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. ADVENTURES IN WRITING
2. TWO CENTS: CAPITALS AND PUNCTUATION
3. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: SPARKTOFLAME
4. SECRET SANTA
5. LIVES OUTSIDE YWS
6. NEW ARRIVALS
7. THIS WEEK’S ROUNDUP – 12/14
8. SHAMELESS PLUGS
9. SUBSCRIBERS

ADVENTURES IN WRITINGwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Hello, and welcome back from our extended hiatus of Adventures in Writing! November is over, which means I can finally shut up about NaNoWriMo for half a second.

Going over my most recent draft of The Book Man, I’ve been thinking a lot about description. This is the only novel I’ve ever written (alright, the only anything I’ve ever written) where a lack of description is not a massive problem. Usually, I have virtually no description of characters or setting; I always feel like it’s too difficult to describe things without slowing down the action.

But maybe that’s not really the problem. Maybe the problem is that my usual mode of description is really boring. When you consider the praise I’ve gotten for description in The Book Man, it seems likely. After all, this novel has an awful lot of description, but it was painless to write, has garnered interest around the site, and gets positively reviewed for description more than any other aspect of the novel.

So if you have problems with description like I do, class, then pay attention. In the upcoming weeks, we’ll look at some ways to give your description a makeover. To start off, let’s look at some general advice.

Avoid cookie-cutter descriptions. One problem I often have with description is that every one of my descriptions sounds the same, leaving little impression on readers. If you aren’t sure if you have this problem, readers can tell you; they might not be able to keep characters’ appearances straight. Otherwise, try taking all of your character descriptions and copy-pasting them into a document by themselves. Do they all sound the same? Perhaps you’ve changed out the color of the eyes or the shape of the nose but described all the same aspects of each character. If so, try changing it up.

Avoid lists. “He had black hair, blue eyes, and was tall and skinny.” “She had blonde hair, brown eyes, and was short and fat.” Sound familiar? It’s difficult to get out of the rut of simply listing a character’s traits. If you find that all of your descriptions sound the same, as above, the problem might be that your descriptions are nothing more than a list of physical features. To move away from this, follow my third piece of advice.

Experiment. If you’re stuck writing listy pieces of description that leave readers bored and without any idea of what your characters and setting look like, experiment! I know it’s tempting to give readers every detail of your characters’ hair style and eye color. That kind of description has its place, but consider the classics. Do you know the color of Lizzie Bennett’s eyes or hair? How about Heathcliff’s or, well, just about anyone ever invented by Ernest Hemingway?

Sure, some of the great authors of our past used simple descriptors like this. Scarlett O’Hara, for example, very clearly has green eyes and black hair. But how boring would it have been if Margaret Mitchell had left it at that? Instead, she described Scarlett like this.

Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were. In her face were too sharply blende the delicate features of her mother, a Coast aristocrat of French descent, and the heavy ones of her florid Irish father. But it was an arresting face, pointed of chin, square of jaw. Her eyes were plae green without a touch of hazel, starred with bristly black lashes and slightly tilted at the ends. Above the, her thick black brows slanted upward, cutting a startling oblique line in her magnolia-white skin—that skin so prize by Southern women and so carefully guarded with bonnets, veils, and mittens against hot Georgia suns.

It’s a lot, I admit, and I’m not suggesting you give us this much detail about every character in your story—though Scarlett, of course, is the main character of this particular classic, so this much detail can perhaps be forgiven. However, let’s look at what this description does.

1. It lets us know what Scarlett looks like.
2. It lets us know something about our setting. (The American South, at a time when unfreckled, untanned white skin was highly prized so much so that women wore heavy clothes to block the sun, even though they live in Georgia.)
3. It lets us know something about her character. (Although Scarlett isn’t beautiful, she has a pair of twins “caught by her charm.” What does that tell us?)

Simple cookie-cutter and list descriptions don’t do this much. They only achieve the first point. Think about this in the upcoming weeks, as we talk about using description. See you next week!

References:

Mitchell, M. (2008.) Gone with the wind. New York, NY: Pocket Books. 1.

TWO CENTS: CAPITALS AND PUNCTUATIONwritten by Aley < PM: >

If you're going to write poetry,
You have to end it with a comma,
Or a period at the end of every line.
True,
or False?.

The better question, I think, is why that opinion still exists? Some people still honestly think and will review that periods, commas, and capitalization belongs in poetry as above. Clearly I exaggerated the details a bit, but they still write with a capitalized letter in the middle of a sentence, and a comma in awkward places just because it is the end of a line, or they'll for the end of a line to always be where the comma is.

There are a range of stances on this. In the debate there are four extremes. There are four, because there are two for punctuation, and two for capitalization. With an set of these two, there is a group in the middle that crosses them like a recessive gene chart, so I'll give you the extremes and then talk about the differences they each hold. A lot of this information can be found in The Resources for Poetry including an article on capitalization written by yours truly, and several articles written about punctuation.



The two extremes in capitalization are pretty obvious, those who never use it, and those who always use it. There are even chronic users who use it every single word, or every other letter. So what are the differences between the two extremes? In my experience, someone who is chronically avoiding capitalization does it consciously and not without having gone through a stage where they overused capitalization. Now, I'm not saying that to be a developed writer, you have to write without capitals, that's not true, but I am saying that you're more likely to find that those writers who are avoiding capitals are less likely to critique you for not following their patterns. They've developed their own style, and because they see style as individual, they are not likely to judge yours unless it is getting in your way. When it is, they will likely suggest that you explore, but not suggest that you have to do something because that is how it is.

The other extreme, where the individual capitalizes every line, is usually a writer who reads a lot of older poetry. This could be because they love someone like Edgar Allan Poe, or it could be just because they think that's how poetry is supposed to look. Our first experiences with poetry are usually lyrics, nursery rhymes, and children's books, so it's not surprising that this assumption comes about. It's also not wrong to write this way in any stretch of the imagination. It can give any poem an antique feel that perhaps the user was looking for. It can also make it feel very childish if they add an obvious rhyme. The style is useful. I don't feel like these individuals are any more likely to tell you how to write your poems than those who write chronically without capitalization, but it is a potential. They, however, do run into more people telling them that there are other ways to write because this is sometimes seen as a developmental stage in poetry, which it's not, it's a stylistic choice.

So where does that leave our third group? Who is the middle? Well the middle in capitalization is the group that writes with capitals at the beginning of every sentence. These are potentially the people who will tell you to capitalize things or lower case some things because the reasoning behind this is potentially that "poetry should be sentence structured like prose so it is easier to read." The other thing about this group is that they are the majority, so they have a much higher chance of having jerks. If 1/100 poets think that their style is the only style that counts, and there are only 50 of the two extremes, and 1000 of this group, then this group has all the jerks. It's not the groups fault, and it certainly might not stay this way. I can say I'm not ashamed to be a member of this group.

Moving on then, the punctuation side of things, let's see how we fair.

The first group in punctuation, the first extreme I should say, is those who punctuate nothing. This is usually a lot like the group that decides not to capitalize anything, but there is some overlay with those who capitalize the first letter, and also don't punctuate anything. It's case by case in this case though, and not something easily generalized. A lot of the time, punctuation depends on the poem. If the poem is something that can be easily read without it because of verbal cues, people could avoid punctuating it to get tricky word play when you read a line rather than reading/guessing a sentence.

The other extreme are those who punctuate everything according to the book, meaning the grammar book. Punctuation to them is something that needs to be followed for the ease of the reader, and when it is different from that, it messes up how smoothly the poem is read. Sometimes this is just a person who feels the particular poem has to be formal, sometimes this is a person who feels that all poems should follow standard punctuation. Sometimes they are chronically end-punctuating because they always hit enter when they hit a period or a comma. Again, there's nothing wrong with this, but being aware that the end-punctuation breaks up the flow of the reader to the next line can be helpful, especially when you try to put that in so they contemplate what was just said, and take it out so they can get a rolling image.

The middle ground here, then, is the group that punctuates according to how it is read by themselves. Each person will read a sentence a little different, and if you put a comma anywhere you would naturally pause to take a breath, then you are punctuating according to how you read, and not how the book says it should be done. The advantages to this can also be a disadvantage depending on your reader. The reader might understand what you're doing and attempt to mimic the voice, or a reader might not understand what's going on, and assume that you just don't know where, to put, commas.

So where does that leave us? Punctuation and capitalization in poetry is a variety of things, but just like in dialogue, it depends on how the writer wants to portray the speech to the reader. Sometimes dialogue uses dialect spelling, sometimes it uses tags to indicate the voice something should be read with. Just like in that, poetry ranges and there's no set rule. It depends on the individual case, and those cases are all over the place.

Happy Writing!

Aley

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEWwritten by Omniclysm < PM: >

@SparktoFlame has been a member for over four years, and during that time, she has proved herself time and time again, so much that she became a moderator for YWS. However, in a spectacular feat, she has proven herself again enough to become the newest Featured Member. We sat down with her to get a little more insight about this.



SparktoFlame: Hi



SF: I was really excited that YWS loves me as much as I love it.



SF: Yes!



SF: Four and a half years!



SF: Definitely the events I've organized and hosted! Three YWStivals and the YWS Hunger Games... Not an easy feat.



SF: I think it was probably the fact that I just successfully turned YWS' tenth birthday into a huge site wide celebration.



SF: I'm actually training to be a professional ballerina! Any time I'm not on YWS, I'm in the studio.



SF: There is no right or wrong way. Be the best member you can be, be kind, review, welcome. Be the best version of you you can be!

SECRET SANTAwritten by Gravity < PM: >

Every year YWSers get together in the Secret Santa forum and volunteer to give a gift to a random person they may or may not know. Well, these gifts don’t always have to be tangible. More often than not, they are images or even gifts bought by points sent through YWS that are related to interests that are mentioned in the forum when you sign up. The interests are listed in a survey where you list things like your favorite color, the music you like and the books you like.

In fact, the actual form looks like this:

What are some of your favorite books?
What are a few notable hobbies of yours?
What’s your favorite color?
What are a few of your favorite movies, television shows, video games, etc.?
What is your favorite music genre?
Where do you spend the most time on YWS?
Anything else you’d like to add:

To sign up, all you have to do is fill out that form (which is listed on the first post in the forum topic) and wait. The last day to sign up is December 15th, after that @Santa C will PM you who you got for Secret Santa. To go to the form just click this link.

LIVES OUTSIDE OF YWSwritten by Gravity < PM: >

Some of us are on YWS so often it’s difficult to imagine having outside lives or hobbies. The reality is, however, not everyone is all consumed by writing. Which, of course can be an amazing thing. Especially if your outside hobby is creating beautiful images that are not only therapeutic for you, but nice to look at for others.

Which brings me to @Aley, the YWSer who is being featured in this article. Aley is an amazing artist who works with paint, colored pencils and ink materials in a way that makes beautifully realistic images that are not only relatable emotionally, but are pleasing to the eye. So I conducted an interview with Aley to see what makes her tick as an artist.



Aley: Ok



A: Basically me and art have been pretty much inseperable since high school, but my art took a huge leap in skill when my mother comitted me to an art class outside of the school around 2008, so that's when I'd say I became an artist, because that's when I related it to more than just school, and when I realized that I actually had talent, but I always loved it before that. It was my way to show what I wanted to show, and draw all the nitty gritty things that I couldn't say.




A: Acrylics. I dabble in other mediums, but I always come back to acrylics. The first several pieces up on the forum are actually from an art class I had in College last semester that I thought I'd share because I was proud of them. I'm digging back through my portfolio to pull out my paintings now that the class is over and I still want to share my art.




A: Actually pencil tends to manipulate the shade of the pigments so I use chalk pastels or charcoal sticks to outline when I want to. Usually the backgrounds are freehand, and then I'll come in and draw over the background with the soft pencil mediums and get everything laid out.




A: Hm, I prefer to focus on fantasy rather then life-images, but I'd have to say of the images I've captured from reality, or attempted to capture, they're all forests and animals



A: XD Actually it's been my mom. She's the one who really encourages me to keep going and helps provide the funds to do just that. She might not inspire what I paint, but she inspires that I paint.



A: Yup. Good luck with your article!

It’s pretty obvious that Aley has had lots of practice and support with her artwork. Especially when you look at her paintings. Here are a couple of her amazing artworks!




These were both done in soft pastels.



The incredible image above was done in colored pencil



And last but not least, the image above was done in ink.

So @Aley is an amazing artist, and there are other YWSers with hidden talents that I am just dying to find. If you would like to be featured in an article, send me a PM so I can conduct and interview and get some images of you/your talent. Until next week…

XOXO,
Gravity

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

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

@AnthonyDoyle has posted the first chapter of a fantasy novel called The Dark Empire. Go take a look and leave them a review .

@ketr3n had an account once upon a time and long ago and is back after a hiatus that would put Sherlock to shame! Go welcome them back .

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 12/14 written by megsug < PM: >

Want to know how to write a climbing rhyme? Want to know how to promote yourself? I think you should continue reading, friend.


Several different books. @OliveDreams wants to know what book has made you feel the most, and the answers are varied. I can agree with @TriSARAHtops:







What book had you feeling those gushy things I think we call emotions?


@Rydia has given us the key to another form of poetry. It’s pretty simple and kinda fun. Here’s the short version:







Go check out the longer version for the nitty gritty details and an example. If you want to look at other poetry forms check out Writing Gooder .


@unknown391625 wants to hear everyone’s New Year’s resolutions. Many people have had great ones, but I love @Iggy’s:







What promise are you going to break next year?


@MRHILL92 wants to know how to promote themselves. @Rosey%20Unicorn has some great stuff to say (as usual). While her entire comment is worth reading, this snippet is one of the best parts:






For anyone a little clueless when trying to put themselves out there, this is the thread for you.

SHAMELESS PLUGS

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