may otherwise not have connected with headlines, or have come into contact with viewpoints so close to the action. We often stop at our backyard newspapers, not thinking to search for newspapers from the country where the tragedy took place, such as the Vanguard or The Guardian . These two young authors stepped across these barriers.

For @Beeyay, it’s a habit that will not stop here:

STORYBOOK UPDATE written by AfterTheStorm < PM: >



I must say that the diversity of the Storybooking forum is quite refreshing. I can click on over to the SB tab, and never know what genre might pop up.

For instance, @Lumi’s Location Unknown: Mission Failed explores the possibilities of the future. And while The Triple World Experiment by @SassBideAndRawr shares a similar science fiction theme, these two Storybooks are followed by ones about ghost-steampunk-pirates (Evangeline’s Song by @AriaAdams), warring kingdoms (Long Live the Living also by Aria, and Flames of Darkness by @ShadowVyper), and … high school? (As written about in @Nike’s Harmony High .)

When asked for her opinion on the variety of SB genres, @SparktoFlame said,






Then @Skorpionne added,






No matter what type of fiction you enjoy, there is always a Storybook perfectly matched to your taste. And who knows? You might even discover another great genre to try out!



The General Discussion Forum (GDF for short), found here deserves more recognition for its goodness and helpfulness to Storybookers.

If you’re searching for a place to post teasers about your new SB or to scope out an upcoming story, the GDF is perfectly suited for that. Or are you in need of a spot to discuss plot bunnies about an idea you’ve been dying to release? Look no farther than General Discussion! It honestly is a great tool to start up another Storybook, with guides for the newbies and refreshers for the old farts who are still lurking around the SB tab (@elinor%20brynn and Lumi, I’m looking at you).

Fresh from the Press

Join @Avalon and company in Like Ghosts , submitted on May 28th. Welcome to the Ghost Division:





Then check out The Dream Land . Posted just this last Thursday, June 5th, @pandabear7 introduced a strange wonderland your character was pulled into. Explore this new world with other characters, and enjoy your adventures in “The Dream Land.”

So whether you’re a fan of sci-fi, superheroes, ghosts, strange lands, the supernatural, weird boarding schools, arranged marriages, knights, dragons, pirates, princesses, magic, or a league of assassins, the Storybooking forums have you covered. Jump into the pages of a great book today, and as always: Write on!

ASKPRUNOGRUNO by Blackwood < PM: >


Greetings Questioning Questioners, Pruno here.
You may have noticed my absence but please wipe away your tears, because Pruno is back! Well.... Sort of.
Since Pruno is studying in the Prune academy for Pruno People he has been rather busy, but his cousin has lots of free time and decided to come and help our dear Pruno out.

Meet GRUNO

(his manager is @defyingravity01)

So please welcome Gruno and @defyingravity01 to the family.

Oh yes, but one thing is necessary. The reason why Pruno died in the first place was your fault dear questioning questionnaires! You see, Pruno ran out of questions to answer, so please don't be mean to Gruno and ask him lots of questions.
Pruno may pop in every now and then across the weeks to answer some questions as well, so we will see how things go. As long as we get enough questions.

For the occasion I have constructed a brand new question form, so make sure to give it lots of love.

Sample Question:

Green Overlord of Green wrote:If my dog eats a pickle will it blow up?

Pruno: Dear GOog. That depends on if your dog is combustiblely allergic to gherkins. If he is, then I advise you take cover at your nearest nuclear bomb shelter.

ASK A QUESTION NOW <---That's a link

ADVENTURES IN WRITINGwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Sometimes I see people around the site get discouraged because they’re having a hard time with a new genre or form. Someone who does short stories tries out poetry; someone who writes exclusively in third person experiments with first person.

Writing outside your comfort zone this way can be difficult. You’re not used to the style, the plot elements, the rhyme scheme. However, experimenting with new styles can have some serious benefits.

Broaden your writing repertoire. If you stop limiting yourself to one genre, style, or form, you can find new types of writing that appeal to you. Maybe you’ve always considered yourself a historical fiction writer, but now you find that humor is your thing. Maybe you find that, although you’ve always written poetry, you have a real talent for short stories. But you’ll never know if you don’t try something new.

Break out of the rut. Similarly, experimenting with new styles of writing can help if you’ve fallen into a rut. If you’re experiencing writer’s block or find that all your works are ultimately the same, writing outside your comfort zone can break up the boredom by challenging your creativity.

Strengthen your weaknesses. In addition, if there are parts of the craft you’ve had trouble with in your past writings, experimenting can be just the thing you need to help you improve. Rather than trying to inject different practices into the same old style of writing, you bring a whole new style to the table, which forces you to think outside the box—often a good way to solve your problems.

For example, one of my greatest novel-writing weaknesses has always been description. I have a hard time incorporating it into the story, so my readers are usually left without a sense of setting. My characters float about, talking and battling in mid-air much the way a too-small drawing seems to float in the middle of a blank page, rather than commanding space.

In The Book Man, however, which is much sillier and more whimsical than any fantasy I’ve ever written, my description grounds readers and characters in the settings, and it gets consistent praise from reviewers.

Yes, writing outside your comfort zone can be difficult. You may feel that your new storylines are clichéd, that you don’t know where to go with your plot, or that everything you write is trash and in need of repeated rewrites. But the benefits of trying different styles of writing ultimately outweigh the difficulties, and you know what? You might not remember it, but that’s how writing was when you first started anyway.

Join us next week for ways to step outside your comfort zone.

Tips on getting out of your comfort zone:

5 Ways to Get Out of the Comfort Zone and Become a Stronger Writer

How to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone , which is about life in general but has tips that are helpful in your writing as well.

Why You Should Read Outside of Your Comfort Zones

GREEN ROOM GALLERY
written by KnightTeen < PM: >

Hey guys!
Ya know, I feel like we don't talk enough.
Normally it's just me rambling on and on and on about some mundane topic before imforming you what the gallery is for this week.
So, let's have a conversation to start this one off.

How've you been?
{insert answer here}

What's been going on?
{insert answer here}

Cool!

Well, enough chit-chat.
Onto the gallery!

There are no reviews on @StellaThomas work Chasing Dragons 3.2 . Maybe people are unable to review it because they share the same opinion as @Deanie, in thinking that it was wonderful.

Just because a piece is wonderful doesn't mean there aren't mistakes or things to compliment!

I'm sure that you, reader, can find something to comment on.

And if you can't, well, there are plenty of other things to review in the Green Room while we are under HVA!

KANOME’S RANT OF MEDIA

Written by Kanome < PM: >

Hello, Kanome here with another media review for you, members of YWS.

Okay, I started playing this game recently that you can play on PC for free. It’s about a little girl who has to save her father from an evil curse. I am talking about the game called Mad Father.



Basically, Mad Father is about a little girl named Aya who has to save his father from a curse that he placed upon himself because he experiments on humans, killing them in the process. The corpses of her father’s experiments come back to life to get revenge on her father.

When I first started playing, I knew this was somewhat a horror game, but it’s not even that scary, it’s just weird in its own way. ( In my opinion ) Anyways, it’s a Japanese game, meaning that there are difficult puzzles to solve in order to progress through the game. I honestly hate puzzles, but the plot of this game is so interesting to me, so I kept playing. I haven’t finished the whole game yet, but so far it’s very interesting.

YouTubers, Pewdiepie and Cryotic had played this game. Here are the links to the game if you just want to see what it’s like:

Pewdiepie → https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYH8WvNV1YEnw7JzUJ310HJ8T3z488-j2

Cryotic → https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeqwXTaiY-OzBDm0bj07GCRWXqtn1WCOV

If you have any suggestions about what I can review next, feel free to PM me. If you have any questions, PM me or write on my profile wall.

THE CODE BREAKER CHALLENGEwritten by Avalon < PM: >

Welcome one and all to Avalon’s Code Breaker Challenge, here I provide weekly challenges that steadily grow harder though out the year. This is a weekly mind game meant to challenge those at varying ages and intellects, and make them use their head (or you know, Google.)

What’s to be expected in the challenge? Well it’ll eventually expand into mathematics such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and even division. It will also include foreign languages and proper English. Each of my puzzles have varying point rewards (points from me) that will be shown next to each code. The problems will be difficult, I can assure you, but those who keep at it and persevere will find themselves well-rewarded for their efforts.

Rules for the Code Breaker Challenge

- Teams will not be allowed. You will be required to explain or show your work when you submit your answers.
- If you do not solve a Code before next week’s edition, then your answers will not be accepted.
- There’s nothing to stop you from using Google if you wish, but the purpose of this column is to get you to use your mind to solve each puzzle. We’re watching you.
- Top scorers will be featured every week.

Top Scorers

@Auxiira: 150 points
@Lava: 100 points

THE EASY CODE
Point Reward: 25
(12-9=)(24-16=)(21-20=)(24-12=)(6+6=)(10-5=)(18-4=)(13-6=)(26-21=)
(4040-4020=)(8-4=)(2012-2007=)
(46-23=)(65-50=)(6525-6507=)(24-12=)(2412-2408=)
(28-14=)(6-3=)
(29-16=)(1-0=)(2040-2020=)(80-60=)(15-10=)(36-18=)
(16-8=)(30-15=)(4300-4323=)
(3-1=)1-0=)(5-1=)
(11-9=)(4536-4516=)
(2313-2300=)(0-1=)(50-25=)
(3-1=)(10-5=)

Hint: From numbers to letters.

THE MEDIUM CODE
Point Reward: 50

Charlie Oscar November Golf Romeo Alpha Tango Uniform Lima Alpha Tango India Oscar November Sierra

Tango Oscar

Sierra November Oscar India November Kilo

Alpha November Delta

Sierra November Oscar India November Kilo Lima Echo Tango

Hint: NATO

Congratulations to Snoink and Snoinklet

THE HARD CODE
credit to @Alvarin
Point Reward: 100
Translate!: "Grundlig hämd är den djupa tystnadens dotter."

Hint: This language can be found where travelers may see the Lapporten

NEW ARRIVALS
by KnightTeen < PM: >



@Crunch has been addicted to YWS since joining, or so he says. His portfolio may not be as full as some users, but it's pretty dang full for a newbie. (And he's an awesome writer, I had the pleasure of reviewing one of his pieces.)

@Jared has been with us for over a week now, and accoring to @Hannah, he is the best. His portfolio is full to bursting with random things, and his reviewe count (30!) reminds me of my first few days on YWS.




@cheermonkeyxox • @LittleSister • @RaseyJae • @rockstrbaby • @caustyn • @Memzy • @FauldsJoseph • @escapeintospace • @chipum2 • @benwalker • @bubblesgeorgia • @cjg1029 • @LetsBeBroken • @daiihart92 • @Prettywings • @bwieckhoff • @wannawriteforever • @graystones • @Denmark • @SilverAnemone13 • @India • @sandhini • @fae97 • @Tatty619 • @And • @wonderland • @myjaspercat • @pakistan • @AzureAura • @AshleeLauren16 • @CamiHuizenga • @FlexYourDongers • @Makini • @fictionalidiots • @fatimasirhindi • @haileyskelley • @jhhj3142 • @Jujubear96 • @Shwimmingful • @UnusualAnnika • @eli337 • @Almeida • @Nishan • @DeelilahMae • @Mersize • @dawny9791 • @CheshireChase • @Brakezen • @JeffP1 • @Rapunzel321 • @LamiaCor • @Pinakie • @rosaline • @MaryamSami • @mptigerswriter • @feversinmirrors • @Crunch • @TrueMeaning • @harriet1998 • @LoseControl • @cerealzisgood • @WendyH • @FluttershyFan • @Elania14 • @dwggnr • @zelencam • @malloryryan07 • @Gigantasaurus • @Uma • @AmorEtOdium • @Ananas • @FreedomWriter95 • @Lonelymountain • @janeMarieB • @thalia145yaya • @Moalex • @stuckinwonderland22

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 6/8written by megsug < PM: >

I was so happy to be able to post contests this week! That area of the world has been very quiet recently...


@Kyllorac has asked the intriguing question of what is love in the true, at first site, and soul mate varieties. They also want to know whether or not you think these relationships must be romantic. Personally, I agree with their opinion on soul mates:







I have found my soul mate as well, and it makes me laugh to consider us in a romantic situation. What do you think about love?


The 10,000 Point Contest has returned! As many of you may know, the prize won’t go to you, but to someone you recommend who may be lucky enough to win. Here’s how it works:







The contest goes until August, so you have time, but keep your eyes peeled for a 10,000 point work!


@Silverlock has created a poll that asks us the question of which book was best adapted into a movie. Choices include Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and many others, including other, in case you refuse to bend to the small mindedness of the man. @Holysocks seems perturbed by the huge lead Lord of the Rings has right now.







What book adaption do you like best?


Do you blog? Do you want to blog? Do you find reading other’s blogs interesting? If you answered yes to any of those questions, I’ve found the club for you! You can talk about your blog and all such related stuff. There are even challenges. Here’s the first one:






Get to blogging!

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!

@WillowPaw1 is giving away free reviews! Want a review? Feel free to request one in her WRFF topic, found here

That's all folks~ Now send us yours.

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

Find enspoiler-ed a list of our subscribers!



Do you, too, want to be enspoiler-ed and receive a personal weekly notification when the Squills newsletter is posted? Shoot a PM over to SquillsBot to let him know, and you'll be pinged along with the next issue!