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. AND THE WINNER IS...
2. ADVENTURES IN WRITING
3. NEW ARRIVALS
4. THIS WEEK’S ROUNDUP - 2/22
5. SHAMELESS PLUGS
6. SUBSCRIBERS

AND THE WINNER IS...
written by SquillsBot < PM: >

As you may recall, last week we asked you to vote for your favorite articles of the week by liking those you thought were best-written or most interesting. The results are in!

In first place...
@Gravity with 15 likes for her article “How to Survive a Valentine’s Day When You’re Forever Alone,” as well as last week’s “Ask Gruno,” which also received 15 likes.

In second place...
@BlueAfrica with 12 likes for her latest installment of “Adventures in Writing.”

In third place...
@Omni with 9 likes for his “FM Interview with @steampowered.”

Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to our readers for voting!

ADVENTURES IN WRITING
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Writer’s block is a common affliction amongst writers, one that has been written about countless times (somewhat ironically).

Yet, here I am, preparing to give you yet another article on “what to do when you have writer’s block.” However, I’m coming at it from a slightly different angle than most. I find that writer’s block happens for a number of different reasons. Before you can figure out how to break up your blockage, you have to figure out its cause. With that in mind, here are three different causes of writer’s block and some suggestions for dealing with each one.

Revision jitters. Sometimes, writer’s block is caused by revision jitters or a similar problem. Perhaps you’re revising and become paralyzed by the fear that you’re making the story worse instead of better. Perhaps you’re drafting and feel that the plot has derailed, the pacing is off, and the characters are flat. Either way, it’s a fear of writing poorly that’s caused the block.

The best solution, of course, is to face your fear and let yourself writing poorly, but that’s far easier with a first draft than a revision. First drafts are supposed to be crappy--revision is supposed to make things better. For advice on dealing with a blockage caused by revision jitters, check out this article .

Emotional issues. If you’re miserable, you may not feel up to writing. That’s okay! Sometimes you need to let yourself be miserable for a while and get back to writing when you feel sufficiently motivated. I didn’t write for months after my grandfather’s death--not until NaNoWriMo 2013 hit. I’ve been working on the same story nonstop ever since.

If you really want to keep writing, however, then one way is to write about how you feel. What’s making you so miserable? You might not want to talk about it; you might feel like the issue has already been thought about until it seems stupid to go over it and analyze it any further. But at least you’ll be writing about something, something that might even help you move past your problem, and it’s only a short leap from there to getting back to your usual program.

If you’re like me and have a difficult time writing about problems in your life, fictionalize them. Create a character who is as different from you as possible and throw all your woes their way. My first year at university, I started a story about an ex-cowboy who lived in the city but began to miss home. Last summer, I worked on a story about a young realtor trying to deal with the first anniversary of her grandfather’s death. You might not finish stories like this, because you might not need to; writing such stories can help you work through your issues. But at least you’ll feel better and find yourself back in your writing groove.

However, loss of interest in writing and other hobbies can be a sign of a more serious problem. If you’ve been depressed for several weeks, sleep a lot and see no point to your usual activities, or have thought about suicide, there are resources available to you. Call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800)273-8255 or visit the website to get help via chat. Other resources, including international resources, can be found here .

Lack of ideas. Time for me to go all English teacher on you. If you don’t know what to write, try a freewrite. Keep your hand moving constantly for five or ten minutes (or longer, if you find your groove). Don’t know how to start? Write “I don’t know what to write” over and over until it gets so irritating that you come up with an idea just so you won’t have to keep writing “I don’t know what to write.”

Other options:

Word war with someone .
Try out Write or Die .
Make lists of likes, dislikes, memories, character traits, or anything else you can think of.
Work on a different project for a while.
Take a walk, a bath, or a long drive.
Talk out ideas for any scene that’s giving you trouble.

The bottom line is, whatever the cause of your writer’s block, you must write to cure yourself. It doesn’t matter how bad, how silly, how utterly pointless the writing in question is--just put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and pound out some words! If you get into the habit of writing through writer’s block, rather than allowing it to get the best of you, you’ll find that it’s like building up the immune system in your body: the stronger your immune system, the less likely you are to get sick!

Interested in entering the AiW Description Contest ? The deadline has been extended to March 31st! Click the link for contest details.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

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

@birta has already earned her first review star. Stop by her wall to congratulate her .

@MaddieMouse had a love-hate relationship with writing (meaning mostly hate) until she discovered NaNoWriMo last year. See her post in this topic to find out the whole, thrilling story !

@HUA has posted the first part of a prologue for a teen fantasy called Blue Eyes. It’s in the Green Room at present, so check it out to leave a review .

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 2/22written by megsug < PM: >

I believe songs will be sung of these four brilliant links.


@Widdershins has a great thread in the underappreciated Art & Photography forum. She may hate me for drawing attention to it, but the idea is pretty fantastic. She doodles hands, and she’d like to draw hands for you! Here’s an example of her work:







Just tell her your favorite colors and give her an idea of what you’d like.


@Rascalover wanted to know about fetuses and development, and @Snoink came to the rescue with a bunch to say about pregnancy and related topics. While there are many golden nuggets of knowledge for anyone who needs to know some of the finer facts of the beginning of life, this was an interesting tidbit:







@Tenyo also replied with some nice notes. It’s a definite read for anyone with any pregnancy related prose.


@Big Brother wants to give out badges for those who participated in #15in15, but so many of you showed up, it’s pretty hard to give out the correct awards to the correct people. All you’ve got to do is check out the thread and post:






Count away and post, so that you can all have shiny new badges!


For those of you who remember the glorious First Ever YWS Cup of 2013 and have been kicking yourself for not joining when you had the chance, your long wait is finally over. For those of you who are too young to remember, prepare your eyes for the most legendary battle of YWS history… perhaps. @Firestarter describes his competition very well:






That’s right. Two members go head to head and whoever has the most reviews at the end of the week wins, moving on to the next opponent. It’s a competition of finger stamina. Are you up to the challenge? There also may be a monetary prize if that gets anyone else interested (£25 Amazon voucher or roughly $38 American or $50 Australian). Also honor and glory. Sign up ends at 6p.m. GMT on March 1st.

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.

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Place advertisement here. Make sure you include a title!

The Adventures in Writing Description Contest

@BlueAfrica is hosting a contest based on her Squills column, Adventures in Writing. For contest details, check out the forum ! The deadline has been extended to March 31st, so if you haven’t entered yet, you have plenty of time!

Railway Leap: An SB

"Railway Leap" is looking for SBers! This is an action-oriented SB which involves dimensional travel, so there will be a lot of world-building and freedom. And since the main goals are to learn, have fun, and make friends, it will be a laidback and welcoming environment. Anyone is welcome to join, and the experienced SBers will be more than happy to help anyone just dipping their toes in the water.

Railway Leap (open)

Please come by and take a gander!

The Second YWS Cup

@Firestarter is running the second YWS Cup! Sign up here to be in with a chance to win an Amazon gift voucher. The YWS Cup II is a reviewing contest in a knock-out format. Each round, you will face another competitor in a week-long battle to see who wins! If you are interested, sign up before March 1st to ensure your place.



That's all folks~ Now send us yours.

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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