Young Writers Society

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Well, that’s all I have for now. So, what are you waiting for? Enjoy!

1. TWO CENTS: SONNETS
2. THREE GUESTS, THREE QUESTIONS: STORYBOOKS
3. POLITICS AND PIE
4. NEW ARRIVALS
5. THIS WEEK'S ROUND UP 5/30
6. SHAMELESS PLUGS
7. SUBSCRIBERS

TWO CENTS: SONNETSwritten by Aley  < PM: >

If you’ve been around poetry for any length of time, you’ve heard about sonnets, but what does that mean? What is a sonnet? What’s the point? This Two Cents will be all about that very subject, so buckle up, we’re going to go on a ride to Sonnet Town.

Sonnets are hugely popular because they’re 14 lines of pure unadulterated rhyme and flow. No, seriously, they’re Iambic Pentameter, which means that their flow is da DUN five times. Iambic means that the feet are soft STRONG and that there are five of them. Right, feet, I haven’t covered that.

Aside on Feet

Poetry is made up of meters, or sets of syllables which make words. Like a part of a typical meter is a foot, in poetry it is also a foot, or feet. A foot in poetry is a set of syllables that make a pattern such as soft Strong, Strong soft soft, or Strong soft, each of these have particular names.

Our lovely @Hannah has an amazing article which lays them all out. Secret Treasures in Poetic Devices

Each meter is made up of a set number of these feet, and that’s what the “penta” in front of “pentameter” means. These are all typical prefixes from one to eight, mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, hexa-, hepta-, octa- and you should memorize these for school. Chemistry, Geometry and English all use these same prefixes.

Yes! This means you can have iambic heptameter and you’ll have 7 feet of 2 syllables each with the first syllable being unstressed, and the second syllable stressed.

Let’s break that down a little closer. Heptameter means that you have 7 feet, but 7 feet does not mean 7 syllables. It could mean double, triple, or even quadrupling the number of syllables to feet depending on the type of feet you have. All the 7 tells you is the number of feet per line, not what’s inside.

I’m going to show you what these words mean via visuals so a foot will be marked out with [brackets] and inside that foot the stresses will be (–) and the unstressed will be (.) Each . and – represent a complete syllable, not a word.

Let’s go back to our iambic heptameter. First determine how many feet you need.



Now determine what goes inside that. Look at the first word. In this case it’s Iambic which, if we look at the guide, means (.-) so iambic heptameter means our beat would look like this.



That is Iambic heptameter.

Back to Sonnets

Sonnets are written in Iambic Pentameter ([.-] [.-] [.-] [.-] [.-]), which means that each line starts softly and ends strong. This means that the word choice is limited to words that have a strong soft, or soft strong beat as long as you put them in the right place. With three syllable words, you have to use a word that either is strong soft strong, or soft strong soft to match the beat. These can be difficult to find, but not impossible.

The other thing about stresses is that a stress can be different for a different person, and words can change stress according to situation. For instance, if you read the sentence, “and words can change stress” sound like “AND! WORDS can CHANGE stress…” you’re forcing emphasis on “and” because it is a conjunction that can have emphasis. However you could also read the line “and words CAN CHANGE stress…” or even “and WORDS can CHANGE STRESS” all depending on the situation. This means it’s nearly impossible to predict how your reader is going to treat the stresses of your poem unless you’re up front about it being a sonnet. In which case, they will attempt to read it with the iambic soft Strong, soft Strong, and usually this works fine. However, there are some guidelines to help that happen.

First, words that are determiners are only occasionally stressed. Those occasions are instances where usually the fact that it is “the” instead of “a” is important, like “the” cat when you’re talking about the specific cat in a way that changes it from “a” cat. Chances are, usually “the,” “a,” and “an” are unstressed. This is similar with conjunctions like “that,” “and,” and “or” etc. This is because these words are defined classes. They’re not words that change or prescribe to something physical in the real world. Instead, they are words that are filler to help understand relationships, and create complex ideas.

Words that are verbs, nouns, and adjectives are more likely to have stress. This doesn’t mean they always will, but these are the important words in our sentences, the words that we usually can’t do much without. These are open class words where new words can be added at any time. You can create a new thing and add a noun, you can use a noun as a verb, like to tweet, or twittering, or poeting, and create a new verb. You can even create new adjectives like the spleenish liquid, or the newbified comment.  This is where the meat of our sentences lies, and this is where the stresses usually happen.

So when we’re writing a sonnet, the easiest way to do it is to ignore Iambic Pentameter all together because
a) not a lot of people will take the time to stress what they read even if it is in IP
b) not a lot of people will be able to understand what IP is,
c) If they are looking for IP they can usually force it upon sentences anyway as long as we don’t stack closed class words,
d) If it has 10 syllables, you’re usually pretty close to IP anyway.
e) Focusing on IP can mess up your rhymes.

Looking at all of these reasons why IP in sonnets is not the killer really makes you wonder what is necessary for it to be qualified as a sonnet? Sonnets aren’t easy even with these exceptions and that’s because they don’t just require IP they require a rhyme scheme structure too.

The sonnet was so popular in earlier centuries that areas created their own style of Sonnet. The sonnet started out as just a structure with 14 lines that had a rhyme scheme, but in the end, it became a lot more than that. There are several different variations of sonnets, but here we will cover some of the popular ones and the variations within them.

First, you have to know what a couplet and it’s cousins are.

Just like with feet in poetry, poets also have terms for sets of lines. These will tell you how many lines are put together and just like with the feet, you can sort of get the gist of them by the prefixes.

Couplet – Two lines
Trecet – Three lines (Also triplet)
Quatrain – Four lines
Quntain – Five Lines (Also quintet, cinquain)
Sestet – Six Lines (Also sexain, sixain, sextet, hexastich)
Septet – Seven Lines
Octave – Eight Lines (Also octet)

Most of this information I don’t keep in my head. Instead, I google it and use this page which is accurate to the best of my knowledge: Stanzas

Each of these have their own unique way of rhyming, and stacking together. For instance, you can make a quntain out of a couplet and a trecet, or a octave out of two quatrains. Don’t get confused by all the fancy terms for different sets however, all it’s saying is that there are 2-8 lines which are considered a set either because they rhyme together, or because they decidedly don’t.

To explain sonnets, occasionally these terms will come up because it’s easier than explaining abbaabab all the time. For this article, I’ll be using rhyme scheme lettering to show different groups, however, a sonnet is not always broken up into stanzas.

Our first project is the easiest to understand, and one born from love.

Shakespearean Sonnet

This is one of the easiest structures to understand because it is just one choice, and that’s it. The Shakespearean Sonnet is set up with three quatrains of abab, and a rhymed couplet aa. It wasn’t invented by Shakespeare, that’s just how most people run into it now, and it’s the style he used to write hundreds of sonnets.

The structure is abab cdcd efef gg. This means that the every other line rhymes in groups of four, so each end has a partner all the way until the end, which is just a rhymed couplet right next to one another.

This makes this poem particularly appealing because of the variety in the end, and the strong closing notes. Usually poets use this section to make a turn, or a part of a poem that rephrases, or re-engages the ideas of the audience such as using the quatrains to say that the woman is ugly and hideous to the rest of the world, and then the couplet to say that she’s beautiful to the speaker.

Italian (Petrachan) Sonnets

These are more confusing than Shakespearean Sonnets simply because they have more options. You have two parts to this sonnet which create an argument, or statement when put together. The first is the question, preposition, or problem and is done in two quatrains (or an octave) with 8 lines total. The rest of the poem is again, the turn, or the “volta” as some might see it called. In this style it moves to the resolution, or revelation like the couplet in the Shakespearean Sonnet.

Because of the differences, this style has a couple different options for how it’s put together. The first part is usually two enveloped quatrains abba abba, but the second part is still free for choice. The choices are cd cd cd, cdc cdc, or cde cde, so your stanzas could be abba abba cdcdcd, or abba abba cde cde, or abba abba cdc cdc, but there is no closing couplet.

Dante’s Variation

There’s always a rebel. He made a 20 line sonnet, so here’s his version aabaab aabaab cddc cddc or aabbba aabbba cddc cddc. Personally I wouldn’t put much weight into this one as something people could recognize as a sonnet. Some of the other sonnets have abba such as the Italian, but he’s basically added an extra sestet and flipped them so that the “abba” comes last.

Spenserian Sonnet

Back to England! Edmund Spenser who was born about 12 years before Shakespeare also had his own way of writing sonnets and he used it enough to get it named after him. Spenser used linking rhymes, so it’s not sections so much as the whole poem locks together in a grid until the final couplet with this pattern abab bcbc cdcd ee. In other words your secondary rhyme is your main rhyme in the next stanza. This is similar to the pantoum, which is another type of structured poetry.

Modern Times

Now that we’re done with all the old stuffy stuff, the modern audience has pretty much abandoned the meter stuff and uses sonnet as an excuse to rhyme rather than syllable count. This is so much so the case, that they have invented something we can easily get in on called word sonnets, where you have one word for all 14 lines to make a sonnet!

Personally I still like the oldies, but I’m a bit of an archaeologist with my structures.

All in all, the most important thing to remember is that structures aren’t there to constrain you, they’re there to entertain you, so don’t be afraid to “get it wrong” or break the rules. There’s no jury in this box if you don’t tell someone it’s a sonnet.

Until next time!

THREE GUESTS, THREE QUESTIONS
STORYBOOKS

written by AliceAfternoon  < PM:  >

I've never tried storybooking until this week when @Savvy reached out to me to join her storybook, All Hands On Deck . I'm not sure why I avoided storybooks for so long. Perhaps it was that I was busy with school or maybe I was just too lazy to even try it. Anyway, so far I'm loving it! I think it's a really cool idea and I wanted to interview people on it. Thank you to @Candywizard, @ReisePiecey and @Steggy for letting me interview them!





CandyWizard: No, of course!



C: Well, I've done a few storybooks, and I'd like to think I've got the hang of them by now (for the most part).



C: Yeah, my advice is to just go for it and not be afraid to write something different. It's not about writing the best story or about having the best writing. It's about having fun and interacting with friends. And I think that's great.



C: It's how I became friends with Savvy ^^ That is the best storybook thing ever Pan got me into storybooks.



C: Oh, these were interview questions xD I thought you were asking for you.





Steggy: Sure! I mean, I don't mind.



S: On a range of 1-10, I'd say a 9.



S: For advice, get into one that has a mix of people. New and old. That way you all can have some form of writing pattern. Also, when making a character, don't overthink it. Just go with the flow. If the creator has something important that you must add, then do so.



S: I'd say everything but if I had to chose one, it could be the people I work with. It is so much fun writing with different people and creating worlds.



S: You're welcome!





ReisePiecey: Sure!



R:Very. Ever since joining the site in 2010, I've been interested in SBs. Eventually I became a moderator for the forum but now, during my hiatus, I'm no longer in that position. Storybooks are my life!



R: Personally, I always write in a SB as if I were going to develop a novel around my character as well as the character's others are adding to the story. If you make well developed characters and collaborate often with your peers, the SB will often write itself. It's all about dedication and, mainly, having fun with the world and the people you're writing with.



R: Just creating stories with other people. I love the way ideas develop whenever you're brainstorming with a group of people. I love building worlds and watching relationships grow inside of the stories. And, especially, becoming closer with those you're writing with.



R: No problem, sweetie!

I really enjoyed these interviews! It was great to hear what I've been missing out on all this time. I'm glad I decided to join. Storybooking is fun and brings you closer to the writers you're writing with. I hope I become closer to the other writers in All Hands On Deck as we continue storybooking. I'm still very new to the idea and the ways of storybooking and all this advice really helped me. Thank you again to @Candywizard, @ReisePiecey and @Steggy for the advice and for letting me interview them!

Curious about storybooking? Check out the forum!

POLITICS AND PIEwritten by Gravity  < PM: >

Welcome all!
I’ve done a political article here and there in the past, now I’m trying to make it a regular thing. So, if you like it or have a world political event you think I missed, feel free to PM me!

Without further ado, let’s start off with the regular update on the U.S. Presidential Election. Right now, for Republican Candidates, we have Trump with 1229 delegates. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders has 1533 delegates with 2383 delegates needed to win, and Hillary Clinton with 2304 out of 2383 delegates needed to win. Right now, the other Republican candidates have dropped out so Trump is officially in the running for POTUS (President of the United States, that’s slang, folks) with Hillary and Bernie still competing for the Democratic title. Clinton needs just 79 more delegates to win the nomination and at this point, just about everybody is denying Sanders’ legitimacy as a candidate, but he just refuses to drop out. It’s looking like Hillary and Trump are going to be the candidates for POTUS, but the question is, who’s going to win?

Personally, I will always love Bernie. But that’s beside the point.

If you’d like to read more about the U.S. Presidential election, click here.

Next on the agenda, we’ve got news from the LGBT community. LGBTQ+ rights are controversial everywhere, it seems, with personal values, religion, and even heritage changing the way people of the world see this group. It’s difficult to see this objectively because the LGBTQ+ issue is one that many people are passionate about, whether they are advocating for LGBTQ+ rights or trying to protect their beliefs. Right now over in the Middle East, 51 Muslim countries are keeping a large portion of gay community from attending a very important U.N. meeting dedicated to stopping AIDS. A popular belief is that homosexuality or other sexualities in the LGBTQ+ grouping are largely or mostly responsible for the AIDS pandemic which, is not true, but the activists are dedicated to eradicating this issue nonetheless.

This movement is sparking protests in the U.S., Canada, and even the Egyptian President is getting involved by writing letters to help these activists along with other important leaders from the European Union and Canada. Middle Eastern countries involved in the decision include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan and Uganda. Want to read more about this issue? Click here.

Next on politics and pie, we’re gonna take the dessert over to Paris, so grab a croissant as we go over the effects of COP21. For those of you who don’t know, COP21 was an international meeting located in Paris, France, that was supposed to help form an agreement to stop global warming and help our planet. COP21 was a huge deal because, for the first time in history, the world’s two countries with the biggest carbon (and every other pollutant) footprint ever, would be present. That’s right: China and the U.S. This has never happened before in history so the negotiations between these two countries were a HUGE DEAL. Unfortunately, regulations for genetically modified crops (to resist droughts) and flood defenses are expensive, and while COP21 organized charities to help fund these programs, this still leaves small scale farmers in the dust. These are farmers who prefer to do things the natural way, with no GMOs.

Even bigger, it’s estimated that 100 billion USD was pledged to fund this effort to stop global warming. Of this 100 billion, only about 16% has been paid. Just to make matters worse, reports say countries in the West (cough cough, USA) have not been doing their part to help this environmental effort. Temperatures are rising, more people are born each day, and food stores just seem to shrink as the global warming conundrum continues.

Want to read more about COP21?
Success or failure of COP21?
Another link for more information.

Lastly, although this is not nearly the last political issue going on in the world, I’m going to talk a little bit about ISIS. As most of you know, ISIS is a Muslim terrorist group located in the Middle East that has risen to power within the last 5 or so years. Before that, Al-Qaida was the basis of everybody’s focus due to the September 11th terrorist attacks. Since ISIS’ rise to power, they have been locked not just in a fight with the rest of the world, but also with Al-Qaida in a deadly power struggle. The fear is they will eventually unite, creating larger than life terrorist group.

On a similar note, news has been discovered revealing that ISIS leaders are attempting to smuggle terrorists from Libya to Europe now that the trade routes between Turkey and Greece are being policed more and more. These chilling requests are happening all over the world and it’s becoming more difficult to root out the bad eggs from the good ones.

To read more about ISIS’ influence, click these links:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/26/middleeas ... -doorstep/
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... WE&cad=rja

That's it for Politics and Pie. If you are curious about looking into more world issues yourself, my two main sources are listed below.

http://www.cnn.com
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics

This article was written by Lydia Morzinski under the username "Gravity" due to site guidelines.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by Lavvie < PM: >

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

@SacredPen has earned their first reviewing star! Click to here to congratulate them on their wall.

@Areonn has posted a short story. Click here to leave a review on Mother’s Day.

THIS WEEK'S ROUND UP 5/30 written by megsug < PM: >

Buy the swag you’ll need to win the battle at the YWS store!

 
@Nate has updated the YWS store with a lot of cool things, and that title isn’t a lie. A YWS teapot could be yours. Not only are there new products to be had, Nate made a generous offer:





Check out the YWS store and check out YWS swag!
   

@Keepwriting has a thread for her photos, and posted a beautiful picture of strawberries.



Apparently her mom grew them, and her family isn’t going back to store bought berries.


@Pompadour wants to know how to write a battle scene and many writers sympathize with her struggles. @ScarlettFire was one of the several users to give advice. This was one great bit from her post:







This thread is worth the read for any who struggle with battle scenes, and @Rosendorn recommends this Resource’s Classic


Nate gives us some history and stats on review days since 2011 with fun facts like:







Check the thread out for more review day trivia!

SHAMELESS PLUGS

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