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. WRITING GROUPS (AND WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN CREATING THEM)
2. TWO CENTS: WRITERS BLOCK
3. STORYBOOK COVERAGE
4. NEW ARRIVALS
5. THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP - 11/9
6. SHAMELESS PLUGS
7. SUBSCRIBERS

WRITING GROUPS (AND WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN CREATING ONE)written by AriaAdams < PM: >

Hey, guys! Here I am in this edition, with a somewhat more cheerful topic than last time, to keep healthy balance - starting an offline writing group :3

The thing is, this is just what I did a few weeks back in my town - and it happens to be the only such thing in my town, which is both awesome and sad at once - and I thought it might be nice to share a bit of advice, in case anyone else wished to form their own. Sure, we all have YWS, and many of us feel more comfortable on the internet anyway. But sometimes it's really nice to have a group of people around you, in your town, whom you can meet with to discuss this or that character, or brainstorm endlessly over a cup of coffee!

Now, a lot of advice I have depends on what age group you're aiming at - my group is for people aged 15+, and such low lower limit is actually proving too low, as most of those members are really immature. If you are an adult, keep in mind that you're responsible for any underage members of your group (unless their parents are there too), and think it through before setting any sort of age limit.

Also, you might want to keep in mind that there's quite a few differences when it comes to writing prose, poetry or scripts, and then fiction/non-fiction and so on. Just a suggestion, but you might want to consider choosing what your writing club will focus on (say, only prose works of any length and genre), or separate it into two or more groups to cover everything. It might seem that it's not hard to handle everything, but there really are differences in writing as well as reviewing so drastically different works, especially if you're not equally comfortable with all of them (which is another thing - at least in the beginning, everyone will be looking at you as a leader and expect you to know what to say about everything).

In any case, the biggest advice I can give you is not to give up.

Even when no one comes.

Even when people are immature.

Even when it seems that you yourself are the black sheep at some point!

You can expect to run into a bunch of obstacles in the beginning - some people not taking it seriously, meetings with most people too busy with something else to come, people who can't handle anything but praise and all kinds of little misunderstandings and problems related to all that. Don't give up for any of those reasons; if you truly care about writing, it will be obvious, and the right people will stick around when they realise it. Don't forget - having a big group may look more cool, but having a group of truly great people who can become very good friends to each other is quite priceless

I'll stop here, keeping this rather short, but I will add that I've spent weeks planning my own writing club to smallest details, and I'm always glad to help if I see someone else doing it to! So, if you are doing it - or considering it, at least - and you have any questions or feel like comparing experiences, feel free to message me!

TWO CENTS: WRITERS BLOCKwritten by Aley < PM: >

They say there's this thing where you cannot write for the life of you. You look at the page, and you just keep staring at it. It's there, and you know what you want to write, but how do you start? This isn't something you have to live with, but people tend to say that it comes down to will, whether you want to write or not, instead of what I think it really is, fear.

What if what I write is bad? What if what I write doesn't work?

Maybe fear builds in to motivation, but most likely, it isn't completely something that the writer is aware of, or something that we try to stay aware of. There was this theory in a rhetoric class I had which stated that people write poorly in order to give themselves an 'out' if their work is poorly received. They procrastinate, and procrastinate, because if they can say "I didn't have time to do the assignment properly" then they don't have to admit they are a "bad" writer.

There is such astigmatism over this word “bad” when you're writing that it's hard to lift yourself out of it, and it's hard to see the reality, but today, I hope you take a moment to tell yourselves that you're not bad writers. None of us are. I'd like to qualify that, but I don't think it's necessary and that's the part of my brain and my history that tells me there are good and bad writers.

In truth, there are good and less good writers. It is possible to even write poorly, and that's not for lack of trying, but because what we write is judged the moment we put it in someone else's hands. They love to be critics of writing because they can write too, and they can read everything you can read, so they can judge you. Why else would you hand them your writing?

So if you're sitting there and you want to start National Novel Writers Month but you don't have a single word written, that's okay. You can still participate and you can still win! These novels are not supposed to be novels that are completely done, they are to prove to yourself you can set a deadline every day and write that deadline.

If you start on the 7th, you have to write 2174 words a day.

If you start on the 8th, you have to write 2273 words a day.

If you start on the 9th, you have to write 2381 words a day.

If you start on the 10th, you have to write 2500 words a day.

If you start on the 11th, you have to write 2632 words a day.

If you start on the 12th, you have to write 2778 words a day.

A lot of writers say that the only way to be a writer is to write every day and read a lot, so that's what NaNo is about, achieving someone else's style of writing every day. The difference between writing this, compared to writing what NaNo originally wanted on the first day is not that much. On average, one page is about 500 words, so writing 2700 words is only about 5 pages. If you've had to write an essay at the last minute, you know that you can write 5 pages in a certain amount of time because that's what procrastinators bet on when they procrastinate. Oh, I can write 3 pages in an hour if I have to.

Well instead of thinking 'if I have to' discover that 'I want to' and then let yourself get lost in the story. Start telling it as the character you want as your main point of view, and the more relaxed you let yourself type, the better your words/minute will be. Don't worry about spelling, or punctuation, or even grammar, just write! The NaNo Calendar theme is Write November, Edit December – October. If you follow this for three years, you can get to your 3rd draft of a novel and maybe by the third time you write it, you will know where you're going so well you don't have to worry about writers block.

STORYBOOK COVERAGEwritten by Holofernes < PM: >


Hey guys, I'm back with my favorite (maybe second favorite ok) column, the storybooks. Today though, instead of giving you the rundown on what's recent, I wanted to give space to one of our storybookers. This time, I asked the interviewee questions mostly out of personal curiosity -- they've been spearheading one of, if not the, most successful high school storybook currently active. I speak of none other than @Nike, and their storybook Lincoln Wood Private College Prep , the sequel to Harmony High, so beloved it reached completion.

@Omnyclism and others have spoken about it in this thread: The Storybook School Syndrome , but to summarize: The school genre is a particularly difficult one to properly maintain — it faces many challenges, notably those borne from its very nature. Angst and unpredictability lurk in every corner, yet at the same time, it has the potential to be one of the most rewarding types of storybook. @Nike is one that has experienced its rewards. Details below.




Nike: Well, I didn't start HH. I just joined it right when it was started. But when YWS decided to chnage the setup of Storybooks, I started a new Harmony High, because it was just too good to end it. Restarting it, my goal was to have people join and experience being these characters. It was to make these stories live on, I guess, because I really didn't want it to end.



N: I guess it's becuase it's so like the real world... or a world we escape to. We've created these characters that started to mean something to us, we've connected to them. And the stories are just so complex and amazing that we just wanted to continue to explore them. Honestly, I don't know why it's been up for so long, but it is.



N: I haven't managed to read any other High School Storybooks, so I can't really say. It might be that the writers were just so invested in the story and tehir characters. We created characters with such different personalities and life dynamics that made them each unique. We gave them each their own story and High School wasn't really a big key in the story at all. Maybe it was that each character was linked to each other one way or another and we all interacted.



N: Yeah it did. The writers spoke with each other in teh DT or through PM to figure out what we all wanted. But as we wrote, the plot sort of developed and it happened.



N That was no problem. It was great talking to you!


And there you have it, folks. Consider the work of these storybookers as a case study. Evidently they've done at least something right.

Cheers guys, keep storybookin'.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Take a moment to welcome this week’s newest members to the site!

@meetmisery has been super-active in her first week, with more than 15 posts in the forums already. Plus, she’s participating in NaNoWriMo 2014, so go say hi and cheer her on!

@AnaMin earned their first review star in just two days. Go to their wall and congratulate them.

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 11/9 written by megsug < PM: >

For the limited time of forever, you can get these four links for absolutely nothing!


@JasonMorris has a great question in Ask an Expert : How many subplots are too many? Several of the Resource smarties replied, but I especially like @Rosey%20Unicorn ‘s post which includes:







Anyone who is lacking in subplot knowledge and how to weave them into your storyline should definitely check this thread out.


Last year @StellaThomas started a thread in Serious Discussion and Debate about assisted suicide. @Birkhoff recently revived the thread in the light of Brittany Maynard’s death due to assisted suicide. Stella made it obvious how complicated this issue is when she posted this:







What do you think? Should assisted suicide be legal? If so, what limitations should be put on it?


@Aley created a well needed thread in Poetry Discussion & Tips where users can share videos of spoken word. There are three ways for videos to qualify which is pretty much inclusive:







This is a great place to discover great spoken word videos and share your own favorites! Go over and look at it.


Years ago @leebass introduced YWS to a fun activity. All you’ve got to do is come up with the last words of someone you’re about to shoot and then maybe add a twist on the end. I really love @KayataElefant ‘s:






Add your own today.

SHAMELESS PLUGS

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SUBSCRIBERS

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