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. First Ever: Squills Staff Spotlight
2. FM Interview
3. Quibbles
4. Author Snapshot
5. Adventures in Writing
6. Newsflash
7. New Arrivals
8. Weekly Roundup
9. Subscribers

SQUILLS FIRST EVER STAFF SPOTLIGHTwritten by Gravity < PM: >

We’ve all heard of the featured member interview, no? Well, in case you’re a newbie, On the homepage, if you scroll down just below the literary spotlight you’ll see the featured member. Here on the Squills team it’s not always easy to keep a tight ship running, especially when life gets in the way. We are all guilty of it (especially me) but we’ve had people claim articles and then not be able to submit because of life, and family emergencies and Netflix.

Because of these issues, our glorious overlord Editor in Chief @BlueAfrica, myself, and our other General Editor @megsug (who is too good for capital letters) decided to create a staff member spotlight to add some positive reinforcement for those on the Squills team. This is the first ever staff spotlight, and what a treat it is indeed!

The first ever spotlighter for this week is…. (drumroll please) @megsug!

I can guarantee you meg is super confused right now. Blue and I had her write an article for the first staff spotlight on @Elysium (who is well deserving of the next one, obviously). However, both Blue and I knew that megsug has been a part of Squills for a long long time. She has gotten articles in consistently almost every week for years (if I’m not mistaken about the timeline) and not only that but she is always fixing errors in the articles of others and taking on the responsibility of posting Squills. Now of course, standard for the FM interview, there’s always… well, an interview! My interview with meg had to be super low key so she wouldn’t catch on to what was happening. So, for those that are curious, here’s what our first spotlighter had to say!



megsug: I'm doing pretty good. School just started back for me today, but I had a pretty nice winter break that was very relaxing. You?



m: Blegh. That doesn't sound fun. XD It's been a bit of a struggle this year, but I basically prioritize everything I have to do by the time they're due, and my Squills' article is just one of the things I put on the list every week.



m: Um... If I stay on top of it, and if the forums have been particularly active, so I have a lot of material to pull from 30-45 min. An interview normally takes me 20-30, less if I PM the questions rather than chat with the interviewee



m: I get that! Some days it takes me an hour and a half, but I only have myself to blame for that XD Oh... I've missed more than normal recently because I wasn't on my laptop much over break xP But I'd say I'm pretty reliable most weeks



m: XD Feel confident about your exam?


Anyway, I’m not going to divulge any more of this conversation because nobody wants to hear about my chemistry exam. If you do, however! Feel free to PM me or find me on chat! While you’re at it, why don’t you head over to meg’s wall to congratulate her on her achievements and thank her for contributing so much to Squills! And thank her for being patient enough to put up with me.

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW WITH PRETZELSTICKwritten by Elysium < PM: >

Hello everyone! Elysium your community reporter here with @Pretzelstick, our Featured Member and our very own resources reporter! I interviewed her over the week and here is the interview!



Pretzelstick: Shocked and sqeamish at first. When I check my notifs, I kind of did a double-blink,(actually I find out by my lovely friend's @Carlito message of congrats on my wall) and I had this big 'ol grin across my face, and my mom, who was at the time sitting next to me, probably thought that I was crazy. In the privacy of my room, I did an energetic jump/dance of joy and excitement



P: Honestly, yes, and the reason why is that my lovely friend @godlypopo, a long time ago-like months ago predicted that I would become and FM, and whenever a new FM was announced she was surprised that it wasn't me. I didn't really think about it that much at that time, but now that recall it in my memory, I obviously was expecting it because of that one comment/conversation.



P: Review! Review! Review! That the thing that keeps my critiquing juices flowing, and those shiny stars are the thing that motivate me, although of course my top priority is to help writers improve. Also, I am the biggest stalker of the People's tab, it's probably my most frequently checked window on YWS. Yes, I guess I'm guilty of being the gossip girl or something xD (Seriously though,I do really enjoy doing Society Pages/Update articles for Squills



P: Short stories definitively. I haven't posted that many yet, because I don't like how they come out. But I am an admin and active participant in The Writer's Tournament, so it pushes me out of my comfort zone, makes me write about a variety of range of topics, and lengthens my stories. My favorite genres, however are historical or realistic fiction, because I feel like they just exist in my realm and world, therefore I can relate to and write them much better.



P: Oh? Be active, be active more, and just spend a lot of time on YWS(like I spend so many hours on here- let's call it productive procrastination xD) doing what you do best on it. As a member, you have to contribute helpful information and input to keep this site running as it is. Because honestly, if you improve and build the community up, you are going to start getting noticed, and you are going to start getting attention because of that. Good luck also!

Thank you, Pretz! Well, that's all for this interview and edition of Squills. Tune in next week to see what else is out there! Thanks for reading!

QUIBBLES
Death by Dangling Modifiers
written by Lavvie < PM: >

Sometimes, people look at my bookshelf, see all of the books on grammar, look at me quizzically, and then ask, “Why do you have so many books on grammar?” My reply is always: “Well, it’s fun.” Naturally, my visitors then think that I’m completely off my rocker because what kind of crazy woman takes pleasure in the correcting split infinitives or debating the usefulness of the Oxford Comma? So, usually, my comment on the entertaining qualities of parts of speech needs to be supported with examples and the first one I give them is a brief exposition on dangling modifiers.

Even the name “dangling modifier” conjures up some pretty wild visuals. Personally, I see a phrase precariously hanging from a cliff of the initial clause. This is enough to make me giggle out loud in public. However, believe it or not, dangling modifiers are not this. They are, in fact, words or phrases that modify a vague word previously stated in the sentence. A modifier’s job is to add detail or clarification to an initially unclear concept. Sometimes, this can be really confusing, but here is an example of where a modifier successfully does its job in a sentence:

@Having listened to Lavvie’s link for three hours, @Noelle decided it was time to return to reality.

The concept here is “having listened” and this is an action. However, the actions lacks a doer, or a subject. Further down the sentence, we see that @Noelle is the subject here and that makes a lot of sense because Noelle listened. There is no dangling modifier.

Now finished writing Squills articles, Netflix could be watched.

Because this sentence lacks a subject of the action, this sentence is guilty of having a dangling modifier. The subject of the sentence of Netflix, but this is wrong. Netflix doesn’t write Squills articles. Since the participle expressing the action of finishing Squills articles is not properly linked to a sensible subject, the participial phrase now becomes a dangling modifier.

Dangling modifiers are very easy to write unawares and just as easy to not notice. That being said, they are also quite simple to reverse.

1. Combine the main clause with the participle phrase.

Having finished dinner, the plates were cleared.

You must ask yourself who has finished dinner. Obviously, the plates can’t finish dinner so one option is to reword the sentence by combining the main clause and participle.

We cleared the plates after having finished dinner.

2. Explicitly name the appropriate subject of the action being completed.

After dancing intensely, feet were sore.

Who was dancing? Well, I think it would be really freaky if feet and feet alone were jumping around on the dance floor. A revision option is to clearly name whose feet.

After dancing intensely, @LadySpark’s feet were sore.

3. Evolve the dangling phrase into an introductory sentence by including the subject of the action.

Before cooking for three thousand people, cutlery must be acquired.

Obviously, cutlery is not going to be cooking for three thousand people.

Before @Rydia begins cooking for three thousand people, cutlery must be acquired.

Now, it is much clearer who is doing the cooking.

Author Snapshot: Sarah Maaswritten by Pretzelstick < PM: >

Curious Pretzel decided they will keep on browsing the index, until they decide an interesting article for this week. And it’s chosen to bring back: Author’s Snapshots and the topic of the day is: Sarah Maas and Throne of Glass (intentional rhyming)

The Throne of Glass Series is a fantasy novel, embedded in a magical world of backstories.Here is the synopsis of the first novel:



Before we get to the brief interview, I wanted to include some lovely quotes by her, so that you may get a glimpse of you awesome writing style:






















And I could definitively go on and on quoting some of my favorite parts in this novel, the original (first one) Throne of Glass, but this will have to suffice for now.

So, this week I decided to conduct a quick interview about this lovely author with the lovely user @JustPerks and here is her opinion on Sarah Maas as an author:



JustPerks: Maas drew me in with her amazing characters, her great plots, and the brilliant worlds she creates. She is really good at drawing you into the story, with the different views, (at least for the Throne of Glass series)



J: My favorite book is probably the Throne of Glass, because it was such a good debut novel, as it introduced all of these amazing characters and a unique, unexplored area that simply got you hooked automatically.


J: She has inspired me to try to write more, even though I've failed at that, as she has a great background on how she first got published, getting noticed on FictionPress. She's such a good writer, that she makes you want to be better.

@JustPerks has created a club of fans of Throne of Glass, so if you decide that you do love to read this books, which I highly recommend you do, then you should sign up for it! I am currently running it as the admin, because Perks is on a hiatus right now.

Presenting, all of the covers of her series so far:



That's all that I have for this edition! I hope that you enjoy it a lot, and see you all on the next Sunday.
Over and out!

ADVENTURES IN WRITING: CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCEDwritten by BlueAfrica < PM: >

At long last, the Narrative Voice Contest is finished. The entries have been read, considered, reread, compared, and judged. The winners are…

IN FIRST PLACE

@Carlito with a chapter of her teen fiction novel Liz + Zac. Rated 16+ for language.







This is the moment the narrator started to win me over. At first, she seemed the perfect specimen of an angsty teen. She hates high school girls, doesn’t want to go to school, and feels that her parents don’t love her as much as the younger brother who demands all of their attention. Nonetheless, I was hooked from the beginning by her undeniably strong voice. In the moment above, I found myself admiring her (if somewhat grudgingly) because her primary reason for going to school was to show the other girls they couldn’t keep her down. From there, the narrator inspired my sympathy. First-person narration was the perfect choice for this story.

Carlito’s entry exhibited a strong voice, and I was so impressed by the transition the narrator made from someone I disliked to someone I cared about—all in the space of 1000 words. You can read Carlito’s story here .

IN SECOND PLACE

@Pompadour with a chapter of her science fiction novel The Great Grimsby. Rated 16+ for language.







Second-person narration is an unusual choice, and present-tense is difficult to stick to. Pompadour does them both well. The second-person narration made me feel like part of the story, even though I am a) not male, b) not living in a futuristic society, and c) don’t work at a flower shop with genetically engineered species. The narration does enough world-building to provide a good idea of the setting without falling into the trap of an infodump. Additionally, moments like that above sprinkle an otherwise grim story with humor.

You can read Pompadour’s story here .

IN THIRD PLACE

@hyperview with her short story Kaleidoscopes. Rated 18+ for language and mature content.







First-person is a great choice for a story wherein a character’s motivation is the search for self. The most interesting thing about hyperview’s entry, however, is the fact that the narrator does not actually appear to be the main character. Instead, Jaime Cortez is the main character. While the two friends try to figure out who the narrator is, the bulk of the action focuses on Jaime’s crazed descent into the depths of drug use.

You can read hyperview’s story here .

Other contestants were @Lightsong with a poem called “In Another God’s Land” ; @Deanie with a short horror story called Two Punched Holes ; @SnazzyPencil with a poem called “Touching the Sky” ; @BellaRoma with a novel chapter from Imaginary Friends ; and @Authorian with a science fiction story called One Hour in Fifty-four Years . Thank you to all contestants! You’ll receive reviews of your entries over the next two weeks.

NEWSFLASH
written by Lavvie < PM: >

What happened this week in news? What’s beyond your local newspaper or even your national broadcaster? Come out from under your writerly rock and breathe in reality, as unfortunate (or fortunate) as it may be. Squills has you covered on this one.



The largest school shooting since the 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre in Montreal, the events that took place in the early afternoon of January 22 have not only the small town of La Loche, Saskatchewan reeling but also Canada on the whole. A country, who rarely, if ever, plays witness to such devastation on its own territory, is in total shock. The suspect, who remains unidentified but in custody, allegedly started at a private location in a residential block before moving to a local high school. “Obviously, this is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a brief statement Friday. The town, home to a humble population of just 3000, has organized grief counselling in the community hall in order to address the emotional aftermath.



It has been reported that a punishing snowstorm is rapidly moving up to the northeastern States. Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington D.C., said Friday that will be an event with “life and death implications”. Due to the warning, the US Federal Government has closed and President Obama is remaining indoors. The capital is expecting a record 30 inches (76 centimetres) by Sunday. Already, nine people have been killed and ten states have declared a State of Emergency. In a rush to gather food, shelves in supermarkets now lay barren. Using the hashtag #Snowmageddon2016, people are updating snow levels and photos to Twitter. Be safe!



At the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke, stating that France would be “using all means in our democracy under the rule of law to protect the French people”. Valls expanded, detailing that the current French government now seeks to extend the current State of Emergency until ISIS is defeated. Furthermore, French President François Hollande has proposed such constitutional changes as making the State of Emergency easier to implement in case of future incidences. The current state of emergency is expected to expire at the end of February.



In response to an explosion of criticism about the lack of diversity within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that runs the famous annual Oscars, its governing body has resolved to double the numbers of female and other minority members by 2020. Other changes included a ten year voting limit on Academy members. Those who are not active in film after the ten years will be stripped of their voting rights. President Cheryl Boone said in a statement that “the Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up.” For the second year in a row, no black actors have been nominated for the categories of Best Actor and Best Actress. Many celebrities are calling for a boycott of the 2016 Oscars, including Will Smith, wife Jada Pinkett-Smith, and director Spike Lee who will all be absent from the awards this season.



A cow escaped a slaughterhouse in the New York City suburb of Queens on Thursday. It is safe to say that udder chaos must have ensued as it wandered the streets of downtown Jamaica. Now, thanks to the help of animal rights advocate Mike Stura, the cow is on its way to a New Jersey animal sanctuary. Stura waited out all night to bargain for the animal after it was recaptured. After the butcher capitulated, obviously weary from media and protestors, Stura was able to collect the cow in his truck and trailer. The cow will join eighteen other cows in the sanctuary alongside some goats, pigs, and chickens. Stura has named the brave bovine Freddie, after Freddie Mercury, the late lead singer of the famous rock band Queen.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by BlueAfrica < PM: >

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 1/24written by megsug < PM: >

Dreaming, reviewing, diversity, and storybooking. This roundup is especially fun!


@Contest has set up a reviewing competition that will stretch from February to June. Contestants keep track of their reviews, and if they go five days without reviewing, contestants have to donate points to Contest. The prizes could be worth it though:







Users can sign up at any time without penalty, but reviews done before you sign up don’t count. Sign up before February, and you’ll be prepared to succeed in this contest… as long as you review.


@Jhinx has a new storybook idea that he wants to run by users before setting it up. It has an interesting premise:







The setting will be fantasy, but otherwise, Jhinx is up for suggestions. A soft projection for when this storybook would be up and running is May.


@Sweater has brought a good topic to the Serious Discussion and Debate forum which has inspired some great discussion. Sweater is asking if an author’s ethnicity should be taken into consideration when publishers are considering a work and whether an ethnicity should determine relevance in today’s world. Just worth a read if you’re interested in diversity and the role it plays in the literature world, three users have spoken about why they feel it is important to make a place for authors of color. @PenguinAttack said:







Sweater has asked questions and argued for an approach that doesn’t consider ethnicity when a piece is read, only adding to the conversation. Read the articles being discussed and join the conversation.


@Dracula has a club about lucid dreaming, including forum topics to share your lucid and non-lucid dreams, tips, techniques, and resources. With the last wall post being:







the club seems pretty dedicated to make you check if you’re not dreaming at this very moment. Who knows? Maybe you are.

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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