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!






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

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1. APRIL MADNESS INTERVIEW: WILLARD
2. GREEN ROOM GALLERY: REVIEW DAY SPECIAL
3. NEW ARRIVALS
4. A MOD MOMENT: LAUREN2010
5. POEMS, SHORTS, AND STORYBOOKS
6. SHAMELESS PLUGS
7. SUBSCRIBERS

APRIL MADNESS INTERVIEW: WILLARD written by Aley < PM: >

One of YWS's older members who used to have different names has recently been getting a lot of attention in both the spotlight for poetry, and in the April Madness contest. I sat down with this dusty star to find out more about @Willard and what he's doing to create such a splash!

Willard has successfully made it with @Lumi, whom I interviewed before, to the final two of the April Madness contest, which is a show down between poets on YWS to see who can write the best poems within 4-2 day time limits during the month of April for National Poetry Month.

Here's the interview with Willard:



Willard: Sure!



W: I honestly have no idea. If I were to point my fingers on one thing, if anything, it'd be my habit of reworking previously written poetry (in the month of April) into new poetry. My last entry, for example, uses the opening stanza of a poem I wrote at the beginning of the month and changed it into something much thematically different.



W: Not at all, haha. I think I did it as a spur of the moment type of thing,because no poem I wrote felt natural in the first draft, only bits and segments.



W: No clue, being honest. I don't even have my poem written yet, and Lumi is such an amazing and consistent poet so the future is very unclear at the moment. Every round so far, I have been in the mindset that I don't have the chance to make it further. Lumi, @Casanova, @PrincessInk, @Nikayla. They're all so wonderful. I am somewhat nervous now, but no matter what it has been a fun competition and having fun is the most important thing in life.



W: Next year is my Senior year in high school, also AP season, so I have no idea whether or not my life would be chill enough to compete. But if I can, I will.



W: Hopefully not! YWS is the most receptive community when it comes to posting poetry or short stories, so if I keep on writing, then I'll stay. If I end up going crazy and ditching all my electronics to find myself spiritually, then yeah, don't expect to see me anymore.



W: A lot better than I expected, so surprisingly well!



W: I don't have any questions in mind, haha, so you're all gooooooood.
Have a great day, Aley!



The final results for the April Madness contest will come out sometime at the beginning of May probably within the first 2 weeks. Usually judging rounds take somewhere between 2-10 days depending on the level of competition and considering Willard and Lumi have made it this far, it is fair to say the competition is fierce.

I wish all of the judges and competitors luck in this final round!

GREEN ROOM GALLERY: REVIEW DAY SPECIAL



written by Princess Ink < PM: >


First of all, let’s applaud @BlueAfrica’s courage as a Knight of the Green Room to aspire to review all the prose works that have zero reviews. Because of her persistent, helpful reviewing, we have ended up with only a few zero-review works and about one hundred works with one review just before Review Day. Others have also contributed, including @Lumi, @Hannah, @Nikayla, @SarukaTheHuman.

On Saturday morning, as I scanned the oldest works in the Green Room, I was saddened to see that some were still from late March:

-Equivalent Worlds: Chapter 4

Written by @ScarlettFire, This novel is for the contest Last Man Standing! This sci-fi work revolves around Seth Pearce, who is whisked away from Earth for his safety after learning that he is not fully human.

Warning: This work is rated 16+

-Like a Rolling Stone-The Free Wheeling Bob Dylan

@Sharon1407’s essay is both a biography and an opinion piece about Bob Dylan, the singer who recently won a Nobel Prize. The essay ends with some lines from one of his songs.

-Axylia-Kadence (2)

@maisewriting is penning this fantasy novel Axylia with two POVs so far. One is a priestess, while the other runs away!

As Review Day rolled in, though, all of the works above were saved—in fact, the Green Room was emptied just like in the February Review Day! First went the poetry (not that surprising, eh?); then the shorts, essays, and early novel chapters. The last works still in the Green Room were later novel chapters, but some brave reviewers dived in!

@Sheyren and Nikayla reviewed the last work nearly simultaneously: a chapter from @MissGangamash’s The Progeny , a supernatural and science fiction novel.

Some other novel chapters that were lingering too long in the Green Room were finally rescued (Note: the links are pointing to the first excerpts, not the recently critiqued chapters, for a introduction for you):

-Conics Unfortunately @Ventomology, a sci-fi that’s also a comedy (sound interesting?)

-No Destination by @EnderFlash, an action-packed, adventure story about a boy named Abel.

-Ascension by @Feltrix, a fantasy novel revolving around 4 POVs.

But for the Knights of the Green Room, the end of Review Day is just the beginning. Next is the After Watch to make sure that the Green Room has less than fifteen works! But such a pledge may be hard to maintain, for works can slip in past the Knights’ defenses into hard-to-find corners. Still, you can also devote yourself to the cause by helping the Knights or becoming one yourself.

To sum up: all of you did a really amazing job last weekend! Take a breather from your hard work—and dive back in. For the more you review, the more you’ll help your fellow writers.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by EternalRain < PM: >

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

@GirlWithATypewriter has completed 6 reviews already, which means they’ve gained their first review star!

@HarshLynx has done 3 reviews, well on their way to their first star. They like writing fantasy or realistic fiction novels.

@FizzyGirl has just joined, and has their first work up, Only words.

A MOD MOMENT: LAUREN2010written by Lumi < PM: >

Welcome to A Mod Moment, where I, your loyal investigative journalist, will sit down (over scones) with @Lauren2010 to find out the scoop on the next month's activities and schemes...straight from the mod's mouth! Without further ado, Lauren2010? Be...our...guest-- (You still lack the funds to license famous songs, no matter how much you love the candelabra who sings the song.)


Lauren2010: As it so happens, we're hoping to follow NaPo with a month dedicated to writing short stories. We're calling it Show Us Your Shorts month and while it's another month-long challenge (like NaPo or NaNo) it should hopefully be something a little more low-key that anyone can participate in.


L: Let's just say, if you love clothing-based humor, there's something for you in the 4 different rewards you can earn next month.


L: There's nothing official on the schedule, but we're definitely hoping to offer some of both next month. And of course, like with NaPo, anyone should feel free to throw together a pad for an impromptu Short Jam. Just remember, all YWS rules still apply to spaces like writerfeed pad!


L: I think it's important for everyone on YWS to remember that anyone can put together events and contests and challenges on YWS. I already see the unofficial discord putting together chat events, which is awesome! Even if you just challenge some friends to a week of reviewing or bet who can reach a new wordcount first. Plus, the mods are always open to ideas and requests from the community for anything cool we could be doing for the site.



Folks! If you're looking for some joy to fill your May, go digging in your closet for some shorts and get ready to break your writer's block because Show Us Your Shorts Month is coming YOUR WAY!

POEMS, SHORTS, AND STORYBOOKSwritten by OreosAreLife < PM: >

Poem, Shorts, and Storybooks that's what's happening!
I'm gonna let y'all in on a little secret.... There are great poems, shorts, and storybooks out there by some pretty great writers. And here you shall find just a few! So go ahead and read and after you finish you'll want to go check them out

*Note if there is no word from the author they did not respond.

Poems:
Memories of My Best Friend by GirlWithATypewriter This was a beautiful poem. he wrtier does a great job with details and with making you feel emotion. Their flow thoughtout the poem is nice and keeps you wanting more. Also when it finally end you wsh it never did, because it was that good. Go check it out and make sure to like it, review, and comment!





A quick word from @GirlWithATypewriter:
Memories of My Best Friend

Silence kills more than Curiosity by VegasLights - This poem really tells how the writer is feeling. It makes you feel such intense emotion that you can't help but feel what the writer feels. The detail the writer has put into the poem takes you though an image of what the writer is telling you, so you can't help but feel like you are there with them as they write it. This is an amazing poem. Go like, comment, and review it!





A quick word from @VegasLights:
Silence kills more than Curiosity

Shorts:
Welcome to the Show! by Ineedy0u - This was very exciting and suspenseful. It keeps you locked right to the end. You don't want to stop reading and when it ends you don't want it to. It's full of emotion and very great detail you feel as if you are the main character. Go check it out and make sure to like, review, and comment!




Here is a quick word from @Ineedy0u:
Welcome to the Show!

Irrelevant #1 by Augustus - - This is an interesting read. The way the writer writes it is unique. The detail is amazing and you can picture it in your head. It is full of different things and that is what makes it so interesting to read. The randomosity of the characters thoughts are a bit hectic, but there is more to come so it will make sense in time. Go check it out, review, and comment!




A word from @Augustus-
Irrelevant #1

Storybooks:
Gateway by Mage - This sounds like an interesting storybook. And it is interesting to see what y'all might choose



Here is a quick word from the creator @Mage:
Gateway

These are all for this week. But there is always next week! Who knows you just might get featured? Until then, keep writing and I hope to read more of your guys' work!

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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SUBSCRIBERS

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