Young Writers Society

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1. APRIL IS POETRY WRITING MONTH
2. GREEN ROOM GALLERY
3. QUIBBLES: Conversing with Commas
4. THREE GUESTS, THREE QUESTIONS
5. LIBRARY LOVES
6. NEW ARRIVALS
7. RESOURCES RELAY
8. SHAMELESS PLUGS
9. SUBSCRIBERS

April is Poetry Writing Monthwritten by Morrigan  < PM: >

The Young Writers Society is halfway into April, which means poets are hitting their keyboards hard. National Poetry Writing Month, also known as NaPoWriMo, is a challenge to poets to write one poem a day for thirty days.

Participation on YWS usually comes in the form of poets keeping up threads throughout the month. These threads are located in the Creativity Corner forum, titled "NaPoWriMo."

Poets do not have to have any experience in writing poetry to participate; the goal of the challenge is to persevere through the blocks and improve throughout the month.

Several helpful users have created threads to provide prompts for those poets who cannot seem to think of anything. @Iggy created a challenge to fulfill in addition to writing thirty poems in as many days. The of the Day Challenge! invites poets to participate in using specific prompts in their poems and posting the finished products for their fellow poets to view. @Aley provides a wonderful thread filled with prompts for NaPoWriMo participants. The prompts in this thread include creative photographs as well as songs and structure suggestions.

The creative prompts showcased during April are only the tip of the iceberg. The heart of NaPoWriMo is the dive to the depths of the ocean with some wonderful poets. In the tail-end of disaster, @Pompadour experiments with intense imagery. With lines that evoke vision and sound, like "pinpricks of light in stormy silence, dashes of morse code on their lips," Pompadour's poetry is art any poetry reader would not want to miss.

Another poet participating in NaPoWriMo is @Strange. His thread, titled Toxic girls and gasoline, explores teenage life with drivers education lessons, death, and love.

For more awesome poetry, visit the NaPoWriMo forum and enjoy. April hasn't left yet; poets are still churning out art.

Green Room Gallerywritten by Pretzelstick  < PM: >

Hello everyone! Pretzel here again this week, because I felt that it was important if I get a message out. It's so very important to review new or newer members works in the Green Room; that's what made me stay and thrive on YWS. That's what makes a lot of newbs stay on YWS, is because of the continous feedback loop that is /supposed/ to be in place for any and all works posted.

As you will soon see(or already well-know this fact), the GR is kind of cluttered, and honestly a lot of even /most/ of the works are from new members or novel chapters. We need some Knights of the Green Room, to not look past the works with brand-new members. This is an essential time for you to help them cultivate their appreciation for what goes on internally on YWS. Every week, do you know why I will be posting this? As a call for action, a call to start sweeping those messy floorboards.

There are 72 works with 0 reviews and 130 works with 1 review in the Green Room.For your reference, here is a helpful resourceful link Green Room Sorted by the Oldest

Anyways, let's get right into it, shall we?

Aftermath: Chapter 3 - Chaos by @BornLoser

An action/adventure and fanfic novel chapter.

Jaylin awakes to find herself alive, but badly injured after the tornado whisked her away. Find out what happens next in this chapter! :3

Lyndon B. Johnson: An Enigma by @tigeraye

Here is an article/essay all about the President that you wanted to know more about.
A look on the legacy and inner-workings of Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Void-Chapter 8 by @zsmith

Realistic and dramatic novel chapter. Therapy is for suckers.

The Snow Angels: Part Two by @tigeraye

A realistic, dramatic novel. Meet Melvin Arnold, the father of Jean-Luc.

Children of The Pipes Chapter 5: On Her Own by @nosirrah123

This work has been rated 18+ for language, violence, and mature content.

Novel chapter from the genre, Science Fiction, Action / Adventure
Argent finds herself all alone, totally defenseless, and hopelessly confused.

Unorthodox Thieves (Chap. 26): Not Exactly a Flesh Wound
by @EnderFlash

General novel. It could be worse, Lucius supposed, but things could also be a lot better.

War of Dawn - Chapter 7: Set Off to Battle
by @Costa

Action / Adventure, Fantasy novel chapter.
The time has come for Hilda to face the undead. Is she ready? Date: 1003 After Dawn, July 14th

Demi of Terra: Chapter 1 by @mcleo1

Fantasy, Action/Adventure novel chapter.
She's Terra, meaning she's been kidnapped and trained in an underground Order. Now she kidnaps a kid, but he's not like any other sorcerer before.

Tirian Chapter 1:A walk in the Forest
  by @MyersTylerT
 
 Fantasy, Action / Adventure novel chapter.
Tirian has been running his whole life. With a dark past behind him and a hopeless future ahead, he will do whatever it takes to make things right.

Daisies: Prologue by @cmullin

Romantic, realistic novel chapter.
This is the beginning of our lovable, artistic narrator, Elizabeth's, story. (This takes place many years before the main story begins)

Revenge for Poseidon by @

This work has been rated 18+ for language, violence, and mature content.

Action / Adventure, Supernatural novel chapter
Chapter four is more action as your favorite demons return to help the angels.....will it be enough to stop Jr. and his unbeatable team though?

Song dynasty story by @MrWitz

Short Story: Fantasy, Action / Adventure
This short story was written about a man who runs from Mongolia to china. He must fight many battles and fights many battles.

~Until Next Time

Pretzel

QUIBBLES
Conversing with Commas
written by Lavvie < PM: >

Awhile back, I made a case for the Oxford Comma, its importance, and why it deserves to stick around for awhile longer in the English language. However, there are different usages for commas – as we all know – and their existence remains relatively uncontroversial, thankfully enough.

So in which other ways are commas also used? Look no further than appositive commas and non-restrictive commas.

Basically, an appositive is a noun or a noun phrase that describes the nouns or noun phrases that they follow. For example:

Rose loves her pet labrador, Shan.

Marlin is looking for his son, Nemo.

In the sentences above, Shan and Nemo are the appositives because they are describing the preceding phrase (“pet labrador” and “son”). Note that the noun phrase and appositives can be switched around. As you can see, there is a comma separating the noun phrase and the appositive from each other, but only if removing the appositive from the sentence would not significantly change the sentence meaning. It is crucial to know when you are meaning to employ appositives instead of a list, because otherwise the sentence can be misinterpreted. For example:

Norman invited the couple, Don and Jean.

Above, Don and Jean are seen as the appositives – they seem to be describing the couple that Norman has invited. However, what if Don and Jean are not the couple and you meant to list all those who Norman was inviting? In that case, you might consider employing the Oxford comma.

Norman invited the couple, Don, and Jean.

Now, Don and Jean are separate from each other and the couple.

In short, appositive commas provide us with extra information that, without, would not be missed much. Non-restrictive commas are a little different. One job of a comma is to provide the reader with information that, if taken out, does not alter the phrase. A common surrounding a non-restrictive phrase is surrounding relatively non-essential information. For example:

John was speaking with his friend, Marcie, about the homework.

Above, Marcie is additional information and John’s only friend. If we took Marcie out of the equation, John is still speaking to his friend about the homework and not much is changed. Marcie is relatively unimportant to the entire sentence. This is because non-restrictive commas are in use. However, consider this with the removal of commas:

John was speaking with his friend Marcie about the homework.

Here, John has many friends and Marcie is the one he is speaking to about the homework. If we remove Marcie from the equation, the reader might assume that John only has one friend and that they are unknown to us. The meaning of the sentence changes which means that Marcie is essential. In other words, Marcie restricts the meaning of the sentence. Here are a few more examples:

Dogs, who attack people, frighten Roberta.

This sentence says that all dogs frighten Roberta. “Who attack people” is an extra tidbit of information. If taken out, it doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence. However, when we remove the commas, things are a little different:

Dogs who attack people frighten Roberta.

Here, we learn that Roberta is not frightened of all dogs – only the dogs who attack people. As you can see, non-restrictive commas are important because they surround non-essential information. The biggest issue is that you may accidentally use non-restrictive commas where you don’t intend to use them, but this can still greatly change the meaning of a sentence.

Commas, on the whole, change the meaning of a sentence and can affect the reader’s understanding. This could potentially cause misinterpretation of a piece of writing. The Oxford comma is generally regarded as a style choice due to its controversial nature, but things like appositive commas and non-restrictive commas lie on less debatable ground. Be sure to be aware of what you’re writing and how you wish to punctuate it, for fear of causing some unfortunate misunderstandings.

THREE GUESTS, THREE QUESTIONS
NAPOWRIMOwritten by AliceAfternoon  < PM: >

This April has been my first month doing NaPoWriMo and because of that I’ve been curious to what the other poets that are thinking and doing. Three awesome poets allowed me to interview them and ask them each three questions. Thanks to @Pretzelstick, @Rydia, and @Aley for letting me interview them!

My first interview was with @Aley:



Aley: Well I've done NaPo on YWS twice before. I have links to the first two times in my thread. So that's about three years?



A: That's a really loaded question. Breaking it up into parts, I don't find it difficult to find motivation to write until after about the halfway mark. That's when I start lagging because I feel like I've already said so much before. In the end, I just start writing for sounds to get through it. I find a word group I like, and stick with it.

A: One of the ways I do it is I just write what I want to say if someone had asked me a question like "What's your opinion on gun control" and then I just add metaphors and develop it from there.

A: The tips I have? Loose is good for NaPo, it's just about getting poems out there, it's not about having good poems get out there. The more you let yourself really relax and just write, the better results you're going to get, especially if it's something you're passionate about. But it's hard to be passionate for 30 days.



A: Don't let it overwhelm you. Get together with friends and catch up when you can, but don't bust yourself up that every day you have to write. It's not like that. It's supposed to be fun, so keep it fun. There are a lot of resources Poetry Crew and Company are putting up this year to help with prompts and ideas, so use them.

My second interview was with @Rydia:



Rydia: No, I first tried it in 2008 and I’ve attempted to write at least some number of poems most years since then but I’ve set myself smaller goals of 15 in the past (and I rarely achieve even those!)



R: I don’t find it hard to find inspiration but finding the time is very difficult as I have a lot of hobbies and some days I don’t get home until 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm.

R: With poetry writing, I take the attitude that not every poem has to be good and it’s about throwing paint at a canvas until you see something beautiful start to develop and then you grab it and run with it. Some poems come from a theme I’ve been playing with for a while and others are me putting words together until I find what I’m trying to say. My tip for people who are struggling to find ideas would be to read news headlines or ask themselves what their opinion is on abortion, bereavement, guilt or childhood. Build a story around a theme you have an opinion on and then weave in imagery or build it into a poetic structure.



R: It’s a fun way to get words down on paper but you’ll need to edit the poems before they’ll reach their full power. Word choice is so important in poetry so when you're editing, consider different words with the same meaning for every word you've used - ask yourself if the word has a good sound and if that reflects the emotion in the poem. For example, if you're writing a dark poem you might use the word plummet but if it's a more light-hearted poem, you'll choose drift, dip or tumble. All these words mean fall but they all come with different connotations. Don't be embarrassed to use an online thesaurus!

My third and final interview was with @Pretzelstick:



Pretzelstick: Actually, this is take two of my NaPo experience. I did attempt to do NaPo last year, but I only got halfway there and didn't really finish my goal of thirty poems. Last April, was probably my most productive writing month, because the daily aspect got me motivated to keep on writing it, and I still look back on some of those poems with fondness!



P: It's not quite hard at all. Personally though, I usually get my inspiration from song lyrics that really touched me deeply, and I want to express myself through recreating the meaning of them. If that fails, or my mind is blank then there are plenty of resources like @Iggy of the Day Challenge! or @Aley 30 Days of Prompts that keep me inspired for poetry.
How do I do it? My explanation is quite simple: I sit down with a pen and an open window in solitude; breathe, think, and write. In that order.



P: Haha! I'm a beginner myself, but you have to have confidence in yourself. Even if no one around you actually "like buttons" your work, as long as you like it and put time and energy into writing it, that's all that matters. Especially at the beginning, don't let yourself get discouraged with disappointment, because for newbies and beginners it does take time to warm up, and start cranking those poems out of your brain.

In conclusion, I'd say almost every poet I interviewed said that NaPoWriMo was made to be fun and that not every poem had to be perfect. NaPo is truly a challenge but one tons of poets are willing to take, including me. A special thanks to @Aley, @Rydia and @Pretzelstick for the wonderful advice!

LIBRARY LOVES
written by Lavvie < PM: >

In the past few weeks, I’ve been on a non-stop reading rampage and my meagre travelling library cannot keep up. There are only so many books that I can stuff in my suitcase without breaking the airport scale and I’m the type of person who won’t even touch an e-reader with a ten foot pole. This, of course, won’t stop me from constantly collecting new and old books! I’m excited to share with you some of my very own suggestions!

Something New:










I picked up this book at a rather expensive English bookstore in town to satisfy one of the categories in the 2016 Reading Challenge (a book published in 2016). This debut novel has endearing characters and a plot that will most certainly tug at the heartstrings. Want something full of life and reality? I would definitely recommend this book. A warning, however: there are some adult themes.

Something Familiar:










Despite the fact that this book has achieved critical acclaim and was even made into a movie, I never dared read it until now, probably because I might thought the hype was too much. I’ll be moving to the state of Georgia pretty soon, so I thought this might be a good book to familiarize myself with the history of the Southern States. Everything is amazing about this and the themes remain extremely relevant to the American situation.

Something Loved:










The subtle empowerment of this book is probably what makes this one of my all-time favourites. Considered the first explicitly feminist book to be published, Jane Eyre features a strong female protagonist who is not afraid to confront her emotions and follow her ambitions. Even the handsome love interest cannot get in her way and the emancipatory tone of Brontë’s work is enough to inspire any feminist.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by Lavvie < PM: >

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

@GreatKing is truly living up to their name and has already earned three stars for their reviewing! Leave them a congratulatory note on their wall.

@johnAsade seems super enthusiastic about joining YWS which is awesome! Click here to welcome them to the site.

Resources Relay 4/17written by Pretzelstick  < PM: >

Woohoo! I know that these intros kind of get repetitive and boring, but today there is a returning element to the #4 point like there was last time, and I am very glad and proud to announce that. This week, we'll learn about info-dumps and italics, all other writerly-thingies. If that caught your attention, let's get ready to jump in!



@Merkava120 is asking about your opinion on info-dumping as a writer, and what you feel as a reader as well. I like how this is an open discussion about a struggle, and so far lots of users have joined into the discussion.

What @Carlito wrote really struck a chord of agreement with me, because as an avid bookworm I could definitely relate to this:



   


If you would like to read the rest of this reply, and all of the other ones on that therad, then you can feel free to click on the "button" link and make your way over there, and I know that your input would be muchly appreciated to the discussion.




@alliepamela is asking the question, when exactly should italics be used in writing? I think that the list of answers by @Rosendorn was quite informative:




   


She then offers two other points that are the causes for the uses of italics.





@AliceAfternoon, finally opened up a thread in the WRFF section of the Resources' center, and I am here to announce it. The cool thing about this, is that Alice gives you a coded list of information things that she is looking for from her requester on the thread. I've never seen anything else like that before, but it does look like quite a good idea! Let's go and support and encourage this reviewer...

And last but newest, I wanted to continue with outlining and highlighting a seciton, although I may run out of these. This time though, I have decided to emphasize and link some thing that I use all the time while browsing YWS. So this week's section is... drumroll please

YWS from the Knowledge Base

If you're new, or have any questions at all how to navigate the forums of YWS, look no further. Not only have I used this dozens of times, searching for answers to my questions, but I've also linked this dozens of time to newer members that needed help on a question, but I didn't yet have the capacity to actually explain it. Here is a round-up of my favorites:

A Rundown of Reviewing by @Kyllorac
Star-Ranking System by @Nate
The Big Book of YWS Code by @Lumi
Greeting Tips by @Rosendorn

That's only 4 out of the numerous ones out there, that we can all get use from. I highly recommend, because this is to be checked out. Seriously I can't rave enough amazingness and usefulness that this provides, so shout-out to all the mods that created and maintained this little corner of the YWS world.


That's all! Please give me some feedback via PM on the different newness of my #4 point if you are available to do so, and maybe you can even request a specific section for next week. I hope that you enjoyed scanning through and clicking around this week's Resources Relays. At the moment, I'm trying to think of ideas that will give this column a fresh look, but sometimes it's a little bit hard to get inspired as a journalist, to be honest. If you have anything to offer in form of suggestions or criticism for me, please, I beg you PM me. I thrive on the minimal input that I receive from the Squillsans.

Until Next Time,

~Pretzel

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