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. April 2015 Review Day
2. Storybook Coverage
3. Adventures in Writing
4. Kanome's Rant of Media
5. New Arrivals
6. This Week's Roundup - 5/2
7. Subscribers

APRIL 2015 REVIEW DAY REVIEW
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Last weekend, two review teams battled it out! The Nobles of Hearts fought, well, nobly, but Team Stitch won the day with 159 reviews for a total of 17,223 points. There were 319 reviews written in total.

This week, I was able to sit down with @donizback for a moment to briefly discuss this month’s review day. donizback was the top reviewer and top typer for the April 2015 Review Day. With him on their team, it’s no wonder that Team Stitches seized the day!






No wonder donizback’s reviews are so friendly! As a final note, he wanted to share two pieces that he particularly enjoyed: Silver Lining, by @EternalRain, and The Flicker, by @Falconer. Both are novels. The first chapter of Silver Lining can be found here , or head here to read the first chapter of The Flicker.

Congratulations to all review day participants! For the full low-down on Review Day statistics, click here .

STORYBOOK COVERAGE

Written by Kanome < PM: >

Hello, Kanome here with a new segment of the Storybooks. Today, I will be talking about a storybooks that has recently become popular and commented on the Discussion Threads since the past month or so.

One of the storybooks I discovered seemed interesting to read. It’s about the characters who died in Hell and must be able to travel and get past the Twelve Circles of Hell in order to live a second life. This is @QueenAnne’s Trapped in Hell. So check it out!

Another storybook I’ve seen, it’s based on Pokemon, except you journey in America. That’s pretty amazing! I would to join in something like that! And if you’re a Pokemon fan, you can too! Simply ask @Lumi and join his storybook, Pokébook: America, and be part of the adventure!

Last storybook I noticed is something I didn’t expect to be this interesting. This storybook was created by a recent member, and his storybook become popular throughout the month. Medieval era with a vodka thief on this loose is his story plot. Of course, I am talking about @JKHatt’s, The Weekday King. He is still looking for new members to join, so join his storybook today!

These three simply amazing storybooks have peaked my interest. New or old, these members simply created plots that were out of this world. You, members of YWS, can do that also. Let me see the creative imaginations that you have when you created a storybook.

Until next time, Squillians!

Kanome, Storybook Reporter.

ADVENTURES IN WRITINGwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

When last we met (two weeks ago, kids), I walked you through some DOs and DON’Ts of choosing words. This week, we’re talking about some good uses for the thesaurus. All DOs today, Squillsamigos!

Replace a repeated word. This would be a perfect time for me to explain the “said is dead” craze, but I hate the “said is dead” craze. More on that next week, I promise.

For now, let’s return to my original example of “said softly,” which I brought up while talking about connotation at the beginning of this series . Let’s say you’ve got a scene where people are speaking softly a lot. This could be because of the emotions involved in the scene--fear, tenderness, passive-aggressive anger--or because of the situation: perhaps your characters are spying or eavesdropping or otherwise in a scenario where it is best for them to speak without being overheard.

For this scene, you might start off using “whispered” as your dialogue tag of choice. Upon rereading the scene, however, you find that you used it three or four times. Because of this, the writing starts to sound repetitive, even if the scene is otherwise well-written.

In this case, the thesaurus is your friend! Do a quick google search--“synonyms: whisper”--or dust off your parents’ old thesaurus and flip to “whisper.” Wow! Look at all these potential replacements.



In the words of a certain fictional character: Whoa! Word party!*

Find the right word. Going along with that last example, the thesaurus can help you find exactly the right word for the word you need to replace. Sometimes, it’s difficult to come up with just the word you mean, but looking in the thesaurus can help you find the word you want. Know there’s a word you want but experiencing a brain fart?

(Yes. Constantly.)

Hit up the thesaurus. On the off chance the list doesn’t contain precisely the word you want, it might jog your memory. So you’ll end up with the right word anyway.

Learn new words. Used in tandem with the dictionary, the thesaurus can teach you new words. The reason I stress “in tandem with the dictionary” is that thesauruses give you both synonyms for different meanings of the original word and words related to the original word.

Take a look at these three lists of words:

murmur
sigh
breathe
gasp
utter
voice

The first, which you might recognize as the list from the previous point, is a list of what you were looking for: potential dialogue-tag replacements for “whisper.” The middle list is another list of synonyms for “whisper”--but not for the definition of “whisper” that you mean. Instead of being synonymous with “said softly,” these words are synonymous with “rumor” or “information expressed in a soft voice.” The third list is a list of synonyms for the related word “blow,” meaning “blast,” “rush of air,” or “wind.”

Now, if you don’t know this, you might pick a word off one of the two oddball lists, rather than from the list you want. And you might pick a word you don’t know, because it looks impressive or you’re trying to spice up your writing.

Which is fine, to want to spice up your writing. Before you do so, however, check the dictionary! Use the thesaurus to find cool words and the dictionary to make sure they mean what you need them to mean.

Next week, join me as I discuss the “Said Is Dead” craze currently running around writing classes in American schools. It’s not quite the same as the discussion of diction, but it’s related. So if you’ve followed along so far, pop by next week to see what’s up!

*Quote from Nightlight: A Parody” The full line is,

KANOME’S RANT OF MEDIA

Written by Kanome < PM: >

Hello. Kanome here with a new segment on Media Rants. Today, I will be talking about a videogame that became popular since its release. This series has been going on for over at least 14 years or so. I can’t believe it’s still popular to this day. I used to play this game when I was a little girl and enjoyed every minute of it. Of course, I am talking about Mortal Kombat X. (Mortal Kombat 10)



This game has an amazing story plot plus exciting graphics. The story answers a lot of questions that has been asked by the Mortal Kombat fans. Another thing that I found exciting was the new characters introduced in the game, such as Cassie Cage, Johnny Cage’s and Sonya Blade’s daughter. Other new characters such as D’Vorah, insect queen, Ferra/Torr, the ultimate duo, and Jaquie Briggs, Jax Briggs’ daughter. Interesting and new, the game introduce these characters amazingly.

Another thing I like about this game is the flashbacks they play in the story mode, where the beginning of Mortal Kombat took place. That was pretty amazing of the creators for them to do, especially for a gamer who hasn’t play Mortal Kombat until now.

If you have any recommendations on what I should review next, simply PM me or write on my wall.

Until next time, Squillians!

Kanome, Media Critic.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

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

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 5/2written by megsug < PM: >

Creation, celebration, and congratulations. That’s what this week’s round up is all about!


@KatyaElefant is interested in how people come up with ideas. Several people replied with interesting techniques, but I love @Holysocks’:







How do you come up with ideas?


@Iggy introduced our new Junior Moderators. @AstralHunter @TheWanderingWizard and @Wolfare1 have been added to the modsquad. As @Dreamy said:







Pop over to say congrats to the three users!


@LadySpark wants to know what poems participants of NaPo loved most from their own threads. @Meandbooks was happy to reply:







Check out the thread for other great poems users volunteered.


@Nate has shown us one of Squills’ ancestors. It’s really interesting to see how the piece has evolved. From interviews, to reviews, to a comic at the end, the old (8 year old, to be exact) paper is pretty cool. The paper puts under “Of Special Interest:”






Go check out the paper for more insight of years past.

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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