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. July 15 Review Day
2. FM Interview
3. Ask Gruno
4. Quibbles - Crafting With Capitals
5. New Arrivals
6. This Week's Roundup - 8/2
7. Subscribers

July 2015 Review Daywritten by Elysium < PM: >

Hello everyone! Elysium your community reporter here with the July 2015 statistics!

There was a total of 407 reviews!

In this Review Day, there were 4 teams based off of all of the tribes in the TV show, Avatar. Water Tribe took the lead with 124 reviews for a total of 13708 points. Fire Nation did 106 reviews for a total of 11548 points. Earth Kingdom did 90 reviews for a total of 9816 points. Finally, Air Nomads did 70 reviews for a total of 8475 points.

We also have more!

Our top reviewer was @Atsmai, with 27 reviews!

Our top typer was @AstralHunter, with a total of 45262!

We also can't forget that we had 103 reviewers!

Also, here is everyone who did what review!






Thanks for reading this edition of Squills!

Featured Member Interview with Carlitowritten by Elysium < PM: >

Hello everyone! Elysium your community reporter here!

I interviewed our new featured member for July 27th - August 10th, @Carlito!



Carlito: I was really surprised! I was a featured member many years ago and I didn't know you could be a FM more than once.



C: Nope! I've been meaning to get back into YWS for a long time, and this summer finally presented a good opportunity. I've been having a lot of fun getting involved again, and this was a really cool surprise!



C: I love reviewing! YWS really helped me develop as a writer when I was a teenager, and I enjoy being able to pass along some of the things I've learned over the years to others. I also really love reading other people's ideas and stories! There's some amazing creativity on this site!



C: I love writing novels! I've written four complete novels, have many unfinished, and am currently writing my 5th. I write contemporary young adult with a nice splash of romance My ultimate goal is to be traditionally published.
I also write lyrics. They're more a form of self-expression/catharsis as they are highly inspired by various life happenings.

Carlito would also like to advertise her Will Review for Food thread! When you need a review, go to Carlito!

Thank you for reading this edition of Squills!

ASKGRUNOwritten by Gruno < PM: >

Welcome to Ask Gruno, the advice column in which stuff happens. Gruno will answer any questions you throw at him, be it advice, personal opinion, solutions or philosophy. This week 3 questions will be answered. My cousin Pruno has been busy at the wonderful school for Pruno people, so I will be taking over the column. Every now and again, Pruno may make an appearance, so never fear! May the question answering commence!

My Dear Two Amigos, or, if the case may be, my Dear One Amigo
When are your birthdays? How old will you be? What's your favorite cake flavor? Icing color?

-The Celebratory Celery Stick

My Vegetable Friend,
I’m not sure when Pruno was born but I was born on February, 31st, 200 AD. I lost count of how old I am once I hit 394. My favorite cake flavor is vanilla and my favorite icing color is rainbow.

-Gruno




Dear Person,
If there was an alien invasion, how would you communicate with them?
-Myself

I wouldn’t because that would be incredibly stupid. I’d just shove Pruno forward and pray that they eat him first.

-Gruno

Dearest Pruno and strange green family member,
There's a Special Someone but they're only a fictional character. How can I show my love and devotion and still feel loved back. Is this hopeless. I DON'T WANT THIS TO BE HOPELESS.
-Heartstick

Dear Heartsick,
EXCUSE. ME. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE CALLING STRANGE GREEN FAMILY MEMBER? I MEAN YOU SHOULD’VE SEEN YOUR FACE ON THANKSGIVING AFTER YOU ATE NANNA’S TURKEY I MEAN REALLY YOU COULD’VE GONE AND LIVED WITH THE TREE NYMPHS.

Okay. I’m better. You insulted me and I’m allied with most fictional characters. HP is my bro and Percy Jackson is my homie. So after this, you probably ruined your chance.

Or, you know, you can read that fan fiction erotica that they have on wattpad and reddit and facebook and tumblr and anything that involves a mouse and a keyboard.

Not that I would knowl…

Spoiler! :

50 shades of grey started out as twilight fan fiction…

-Gruno

Okay my fellow Runians! I love writing this column just as much as you all enjoy reading it. However, if you guys don't submit questions for me to answer, I will have to find another job. So, if you have a conundrum, click this link

QUIBBLES
Crafting with Capitals
written by Lavvie < PM: >

Do you remember kindergarten? On rainy days, the teacher would hand out sheets of paper with elaborate poems reading, “A is for Apple, B is Bee, C is Carrot.” These worksheets also involved some pen-to-paper action and that typically meant an hour sitting at short, round tables, tracing perfectly round letters. You learned about capital letters and how they looked different and why they were important.

Or maybe you don’t remember because the number of works and general posts that neglect to capitalize even their titles is much too high on YWS. (I am speaking most conventionally. Sometimes, capitalizing things can hinder creativity and even meaning in both prose and poetry.)

Nevertheless, let’s go back to kindergarten and I’m going to remind you of some of the most basic – and most crucial – elements of writing... anything.

1. Always capitalize the first word of document and the first word after a period. This information is generally deemed common knowledge, but you’d be very surprised that is actually not. Why do we do this? We just do. No question.

2. Capitalize things that are called proper nouns (like places and people) and anything that originated from a proper noun. For example, you would capitalize London, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Victorian era, and a Freudian slip. London and the Golden Gate Bridge are proper nouns because they are place names. The Victorian era and a Freudian slip are actually adjectives that formed from proper nouns and thus they are capitalized as well. Note: proper nouns are not only place names. Other proper nouns include: Subway, Honda, and the Trans-Canada Highway. Keep in mind that there are some adjectives that came from proper nouns that are no longer capitalized because they have taken on a life of their own. For example: quixotic and draconian.

3. Use references like books and the Internet if you’re unsure about things. Capitalization can be a bit confusing when it comes to brand names because there is a fine line between trademark and product. For example, when writing New York Times Magazine, should magazine be capitalized or not? Where does the trademark end and the product begin? Best bets are looking through past references and how those writers approached the issue.

4. When a word begins with a lower-case letter, it is advisable to capitalize it nonetheless if it starts a sentence. For example: iTunes has disgraced the world by selling Justin Bieber.

5. Capitalize all titles when they are placed before names, except when they are followed by a comma. Titles should not be capitalized if used after names or instead of names. For example:

President George W. Bush is infamous for his malapropisms.

The members of parliament decided to wear knit cardigans.

The governor general, the comrade, and the monarch ate escargots together.

6. Out of respect, capitalize the highest ranking titles when it comes to royalty, religion, politics, etc. For example: the Queen, the Pope, the Prime Minister.

7. Occupations are not the same as titles. Therefore, you’re better off writing “actor Ben Affleck” as opposed to “Actor Ben Affleck”. That said, you should capitalize occupations when they are being used to address someone directly. For example: “Fetch me the book, Professor?”

8. Capitalize the first word of a quotation (or dialogue), even if it is mid-sentence. Example: Florence looked at Gunhelga and said, “Your name is really horrendous.”

9. Sometimes, writers will capitalize the first word of an independent clause that is mid-sentence for emphasis. This is actually very much grammatically correct, although I admit it does grind my gears just a little bit. (But not too much.) For example: Sophie wondered, Is ham short for Hamlet?

10. Titles of compositions (essays, books, journals, poems, you name it) can be confusing. In school, they might have told you to capitalize all the important words but isn’t every word in the title at least a little bit important? Words have weight, after all. However, there is a set of universal rules when it comes to titles. The first and last words are always capitalized, as are verbs and any forms of the verb to be. Secondly, any pronouns should be capitalized as well as the word not. Smaller words, which I like to call “fillers”, like and, so, but, nor, for, do not need to be capitalized. After these rules, things get a little more fuzzy. Personally, I like to capitalized most prepositions, particularly the ones that have more letters (like across). I also like to capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word (Ex-Boyfriend).

Ultimately, I like to think that when it comes to capitalizing words (especially book titles and things), it’s really what looks the most visually appealing and appropriate. That being said, sometimes you might not agree and it’s best to just follow the rules that are pretty much universally accepted. Just think back to kindergarten, when everything was so simple, so black and white and straightforward, and there were upper-case letters and lower-case letters. And life was good.

If you can remember.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

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

@Enemy wants to review your works! Check out his thread in Will Review for Food for more information .

@MrWriter39 has completed his first review star! Head over to his wall to congratulate him .

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 8/2written by megsug < PM: >

Hot off the presses! Art of a holy origin, how to find good images to match your characters, character interviews, and Shakespeare radio plays. YWS is hopping! Get the deets.


@Holysocks has decided to share some art work with us. She works with a variety of mediums from woodless color pencils to water color. I personally like the first picture she posted best:







Holysocks has several beautiful pictures posted each different and beautiful. Her thread is definitely worth looking at.


@Demeter wants to know how others find pictures for their characters. She says she struggles not connecting actors with characters they play which hinders her from putting a face with a character. She’d really rather not have to use actor’s faces at all. @Carlito gives us the details of her attempts:







Pinterest seems to be a favorite among the users that replied to Demeter’s question. They think it’s easier to find good pictures of non-celebrities.


@Blues’ club Character Interviews is said to be a great way to find things out about your character. The club works by people creating threads where other users can interview their characters. You then reply as your character would. Just start with an intro post to give your potential interviewers some knowledge of your character. This intro post can be paragraphs long like @Tuesday’s or as short as @ThatAndalite:







Take the first step of learning something new about your character!


@LadySpark announced a new event involving Shakespeare. The event will involve mini-radio shows of Shakespeare excerpts and sonnets. Before the radio shows take place, there need to be auditions. The audition process includes:







The deadline is August 16th. Of course, if the directors of these plays could accept everyone, they would, but there are limited roles.

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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