Squills 9/21-9/28/2014

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!

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Editor-in-Chief
Hannah

General Editors
Defyingravity01
BlueAfrica
ArcticMonkey
ShadowVyper

Friendly Neighborhood Robot
SquillsBot

Community Reporter
Available-PM SquillsBot if interested

Resources Reporter
Available-PM SquillsBot if interested

Link Cowgirl
megsug

Quibbles Columnist
Available - PM SquillsBot if interested

The Adventurer
BlueAfrica

Associates of Pruno and Gruno
Defyingravity01
Blackwood

General Reporters
Defyingravity01
BlueAfrica

Past Editors-in-Chief
GriffinKeeper
AlfredSymon
Iggy

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. ADVENTURES IN WRITING
2. FM INTERVIEW
3. ASKGRUNO
4. THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP-9/21
4. SUBSCRIBERS

ADVENTURES IN WRITINGwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Hello, and welcome to the second installment of our series on writing novel synopses! Last week, we talked about why you should do so. This week, I want to take a look at some basic tips to keep in mind when writing your synopsis.

Keep it short. If you’re writing a synopsis for yourself, to check for plot holes and make sure your character development makes sense, it can be as long as you want. But once you start getting it ready for agents’ eyes, you’ll need to par it down to a page or two. Some agents are willing to read longer synopses—they might ask for three to five pages—but it’s best to have a short synopsis on hand for more common usage. Keep in mind that agents go through a lot of queries, synopses, and novel excerpts. They do a lot of reading. Keeping queries and synopses short is one simple way to avoid being tossed aside because the introduction to your book is simply too long to bother with.

Cut out unnecessary details. What constitutes an unnecessary detail? In a synopsis, a lot. Synopses should name and focus only on the major characters: the main character, her sidekick or love interest, the antagonist—and that’s it. Show off the clear progression of your main plot without giving into the temptation of detailing all the minor plot points as well. For example, you can include the romantic subplot that occurs between your main character and another character, but romantic subplots between two minor characters should be left out. Yes, it happens in the story—but that’s too much detail for a synopsis.

This idea permeates into the very wording of the synopsis. For example, perhaps an event in your story happens this way:

“The next day, Marilyn goes to her favorite restaurant and sits in her usual booth to wait for her father. When he arrives, she asks him about the old birth certificate she found in the attic.”

Instead, cut it down to the essentials:

“The next day, Marilyn asks her father about the old birth certificate.”

They both get the same important event across—Marilyn asking her father about an old birth certificate she’s found—without including the details of how this conversation went. The old birth certificate being found in the attic sounds like an important plot point. Presumably, we already know about it by the time Marilyn confronts her father, so there’s no need to reiterate its finding. The details of the restaurant and the way Marilyn and her father meet there—arriving separately and sitting together at their favorite booth—might make for a nice detail in the story, but for purposes of a synopsis they’re unnecessary. For every detail you include in your synopsis, no matter how insignificant, ask yourself: Could someone reading the synopsis understand the plot without this detail? If the answer is yet, cut it.

Don’t turn it into an editorial. You want to summarize the story, the character arcs, and the emotional twists and turns—not comment on them. You can say something like, “Marilyn is shocked to find out that her neighbor, Greg, is her real father,” but stay away from phrases like, “In a shocking turn of events, Marilyn finds out that…” If you find yourself editorializing, see if there’s a way to turn such phrases into a statement about your character’s emotions or reactions instead of your own.

In addition to these tips, remember that synopses should be written in present tense and a third-person omniscient viewpoint. Don’t use flowery language and metaphors—save your brilliant language ploys for the novel. The synopsis should get plot, emotion, and character arc across as succinctly as possible.

Confused yet? Don’t worry. Next week, we’ll go more in-depth about how to write your synopsis.

Useful Links:

Back to Basics: Writing a Novel Synopsis

FM INTERVIEW

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

Hey guys!
As you’re probably aware, YWS chooses a Featured Member once every two weeks. The featured member is someone around YWS who contributes enough to the site to be recognized. So, ladies and gentleman, I’d like to congratulate @ThereseCricket, last week’s featured member!



ThereseCricket: Sure, no problem!



T: Pretty good, really! It's awesome knowing that I've done, and contributed enough to this site, to actually become the FM.



T: I'm not entirely sure I had an initial thought. I know I was utterly shocked, and when I was reading through the post that the GM had made and the replies below, my mind was just numb. xD



T: Hmm, difficult question, as I've never really thought about it before. When posting and reviewing I have more confidence and I think being the FM means that people might respect your opinion more, but with the actual writing, I'd say it stayed about the same.



P: Now that's a tough one! I would probably nominate IAmTraunt for her always nice and helpful reviews, and for usually always being active in the forums and storybooks. She is really a true joy to be around and I think she deserves the honor.



P: Thanks

So there it is. Oh and @IamTraunt, you have a good loyal friend in Therese. Maybe we’ll see you as a future FM! Until next time...

XOXO,
Gravity

ASK GRUNOwritten by Gruno < PM: >

Welcome to Ask Gruno, the advice column in which stuff happens. Gruno will answer any questions you throw at him, be it advice, personal opinion, solutions or philosophy. My cousin Pruno has been busy at the wonderful school for Pruno people, so I will be taking over the column. Every now and again, Pruno may make an appearance, so never fear! May the question answering commence!

Dearest Grapes,
For the longest time I've been struggling to finish a story, any story. It's been nearly ten years now and I've yet to experience the pride of adding the memorable last words of a novel with a flourish or the agony of having to write the entire thing over again as a more presentable draft. I love dreaming up elaborate plots and grand schemes, but no matter how intense my love at first sight may be for any particular storyline, it's always dried up after a week/month or so. I get bored with them too easily, and trying to continue an idea I'm no longer interested in is like dragging a live panther backwards through a thorn bush by its tail while simultaneously beating a dead horse with a stick and balancing a rabid porcupine atop one's head. If you've never attempted this feat before, I can assure you it's quite difficult. Have you any advice for me on how to handle the situation to produce the desired result of escaping with my li- er, I mean following a plot to the end of the novel?

-schoolio is coolio

Dearest Schoolio,
I have encountered the same problem you have. I’ve never been able to finish out a novel. Over the years, however, I’ve just lost the desire to do so. However, there is hope for you yet! Lucky you, in the month of November, NaNoWriMo (National Writing Month) is coming up in November! You could also try tackling it by writing out a plot diagram. First, plan out everything you want to happen in your book. Next, write out a list of chapters. Then you can go by chapter and jump around depending on which chapter/event interests you.

-Gruno

Dear Whoever,
Have you ever found yourself in the situation of being chased by a lovable, but supposedly murderous, dog dressed in a spider suit?
-Without a May

Dear Without a May,
Yes. His name was Spot.

-Gruno

Dearest Runo (whichever one you are, or preferably, both of you,)
What type of question do you enjoy answering the most?
-Pruno and Gruno Fan

Dear P&G fan,
There’s this one question I get fairly often. It’s always really fun to answer it shows up on every single test I’ve ever taken but I can’t seem to figure out… AH YES! I REMEMBER!
It’s “Name: _______”

-Gruno

That’s all for this week! Sadly, We haven’t been getting many questions for you. If you’re interested in having I or my cousin solve one of your conundrums, just click this link

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 9/21 written by megsug < PM: >

You know what time it is! Roooooundup Time!


@ElinorBrynn asks a deceivingly hard question. What’s your favorite Disney movie? I don’t think I recognize @r4p17’s favorite!







Other answers included Beauty and Beast (my favorite too!), Aladdin, Peter Pan, Frozen, Tangled, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King… Ahem… Well, it’s a really long list. What Disney classic is your fave?


@StellaThomas wants to create a list of things that make YWSers happy. There are several repeats like tea/hot chocolate/coffee, Jane Austen, books, and several other things. @mptigerswriter’s post seems to be the happy place of several YWSers:







So tell us, YWSers of the world, what puts a little bounce in your step?


@Sunshine1113 has created a club for those new at reviewing, who love reviewing, and those who need a few pointers in reviewing. She even has an easy-to-follow guide:







You can also find coding to use in reviews, paragraphs to practice reviewing on, helpful links, and more! Go check it out now.


A thread has been recently brought back from the dead. @Angels-Symphony created a scenario in 2009. You’re a child, and your parents hand you a stick instead of a toy. What do you do with it? @PerksOfBeingAReader had a few interesting ideas, some from her friends. This was my favorite:






Armed with a stick and your imagination, what would you do?

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

Find enspoiler-ed a list of our subscribers!

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