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!

See an empty position you'd like to fill? Find position descriptions and instructions to apply here

1. FM INTERVIEW
2. SOCIETY PAGES
3. GENRES GALORE
4. WORD OF THE WEEK
5. SHAMELESS PLUGS
6. SUBSCRIBERS

FM INTERVIEW: BETHECHANGEwritten by Nikayla < PM: >

We're here with an interview this week with our last Featured Member, no other than @BeTheChange! I'm quite glad I've been able to grab an interview with her since she's a wonderful person to talk to. Here's how it went!



BeTheChange: Definitely not. It was a pleasant surprise!



B: I had been doing a lot of comprehensive reviews before I got the announcement.



B: Review as much as you can, and don't start drama.



B: Camel. Llamas only live in certain environments; camels are hardier.

That's all we've heard from BeTheChange this week! We got some awesome advice and an explanation why camels are better than llamas, so let's shout some praise for our Featured Member!

SOCIETY PAGESwritten by EternalRain < PM: >

Welcome back to another week of society pages! If you haven’t been around for a while: here’s what’s going on in YWSers lives!

@Carlito has been having trouble waiting for July for her annual Harry Potter reading. June 30’s close enough, right?

@Frinderman got three new absolutely adorable kittens - their names are Lillybelle, Charlotte, and Luna.

#characterlove is a hashtag that’s popped up. The point is to describe why you love your characters. @Kelpies loves their character Jane Augustine because she kicks-butt and @PrincessInk likes her character Autumn not only for his charisma but his patience.

@niteowl got a job offer today, which is fabulous! Hopefully everything goes well and it’ll be a full time job.

According to @Wolfical’s Google translate search, ‘pickle’ in Latin is ALEX. Interesting translation, Google.

@ChieRynn is hoping to ride her trainers horse, a gray thoroughbred named Silver.

Close to the end of the week, @Holysocks created a new hashtag called #NOSTALGIA , meant for sharing memories.

@FalconryGirl9086 just watched Moana and loved it, and meanwhile @Sassafras can’t get the song “You’re Welcome” from the same movie out of their head.

The third hashtag that’s come up this week is #fivethingstoloveabout [insert YWSer]. It’s a great way to show your love, appreciation, and admiration towards your friends on YWS! So if this is your type of hashtag, get posting!

In other news, @Mage got a new idea for a storybook from watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood , and @Marth got the keys to their new house, @soundofmind drew a reference for one of her character’s scars, and @screamingsloth is in a very poetic mood and is writing poems on their new phone.

It’s summer and many people have been doing exciting things - so keep us posted! And if you’re a fellow American and are celebrating the 4th, share your day!

GENRES GALORE: FANTASY WORLDBUILDING

written by Princess Ink < PM: >

So hello everybody! Last time I talked about some pitfalls of fantasy. This time, I want to zoom in and talk about an important element of fantasy: worldbuilding.

Fantasy usually has at least one of the three elements (e.g. The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer Nielsen has no magic elements of creatures, but contains a different world):

-Magic
-Magic creatures
-A different world

One of the joys of reading fantasy set away from Earth is to experience a new world. Yet before the reader can be fully absorbed, we, the writers, must lure them as close as possible to believing that such a world exists.

Suspension of disbelief is key to keeping them in. They read about new places, new people, new geographical landmarks. Just an inconsistency or unrealistic detail can seriously weaken it. For example, if you’re writing a fantasy with no electricity, mentioning a TV is probably not a good idea.

But taking time to create—and introduce—the world well is worth it. I’m sure you can feel a sense of satisfaction when you look down at the realm you crafted by yourself. You don’t have to get every detail down, either! Remember to focus mostly on the execution of your story, not every aspect of your world.

For stories set in a fantasy world, here are some questions you can use as jumping-points for worldbuilding:

-What is the geographical layout of the land? Any landmarks? How big? How important? What is the weather like for individual parts of the land?

-What kind of government(s) controls the lands? You can consider types of governments such as monarchies and republics. Who are the leaders? What are the politicians’ (or nobility) relationship with their people and foreign relations?

-What is the current state (like peace and economy) of the lands? Is there any natural disaster that recently struck? What is the basic history of the lands? Any important events that shaped the present-day world?

-What peoples are there? Different social classes? Different kingdoms, places? How do they fit into society? What kinds of jobs?

-What kind of buildings? How are they built? What technologies are there? Any unique inventions? How does it affect this world?

-Do the peoples have any religion they worship? Gods? Some beliefs? Do they have special temples or festivals for them? Are there any special myths? Any kind of superstitions?

-What kinds of food do they eat? What types of recreation do they enjoy? How do they socially interact with each other? Are there any customs unique to a group of people?

Basic notes to keep details straight are really helpful. You can go even more meticulous with maps and charts and drawings—but I wouldn’t recommend that if it ends up as a distraction from writing. There is such a term called World Builder’s Disease, which happens when you get too absorbed in creating your world that you don’t actually start your story.

The only cure of World Builder’s Disease is to write, write, and write more! So keep writing like you've been doing!

THE WORD OF THE WEEK: DISENTRHALLwritten by megsug < PM: >
Pronunciation: dis-en-thrawl

Part of Language: Verb

Definition: to set free from bondage; to liberate

Used in a Sentence: It was not an easy task to disenthrall someone from the grasp of the drug made from chuckleweed.

Origin: Created in 1635-45

Related words: disenthrallment (n)

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

We love to run articles and questions, but we also love to advertise for you. Let people know about your new blog, a poem or story you’re looking for reviews on, or a forum thread you’d like more traffic on through Squills’ Shameless Plugs. PM @SquillsBot with the exact formatting of your advertisement, contained in the following code.

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Place advertisement here. Make sure you include a title!

A callout to role-players of all genres and styles! The Role-play Geeks has a shiny new Discord, for all YWSers that want a piece of it! With more than a dozen RP rooms and an accessible backlog, you can do it in a real-time chat and be able to return to your role-plays later on - not to mention the dice-rolling which is made possible by Discord's RPBot.

Hope to see you around

FalconryGirl9086

That's all folks~ Now send us yours.

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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