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. Library Loves
2. 4th of July Celebrations
3. Ask Pruno
4. Two Cents
5. Resources Relays
6. New Arrivals
7. Subscribers

LIBRARY LOVESwritten by OliveDreams < PM: >

This time round, the lovely @Dracula has agreed to take us down her library loves lane. I’ve been seeing Dracula around YWS a lot lately and I think it’s time we take a moment and say Hi.

Here goes!

Something New:

Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle

Dracula: Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle. Most people have heard of the movies (the originals are the best!) but not many people have read the book which the movies were based on. It is my favourite sci-fi novel and follows the story of man whose space ship lands on a foreign planet... inhabited by intelligent apes.

Something Familiar:

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

D: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares. It's a typical Young Adult book in many ways, but it's amazing!!!! Basically, humans from the future return to present day. A future-girl falls in love with boy, but their relationship is forbidden. I won't go into the rest of the plot, you'll just have to read it.

Something Loved:

The Puzzle Ring by Kate Forsyth

D: I won't say Harry Potter because I'm sure someone else will. The Puzzle Ring by Kate Forsyth. It's about a girl who goes to Scotland to visit her grandmother, and ends up traveling back to the time of Mary Stuart to break a curse. I've read this since I was young and I'll make sure that my children read it.

Thank you Dracula! I never knew that Planet of the Apes was a book first! And by none other than the author of Bridge Over the River Kwai! My Granddad's fave! *Adds all of these to booklist*

See you next week book lovers! xD

4TH OF JULY CELEBRATIONSwritten by OliveDreams < PM: >

This week, families, couples & friends will be celebrating the 4th of July all over the United States of America. Being British, I wanted to find out more about this holiday and what are our American YWSers are going to be doing for it!

I managed to poke and prod @Messenger, @Tuesday, @CaptainSaltWater and @Rurouni until they gave me the answers that I longed for.



Messenger: Basically, it's our holiday where we celebrate all things Independence. It's mostly focused on the Revolutionary War since that's when America broke from the British, signed the declaration, and formed their own new government, but there is also a lot of honor shown to former and current service men and women.

Tuesday: The 4th of July is a holiday that celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th,1776. It mostly has fireworks, cook-outs with family, and enjoying the summer at its finest.[i]

CaptainSaltWater: [i]Well, the 4th of July is basically celebrating what happened in 1776; the gain of independence, or the day the United States was created. We celebrate by lighting off fireworks, BBQing, and even more things!

Rurouni: It's really about how our country sort of made it's independence, like, "Yes, we are our own people, thank you for all your input." I think some people just see it as a reason to celebrate. But it's really all about how we broke free and declared ourselves an independent nation.



M: I am not sure yet. If history repeats itself, I'll be eating lots of food and blowing up things!

T: We have a baby brother so if we were going to spend this 4th of July, we would go by the river and watch the fireworks there. But since recent flooding, we might have it at the local high school.

CSW: Usually my dad BBQs for our family, we invite people, and we have a blast! (No pun intended )

R: Um... I dunno? XD Probably in the spot we found best to watch the fireworks, or maybe something else; I really don't know..



M: Oh there are so many good 4th of July memories so it's hard to pick. I'd probably go with one a few years back. My family went to a church family's house where they have a cookout. I ate a lot and hung out with friends, playing cornhole and the like. We also had a fireworks show which was since it was right up close. Then two of my older brothers went home and watched The Patriot. It's a movie starring Mel Gibson that happens during the Revolutionary War. I'd recommend it although beware it's not entirely historically accurate.

T: My favorite memory of 4th of July would be waiting for the fireworks in California. I would wait by picking a nearby ant hill and poke at the ants that scurried away from my stick. Also eating KFC, while hiding under the picnic blanket.

CSW: I really don't have any favorite 4th of July memories, but I do remember when a firework tipped over and it started hitting me and a bunch of other people. We were all okay, but it was still a pretty scary experience. Not really my favorite memory of the 4th.

R: Oh hard one... Um... Probably when we found our great firework watching spot, drove around and settled down into it with some lawn chairs and watched the lights go off. If I remember correctly, my chair also broke LOL.



Happy Independence Day everyone!! xD

ASKPRUNOwritten by Pruno < PM: >

Welcome, welcome my friends, to ASK PRUNO, the advice column where you test your questions against my responses. Welcome Back (To me) and to all my adoring Fans, for Pruno has returned for the time being and has kicked his pesky cousin Gruno off the pedestal.
For all those who have longed for my otherworldly wisdom, snarky remarks, and all round Pruno-ness in comparison to Gruno, then rejoice, but for those who liked Gruno more, please don't launch an anti-Prune campaign.

With no more ado, lets get started.

__________________________________________________________________________

Dear Puno,
Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4. What does it say?
Sincerely, Ms. Fabulous

Dear Ms. Fabulous
"An articulated special-type vehicle can be driven on a Class 2 or Class 4 licence, depending on the weight."
(For those curious, Pruno is learning how to drive rollercoasters.)
Love Pruno

__________________________________________________________________________

Dear Pruno,
What time is it? Also what is time?
-Confused Bob

Dear Confused Bob,
The time right now is 2:52 PM, but to you who may be reading this, I can 99.9305555556% guarantee it's not.
As for the second part of your question, time is the primary 'dimension' on which all existence is based. It is a human theory, and is labelled by humans, but even in the absence of them, 'time' still exists, but is not heeded. Time is fundamental in order for existence to exist, as to the theory of everything nothing can happen without time. For example take physics. A rock cannot be pushed if there is no single amount of time the force is exerted upon it, for it takes time in order for the rock to be pushed and more afterwards. If you look at formations of the planet and the universe hundreds of billions of trillions of years ago, (Which years, is a unit of time) it could not have come into existence without time being present in order for it to become the thing that is the universe for there would be no time for things to CHANGE. Change here being the key word for what time brings.
If you don't believe in time and instead believe in some kind of strange magical person winding up some colossal time clock who can start and stop whenever he feels like it, you sir/ma'am are a nincompoop.

Lots of Love, Pruno
____________________________________________________________________________
[Gruno seemed to have forgotten to delete this question from last week]
Dear Someone,
There is a theory that Taylor Swift is a bunny, thoughts?
Evidence that she is actually a bunny: in her Shake it Off video, she hopped like a bunny at 1:57.
-Fan

Dear Fan,

[Similarity Processing....
....
62.4%]

[Similarity Processing....
....
38.92%]

Taylor Swift CONFIRMED dissected rabbit.
-Signed Pruno
____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for Reading ASK PRUNO (YeaaaahCLICK HERE) This week. Remember to ask some questions if you want Pruno and Gruno to continue having questions to answer.CLICK HERE If you have any agonizing problems, heartaching heartaches, mindboggling dillemias, you know who to ask. CLICK HERE
See you next week.CLICK HERE

TWO CENTS: BREAKING THE CHAIN written by Aley < PM: >

When you're reading a lot of work by other people in the genre in which you like to write, you will notice that a lot of things are actually pretty similar. There are two opposing sides on this issue. One side is that nothing is new, and the other is that we have to avoid things that aren't new because there are so many permutations of what is old, that we should strive to be unique.

I happen to fall on the side of nothing's new, however, I do think that there are new ways to approach old topics. For instance, as we grow older, and new technology begins to evolve and come into existence, we can rewrite things for how they would be if we had known what we know now when it was written then. Because we are constantly gathering new technology and new knowledge from the past, we are in a new position every day, and words develop as language evolves. Since language is always evolving, we can write the same story again and again, but never write the story the same way, thus making it unique even if it is something old.

The trick to doing this is advancement. The more we advance in our writing and abilities, the more our story could change. Whether this is changing point of view, encouraging mental dialogue for a character, or exploring a new avenue for solving a problem such as a gun in the world of wizards, we are still creating something new and interesting. This is why I don't necessarily like to discourage people from taking cliché things and writing them. Not only do you have stereotypical things to play off of, but you have things to avoid doing to make it uniquely yours.

As we come into Camp NovelMonth, I hope to encourage you to take something old that you've already tried to, or have already written, and try it again. Make a re-written version of it now, and when you're done, compare the old and the new. See what you've added, see what you've taken out. Don't rely on the old copy too much, instead, think about the parts you can remember of this old thing, and from there, add in what you don't have already.

This could be an old poem, an old novel, or even just an old idea or short story. Be creative. Use the kernel of whatever it was which made you write it the first time, and invent from that to create something that's not the same, but also, not that far different either. This exploration will help tell you how much you have improved or what has changed between the two times, and a checkpoint story or poem is always a great thing to keep on hand in order to maintain faith in yourself as a writer. We are always improving, but it is hard to tell how much, this can help.

To the best writing you can do,
Aley

Resources Relays-7/5written by Pretzelsing < PM: >

Hello, and welcome to the Resources Relay on Squills in YWS, this Independence Weekend. (if you live here in the USA). I have some interesting topics that need your help, attention, likes, and requests. I can’t stress how much I encourage you to check out these hand-picked topics that I have found worthy of posting here. It only takes one click, people, only one click.

1.Story in a story

@donizback needs help from his “seniors” on advice: How does he tell a horror story in a story? He is unsure exactly how he should go about writing this, so any help would be appreciated.

@Kyllorac, a Resources mod gives this suggestion to him:






Telling a story in a story is tricky for some writers, so if you have any friendly tips, I suggest that you help him get on track with that chapter.

2.How to react to the unknown?

@EnderFlash is a newbie to our beloved website, and he is trying to figure out how his character’s will/are supposed to react to the unknown things. He wants it to be as realistic as possible, but still within his characters.

@Rosendorn, a GM of the Resources Team gives a suggestions of what to include, or place your characters into:






She then lists questions that you should ask yourself as the author, to determine how they would react to any given situation.

3. Lefty’s Reviews

@LeftyWriter WRFF thread is accepting, (hint: look at the green tag). Lefty currently has written 71 reviews and has two shiny stars under her name. Here is some of the information that she mentions in the first paragraph:






If you are interested in requesting a review, head on over to her thread and post it in!

4.Which genre?

@ShadowPrincess16 is co-writing a novel with her friend. They are arguing if this is a YA or adult book, because shadow has always intended for it to be part of a YA series. Now she’s not that sure, so here is just an expert from her summary:






If you know the line between these two genres, and would like to help define it, then please click on the link above and help clarify this for ShadowPrincess.

That’s all your four links that we have got for today! I hope that you had an awesome 4th of July weekend with family and fun, while celebrating our country’s independence. Let’s get way more active in the Resources Section by helping eachother out and growing as writers together on our YWS. Have an awesome and sunny week!

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

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

@roeckercody has already completed their first review star and is well on their way to a second. Stop by their wall to congratulate them !

@moonlightbh has posted in the Welcome Mat to say hi. Check out their post here and welcome them .

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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