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. GREEN ROOM GALLERY
2. SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL!
3. ADVENTURES IN WRITING
4. LOOKING GOOD
5. GENDER BIAS SURVEY ANALYSIS
6. NEW ARRIVALS
7. THIS WEEK’S ROUNDUP - 08/16
8. SHAMELESS PLUGS
9. SUBSCRIBERS

GREEN ROOM GALLERYwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Despite a great Review Day last month, the Green Room is getting full again! There are currently 71 works with 0 reviews and 100 works with 1 review. So if you’re in need of points or working toward another review star, consider checking out some of the works below.

Did You Miss Me? by @ChocolateCello

A Sherlock poem. From the viewpoint of Moriarty, speaking to Sherlock after Sherlock’s return.

Another Sherlock poem by ChocolateCello can be found here .

Brick Wall by @Lain

Lyrics for the first song for Lain’s band, Graveyard Junkies.

Austkirk (Deceased) by @wallacies
Rated 16+ for language.

Being a ghost has never been so cool. In this short work of supernatural fiction, Austen accidentally haunts his younger brother after realizing he’s dead.

To Become a Knight: Prologue - Abandoned Agony by @JayBlu
Rated 16+ for language and violence.

Two brothers who were once close fight a battle to the death.

The Profane Parables and Other Nihilistic Narrations by a Perverse Pariah, 4 by @UriahElroy
Rated 18+ for language, violence, and mature content.

Do you enjoy poetry? History? Excessive alliteration? This is the poem for you! The fourth in a series of short stories and poetry, Profane Parables 4 tells the story of the Russian mystic, Rasputen.

The first in the series can be found here .

SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL!written by Elysium < PM: >

Hello! Elysium your community reporter here!

We are here to talk about the Shakespeare Festival! First off, to participate you must try out. To try out, go to This link . Then all you do is to use a recording site and read Puck's monologue from a Midsummer's night dream out loud.

When you are all finished, send your audition to @LadySpark by PM and just wait to hear back about your audition!

If you are accepted, you will be given an opportunity to chose from a list of plays that they will be doing scenes of. Once you are done choosing, they will place you in the show best fit for you. Now, I won't tell you everything, but you can go to this thread just to read more and to audition!

That's all! Thanks for reading this edition of Squills!

ADVENTURES IN WRITINGwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

Last week, you may remember, we talked about different roles that romantic relationships can play in a character’s life. This week, I want to talk about familial relationships. Naturally, there will be some overlap—all types of relationships, for example, are going to affect a character’s trust and self-esteem to some extent—but because family is present from birth, familial relationships can affect characters in ways that other relationships don’t.

View of the world. While a character’s ideals will be informed by her individual experiences, the first and biggest influence on her ideals—particularly religious and political ideals—is the family. As with attitudes toward love and marriage derived from romantic relationships, characters can vary wildly in their response to their family’s ideals. A character raised in a deeply religious Christian household, for example, may embrace her family’s beliefs without question. She may vote for the same people her siblings vote for, support the same causes her parents support, and be actively involved in church society. Depending on the teachings of her family, she might see the world as a beautiful place, full of God’s love for creation, or as a hellhole full of sin, either in need of saving or beyond all help.

On the other hand, a different character raised in a similar household—or even the same household—might respond entirely differently. This character might reject her family’s religious and political ideals for any number of reasons. Perhaps she appreciates faith and spirituality but dislikes religion as an institution. Perhaps she sees her family’s views as bigoted or exclusionary. Perhaps her studies make her determine that various aspects of her family’s ideals are logically flawed.

Whether the character accepts wholeheartedly her family’s ideals or rejects them, the fact is that her family nonetheless first informed her way of looking at the world. Until she gets out in the world and starts having her own experiences or seeking knowledge from new sources, her family’s ideals are the standard by which she judges the world. Of course, the example I have given of a character raised in a deeply religious household is an extreme one. People raised in middle-ground households—say, casually religious families and families whose political ideals fall in the middle of the spectrum—tend to retain ideals closer to those of their parents and siblings.

Expectations for life. By this I mean a number of things. Primarily “career expectations and expected education,” but expectations for marriage, children, and other things are also shaped early on by the family.

For example, if a character’s parents went to college, he probably expects—or at least his parents probably expect—that he will also go to college. If most of his relatives are doctors or lawyers, it is probably expected that he will also become a doctor or lawyer. In some cases, breaking with tradition might not be too big a deal. The character might start off at college with the intent to become a doctor, decide it’s not for him, and change his major to English literature. In other families, this is sacrilege. Parents who are paying for a child’s education can be the most vocal about his decision to change the course of his career and education—and the most likely to see the results they want. Unless the character is able to pay his own way, he may well be obliged to do what his family expects. Even if he can make his own way, the tidal wave of disapproval that’s sure to crash over him can make life difficult for him, whether or not it actually deters him from following his dreams.

Family can pressure a character where home life is concerned, as well. If the character has a large extended family with relatives who are happily married, he is probably expected to marry and raise his own family, possibly at a young age. Awkwardness ensues as every girlfriend he brings home elicits the question, “So when are you getting married?” Further awkwardness ensues as the achievement, at last, of his long-awaited marriage elicits the question, “Why don’t you two have kids yet?” when they’ve been married less than a month. And if the character is queer, he might meet with more than the usual amount of disapproval—not simply because he might marry a man, but because “But how will I have any grandchildren?”

(Sounds of a guilt-inducing mother sobbing in the background.)

As a species, we don’t much like change, and, of course, it’s always easiest to follow the path you know. So the careers, education, and home life of a character’s family is likely to put a lot of pressure on him, particularly if he wants to go his own way. After all, these are the people who raised him, who have been the driving force in his life since he was born. That’s why family can influence a character’s life so much more heavily, in some ways, than friends or romantic interests.

Self-esteem. “Wait,” you’re thinking to yourself. “I haven’t exactly reviewed the course material, but I’m pretty sure that self-esteem was on the last list, too.”

Well, kids, you are absolutely right. A+ for this week’s lesson. All relationships have some bearing on self-esteem, of course. However, I include it as a point for both romantic and familial relationships because I think it has the most to do with these kinds of relationships. A romance is more likely pursued if a character has the self-confidence to pursue it; in a related manner, potential partners often find people who exude self-esteem more attractive. (Or, if not exactly more attractive, at least more noticeable.) And family—for much the same reason as its effect on life expectations—can affect a character’s self-esteem enormously. A family that is supportive of a character’s endeavors, allows her to try things out for herself and test her limits, and encourage continued efforts after a failure is likely to turn out a character with high self-esteem. A family that constantly demeans a character’s dreams and invalidates her emotions sends the message that she is worthless and thus is more likely to create low self-esteem within the character.

Of course, this does not always follow. A character can come from a loving, supportive family but have low self-esteem; a different character can come from a judgmental family but have high self-esteem. But, as with the other points mentioned today, family is the first influence and thus often an important one.

Still, we can’t forget the importance of friends! Come back next week to join the discussion on fraternal relationships.

LOOKING GOOD written by Skydreamer < PM: >



Welcome to my first official wellness article for squills! Yay! *Music plays and a party appears.*


Growing up in many different countries was wonderful, being able to live in China as a black girl, was wonderful. That said, I was very different. And when you're a kid, and in your pre-teens and stuff you start to become more self-conscious about what other people think of you and how other people see you. I remember the first time that I really got to dress up fancy, I was such a nervous wreck, but I was thinking to myself, "Oh I look pretty, someone will notice."

And nobody did.

Time and time again, I was insecure about my looks. I have a strange face (hey, no worries, I'm just being honest here!). My face can look cute, it can look like a model, it can look like a tired mother of five children, and it can look...kind of boy-ish. And when I was a kid especially, I often looked like a boy. To the extent that one Chinese lady asked once “他是妞的还是男的？” Which translates to “Is she a girl or a boy?” It was very funny. And I tell this story sometimes, but yeah, I was kind of like my name, unisex, you didn’t know which gender I was. Haha, and so at times I have this fear of looking like a boy. Another insecurity would be my back. My mom hounds me on this (as she should to help me) because my back is bent quite a bit, and the irony is that it’s because of insecurity. So I’m insecure about what happened, because I was insecure. It’s a dangerous cycle!

So, I have many other insecurities, but these two are one of the biggest ones. As well as the issue of hair, now girls we know that for us, hair is a frustrating deal. However, weirdly enough, even though I am an African girl, I was not overly obsessed with how my hair was done when I was younger. Although now, I think I’m starting to get there because of my natural hair goals. But I won’t even go into that. Hair deserves a whole other post.

Anyways, so about my insecurities, why am I bringing this up? Why do I tell these stories? Because I’ve realized certain things about them that I’d like to share. As for my boy-ish look, I’ve kind of grown to accept it as a “tough” “don’t you mess with me” “gangster” kind of look. I decided to accept it as a part of my look, and decided to find what about it, that I love and appreciate. And I suggest, that if there is a part of your face or your body that you’re not so fond of, that you do the same. Find something about it that you really like. One of the things I found out was that despite my face, my eyes scream feminine no matter what. I realized that I have nice eyes. And long eyelashes (I won’t get into that though, because I’m fighting some doubts about their beauty, haha.) With that, I am able to bear the burden of looking boy-ish sometimes. (There's nothing wrong with looking like a boy if you want to though.)

Also I have to add, when I look the most like a boy, it’s usually when I’m sleepy or just woke up and my hair is messy, you know, that morning face? And I would think, who in the world is going to want to wake up to this, if I have someone to wake up next to. The answer seemed to be no one, I just couldn’t picture anyone dealing with me. But then, when I started to find the beauty in my mess, I realized that if someone really loved me, they would do the same too. Maybe without even thinking about it. That my friends, is true love right there. I’m sure some of you have found it and are smiling because of it. (As in you should be smiling. Hehe.)

Moving on, the story of how I dealt with my back insecurities (which still linger from time to time), is actually quite surprising to me. T-swizzle helped me. Yep, unbelievable. Taylor Swift is the person that inspired me to appreciate that aspect of myself. While I still try to improve my posture, she has helped me to ease into the process and not make the situation worse by hating that part of me or how I look. If you’re thinking, ‘why is it so unbelievable, Taylor swift is amazing!’ Then you have to know I am not her biggest fan. I remember when Love Story was extremely popular and one of my classmates played it to me, and I was all non-impressed. I wasn’t into her music that much. But I truly believe that after she without knowing, helped me to appreciate myself more, I had a little more respect for her than I did before. I’m still not her biggest fan, but I like some of her songs and I’m not embarrassed to say it. (Plus she introduced Ed to me, so...)

When Taylor Swift was busy getting all these tabloids about her dating a Kennedy or something, I just randomly decided to click on one of the articles that talked about her swim suit. Guilty pleasure okay, I do from time to time, check celebrity news, not so much anymore though. Anyways, I finished the article only half-interested, but I did notice that her back wasn’t the straightest. Then when I got to the comment section. My goodness gracious, people were mean! Although it’s not very surprising now. Someone said she had a “Granny’s posture”. And that’s when it hit me, she and I had something alike. *Gasp* And then from then, whenever I saw a picture of her, I scrutinized it. I wanted to see what she wore, and how she carried herself. Well, she wore fashionable clothes, and she carried herself extremely well. Because of that, somehow, I realized that you can really find clothes that make your body shape look good on you, no matter what it’s like.

So, I soon realized that open back clothes are beautiful for those of us with a slight hunch. We look fine with it. I learned the trade of which clothes are better for my body shape and which clothes aren’t. And it’s truly remarkable what that did to my self esteem. Now, I also learned that every part of your body, even the things that maybe you caused to yourself that make you different or odd looking, are absolutely beautiful. And from time to time, I still struggle with it, I’m not going to lie, but at the deep of my heart, I know that I’m still beautiful no matter what. That my beauty isn’t going to be compared to the world, but compared to how I choose to see it. And for some reason, Taylor making herself look really good, inspired me to think like that.

I want to finish with this, your beauty comes from within and lights the outside. If you are a wonderful person with a lovely (very you) personality, whatever your personality may be, there will be people who will find you extremely beautiful. That said, it’s better you get there first. See yourself as beautiful first. That way when someone says “You’re beautiful.” You can smile and agree with them, and look at them, and appreciate their beauty as well. You can feel confident walking down the streets even when no one else will acknowledge your beauty.

People won’t always be there to tell you that you’re beautiful or handsome, and sometimes you’re going to have to be the one to say that to yourself. Also, if you base your beauty or handsomeness on what other people think of you, when someone doesn’t think that way of you anymore, you might break. And lastly, finding a way to love your looks despite insecurities helps you to love other people’s looks, because you’ll always be looking for the special in them, for that unique beauty that they have. For that unique beauty that we all have.

Hope you enjoyed this story like, wellness article! xD Have a good week! Peace!

GENDER BIAS SURVEY ANALYSISwritten by Skydreamer < PM: >



The introduction:




From all the collected data, the most significant items are as follows. The significant written answers will be included in the conclusion.

In the first question of gender, 75% answered female, 20% answered men, and 5% answered other. When it came to location 70% of the participants were from The Americas, 15% from Europe, and 5% from Asia, Central America and the Pacific. This information was meant to be general rather than specific. 90% of the participants are students while 10% are both students and workers. The age group is pre-teen through mid-twenties.

The average answer to how comfortable they are discussing gender bias with friends and those around them was 7.90 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most comfortable. Therefore a lot of the participants felt as if they could talk freely about gender bias, which is actually quite surprising. When formulating the question, I did not expect the average to be so high. However, it is possible that talking about such issues in society is no longer such a taboo or as uninteresting as some may claim.

On whether or not they felt they have been discriminated against because of their gender, 85% said that they have, while 15% said that they haven’t. Then, when asked about cat-calling, which is when someone tries to get your attention through loud and inappropriate means, 55% said they’ve experienced it and 45% said they haven’t. Among the 55% one was male. This assumes then that cat-calling is still an issue, and it happens in various places in the world. However, maybe not everyone experiences it.

The next question, on whether people felt inadequate about how their gender is discussed around them, again 85% answered yes and 15% no. From this we could conclude that most have heard their gender bad-mouthed or rude words concerning their gender. When asked about whether or not pop-culture has influenced them on their perspective of gender, 80% said it has, while 20% said it hasn’t.

This suggests that pop-culture has indeed impacted how people view gender and gender roles. The final percentage-based question was to see the person’s overall view of gender bias and issues when completing the survey. 60% choose “We have to change the way gender is perceived.” 20% “I think it’s all relative to location, to age, etc.” 15% “There is a root problem we’re missing.” And 5% choose “Men are not given enough say when it comes to gender bias or discrimination.”

If there are any conclusions that could be drawn from this survey, it is that a majority (of those who took the survey) feel as if gender bias and discrimination are very much still important issues in society. However the extent of an issue they are is debatable. In the written part of the survey, there were several different answers that pointed to that conclusion. The question was “Do you think gender issues and bias are not as important as they were before, why?”

Here are a few of the responses:



































As you can see, there are a range of different answers, but the majority feel that it is still important in society today and that, at least, it should be important in society today.

Another conclusion that can be derived from this survey is that people have personally felt discriminated against and/or their gender was insulted in one way or the other. In my next written answers section, I asked “What is, in your opinion, a good example of gender discrimination or bias?”


Here are a few of the responses:



































It can also be concluded that genders are very influenced by the media. Both genders are portrayed in the media in certain ways, so I asked “Do you feel like women are over sensualized in the media and in advertisements? Do you feel the same way about men?"


Here are some of the responses:

















































Based on those answers, it could be concluded that the majority feels women are definitely more sensualized in the media than men, although it happens to both.

The final written answer question was “Do you think that gender plays a role in what occupation one decides to go for? How so?”

Here are some of the responses:































































In conclusion, there are still many issues that have to do with gender bias and discrimination that we have to look at. There are changes being made, but, based on the survey, the world still has a long way to go. We need to keep the discussion about gender bias and discrimination open and discuss it freely. We need to provide equality for all genders when it comes to the media, how we select our occupations, what we choose to study, and in everyday interactions. And we need to think progressively on how to balance and transform our different ideas and views on gender in order to avoid any further discrimination.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this analysis.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

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

@Victory is interested in nonfiction writing. Head over to his post in the Welcome Mat to welcome him to the site .

@HazelGrace16 is interested in YA novels and RP. Join this storybook by @TinyJarStoredDreams to role-play with her .

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 8/16written by megsug < PM: >

Come one, come all! View the astounding links for this week’s roundup.


@Elysium has offered to create LGBT themed banners and avatars for users. He has already made some great ones for many people like @Morrigan’s sweet avatar featuring colors on the bisexual flag:







If you’re interested in showing your pride, ask for an avvie or banner describing what you want.


@BiscuitsBatchAvoy wants to create a politically themed storybook with a bunch of conflict. To make this happen she wants:







If you want to get involved, take this fun quiz and post your results.


@captainearth wants to know what everyone’s top five anime’s are. @FromWithin responded (with links to all the animes listed!). Terror in Resonance is in her top five because:







Find the next anime you’re going to watch or list your own. This is a great thread for anime fans.


@Twit has posted a sweet thank you post that already has over thirty likes. She, like many users, expresses a change in herself that YWS helped facilitate:







She makes a lot of statements that resound with many users’ experiences and is definitely worth the read!

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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Scribbles Fan Club

Strange's Fan Club!

Hello! Do you like watching a 15 year old attempt to start a cult? Do you enjoy senses of humor? Well, I don't see Charlie Manson anywhere, so I'm your closest bet. Here at Strange's Fan Club, you'll see me live posting while I chug a bottle of windex, contemplate life, and ask the club what their favorite kind of Strange is! Click the picture below!





That's all folks~ Now send us yours.

SUBSCRIBERS

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