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.

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

1. BECOME A STAFF MEMBER
2. FM INTERVIEW: MANILLA
3. APRIL MADNESS RESULTS: INTERVIEW WITH THESILVERFOX
4. THE SECRET BEHIND THE AESTHETIC
5. TWO CENTS: MATH IS OBJECTIVE
6. LET'S TALK SCIENCE: SPONANEOUS GENERATION
7. SHAMELESS PLUGS
8. SUBSCRIBERS

BECOME A STAFF MEMBERwritten by Aley < PM: >

Recently we've seen an interest in becoming staff for Squills, and unfortunately, our current editing team has been rather busy, so SquillsBot has been in the charging bay. That being said, I'd like to go over how to do an application to become a Squillian for those of you who have always wondered, but never found our elusive instructions.

To become a staff member, write an example article and send it to Squillsbot or one of the editors!

If you have sent an application [example article and statement of interest] and you haven't gotten a reply, PM another editing team member. If you want to cover all your bases, you can send it to all of us at once!

Your application will then be vetted by the current Squills staff. This process is basically a review of your work and most everyone passes. The only ways you might not pass this application process is if you're not writing an article, your article needs too much work for us to teach/help you on the job, or your application isn't something our audience would appreciate reading [I've never seen someone rejected for this].

Once we've vetted your application, you will either get the critiques given via PM, or if it was all praise and love, you'll just get the acceptance letter. The acceptance letter has instructions for the next step.

If you're waiting on an application you've sent, you can always ask one of the editing staff about the application to see what step of the process it is in. Most of the time the hold up is waiting on votes and opinions.

If you want help coming up with an article idea for your example article, talk to an editor or squillian. We would all be happy to help you talk out an idea.

-Aley

FM INTERVIEW: MANILLA
written by Kanome < PM: >

Today, we are here to talk about one of own newest members on the site. Ever since she joined, she has been actively reviewing the works in the Green Room as part of her quest to become one of the greatest Knights of the Green Room. She also has been deeply involved into one of her novels called ‘Danser’ which has a unique style portraying the work in second person. I am here today with the lovely and kind @manilla! Give her a round of applause for being the new Featured Member!



Manilla: Of course I have time for Squills



M: Thoughts: "Woah, wait what? OMG! Squealing! Excitement! It hasn't even been that long! I don't even review much anymore! Cool beans! I'm recognized!" Actions: *types a bland, boring post on my wall and thanks everyone like I should* But thanks, really. I'm hyped.



M: I don't know what made me FM other than the descriptions provided in the news article...Haha.



M:I've reviewed more in the past, but yes, that could be a possibility! I mostly only try to help clear out the Green Room as a dedicated knight.



M: I’m lowkey on a creative block at the moment, and yes, the final two installments will come out by the end of....June. There will be a polished version of all the chapters put together and released somehow on this site!



M:Review. Welcome people. Show your best side, and encourage positivity like your parents taught you to do. And don't forget, kids, don't be salty. It's blunt, but it works...That's what I think.



M: I guess that being genuine is the most important thing you want for being FM. You must be thinking this: Oh, Manilla, why didn't you put this earlier when wonderful Miss Kanome asked you? Because this applies for real life as well, kids Manilla out!

And there you have it! Manilla suggested some wonderful advice to new members that I totally agree with. Yes, do review. Reviews can help others understand strong points and weak points in their writing. Everyone here are nice and will do anything to help you, so don’t be afraid to ask. As mentioned before, she is currently and deeply involved in her novel ‘Danser’. Be sure to give it a read Here . Make sure to congratulate her once again for being this week’s Featured Member!

APRIL MADNESS RESULTS: INTERVIEW WITH THESILVERFOX

written by alliyah < PM: >

Readers will remember from NaPo this year that a competition was running along with the NaPo challenge, for poets to face off one another in a bracket tournament of poetry writing. After making it through several rounds four poets emerged to face off in the Semi-Finals. @Audy, @TheSilverFox, @LadyBird, and @Kaylaa. LadyBird and TheSilverFox emerged from that round and faced each other head-to-head with two splendid poems of their own. The competition was very close and TheSilverFox ultimately took the gold with his thoughtful poem that explores a relationship between brothers. I was able to catch TheSilverFox for a quick interview on his recent success.



TheSilverFox: I wasn't planning on joining April Madness originally. Actually, I didn't think I'd try out NaPo, given it was my senior year of high school and I wasn't confident in my poetry. I just got swept up in the excitement of it all, so I decided to write 30 poems in a new style. Since April Madness puts people in a competition where all they have to do is choose and submit their favorite poems, and is thus comparatively easy for people already involved in NaPo, I thought I may as well try my luck.



T: Haha nope, I just picked the poems that I thought were most evocative, well-written, and left the strongest impressions on me. The heavy hitters, if you will.



S: At that stage in the game, I had almost run out of ideas, so I started pulling personal experiences and thoughts from my mind. Which is to say, "hey brother" is a reflection on my relationship with my younger brother, brought about after some realizations of myself and watching him struggle with math. Also, I think that was not long after Avicii died, and I wanted to pay tribute ("Hey Brother" is one of my favorite songs). Like most of my other NaPo poems, I wrote it in a WFP in the space of about 10-15 minutes, throwing together a bunch of ideas and thoughts until it looked presentable. Seems like it turned out well. xD



S: Mostly shock - I wasn't expecting to even make it out of the semi-finals, much less win the whole contest. And, because I'd just given the valedictorian speech at my graduation, it was a nice bit of icing on the cake.



S: Go for it! Even if you don't feel confident you'll win, it's the chance to show your poetry, read some amazing poems, and meet some wonderful people. Pick the poems you most resonate it, feel free to experiment with your style and word choice, and, above all, have fun!

A: Thanks for answering those questions Silver and congratulations on your success!

So there you have it! Another April Madness competition has come to a close. You can still read all the wonderful poems that were submitted, including the winning entry "hey brother" by @TheSilverFox and the second place poem "A Story of Knights" by @LadyBird. Congratulations to all the poets who competed this year, the poems were really high quality and the competition was fierce. If readers want to read the extended results, competition poems, or offer congratulations to the winner, they can do so on the April Madness Thread .

THE SECRET BEHIND THE AESTHETICwritten by dwyn
< PM: >

As per @alliyah’s request, today I unveil the truth behind my famous aesthetic. I know many of you have been wondering: how does dwyn do it? Where are these gifs from? How does she create her banners? Why is she always so aesthetically pleasing!

First, we start at the beginning... Recently I had an urge to change my avatar. I typically have one of these urges once a week, sometimes less and sometimes more. My avatars, and overall aesthetic, is a reflection of my mood and personality. Whenever I go through a change in perspective, I alter my wall. I decided to finally start writing my mermaid series and not long after that I decided to find a new avatar. Once I got a few new avatars, I decided that a needed a background to better fit. Then I realized that none of my banners matched my avatar or background so I decided to create a banner to finish off the look. After that, there was nothing left to do. So I guess now you’re wondering, how did you do it? Now I answer that question.


I used to find my avatars on Giphy but my school laptop blocked that website. Now I use Pinterest . I search something like “mermaids gifs” or “anime aesthetic gifs” and that’s typically where I get my avatars from. I search through until I get a handful that I like. Then I go my a gif resizing website. My favorite one is resizeimage.net because you can crop your gifs as well as resize them. First I crop the gif so that it’s a square. Then I scroll down and resize the gif to 100x100 px, I download and see if it works. I go to YWS and try them as profiles if they work or I like them I move them to a folder of avatars I keep on my computer. I’ve been caught a few times changing my avatar many times in fifteen minutes, most notably by my friend @Hattable. If you ever see me doing that, it’s because I’m testing to see if my new avatars fit and work. Sometime YWS shows a frozen gif and that’s because while the gif is small enough to show, it’s not small enough to run. If you have this problem, you just need to keep reducing the size until it works.


I used to make banners for YWSers in the Art and Photography forum. I’ll make you one if you ask but today I’m going to tell you how to make your own. I use a website (it’s also an app) called Canva . I use Canva for making my book covers too and sometimes non-gif avatars. It’s a really great website and I’ve been using it for years. YWS banners are 710x100 px. There are loads of fonts, free images, and background to choose from. You can even upload your own images. Make sure you don’t go ham on the banner though because then it could be too big for YWS. I usually just put my name. If you’re looking for a specific color to make your avatar or background, I use this website ; you just upload the image of your avatar or banner and then click on the color you want. It’ll show a code, copy this and then go back to Canva. Click the button on the left side that says ‘Background’ and then click the square with the plus sign. Paste the code where it says ‘Color code #.’ I also keep all my banners in a folder so I can use them time and time again.


Last but not least, we have the background. This one is essential to fully complete your wall aesthetic. Go to Pinterest and type in what you want. I typically type ‘pixel scenes gif’ or ‘pattern.’ The reason why I chose pattern is because if it's a small image it doesn’t matter, it’ll keep repeating and it’ll look fine. No one likes a background that’s just the same small image again and again. Of course, there are exceptions but most of the time it doesn’t look nice. When you find an image you want to use, right click and copy the link address or copy the image address. Then go to YWS and paste the code in two places. The first one is in settings in your profile style page where it says ‘background image’ and the second one is all the way down at the bottom of the board preferences page which is also in your settings. I save all my background links on a sticky note on my laptop so I can switch between them whenever I want.

I hope you guys are happy with this article. I know a lot of you have been asking me about my secrets for a long time. If you have any further questions don’t be afraid to PM me!

TWO CENTS: MATH IS OBJECTIVEwritten by Aley < PM: >

I write that with a sardonic grin. Why? Well, two reasons. First, I'm writing about math on an English site, second, math isn't objective, it's subjective. There might only be one answer to most questions, but math is subjective. Why? It involves interpreatation.

As we gear up for finals, or are taking them already, I thought I'd take a little time to look at one of the subjects we're supposed to think is 'harder' because we're 'English people' and English people aren't supposed to be able to do both. First off: Bulls-crap. >> Total bologna. Yes, I pronounced that bah-log-nah when I wrote that.

Math is difficult for people to understand because they haven't begun to think about it in the subjective light yet, most of the time. They think it's this concrete, hard thing, this thing without any room for interpretation or wiggle. You have one way to do things, and that's it. Bah-Log-Nah!

Something is objective when it has no bias, no influence from other people, just the facts. No political motivation, no social motivation, no nothing, just facts. A rubik's cube is objective. It doesn't have a state of 'I'm better than you' or 'I'm bad while you solve me' or 'I'm good while you solve me' it's just solved or not solved. A rubik's cube doesn't have a good way to solve or a bad way to solve, it has one way to solve it, twist it.

Math? Thousands. Want to add 2 + 2? You can count it on your fingers, draw chips, look at objects and count those, represent it with figures on a piece of paper, memorize it, anything! There are good ways to solve math for one teacher versus another. One might want you to just give the answer, they don't care about how you got there. Another teacher might want the methodology you used to get there and not even check if the answer was right! Another still might need you to recite multiplication tables to satisfy their whim while their neighbor might just want you to add if you don't know it.

Subtraction can be done by counting up, subtracting the numbers, memorizing family groups, using integer chips, using number lines, using a calculator, and the class itself is subjective because it depends upon what the teacher wants with how you answer your homework.

I tutor math for a living right now, and the first thing I tell people who are new clients, is 'study your teacher.' You have to learn how your teacher A) presents work, B) looks at answers C) requires work to be turned in, and, most importantly D) how they do things you already know.

For instance: My current 7th grade teacher I work with teaches a cross multiply method I've never seen before but I've heard about from 8th grade teachers Hating it. Let me show you.



So what you do is you take the diagonals and multiply them for your numerators [top numbers] (Shown with blue and red), take your two denominators [bottom numbers] and multiply them across (shown with green), and then take your two results from your numerators (the red and blue numbers) and add them (shown in purple). Then you just have to mess with the reducing fractions or turning an improper fraction into a mixed number.

All in all, the method always works, but it's not how I was taught. I was taught to get the Lowest Common Denominator, multiply the fractions to get the LCD, add the numerators, keep the denominator, look for Greatest Common Factor [if I have one] to reduce my fraction, and if it's an improper fraction, take as many denominators out of the numerator as I could!

That hardly sounds like the same thing, now does it?

And yet, believe it or not, it is. My current teacher's method works because the other method works. You're still multiplying, getting a common denominator, all of it, but you're doing it more simply, and you're not worrying about an LCD.

So, why, I ask you, do teachers mark you down if you're doing the same thing in a different order? Why is one wrong, and the other right?

Because Math Class isn't about doing math so much as creating habits. When math teachers scold you for using one method versus another, it's not because that other method is wrong [unless it doesn't follow the same principles], it's because you're going to run into something in the future where your method will make things confusing, and they're trying to prepare you for that. It's subjective. They have a method they think is best for you to learn to do things, and you have to do them that way or you get marked down.

It's like the subjective social agreement that shorts on girls should always cover or come down to their knees when boys can wear their shirts off and barely get a slap on the wrist. One is okay because we've accepted that method as a society, and the other can get you slapped on the wrist because people think they know what's best for you.

But how does this help you, an English Person, learn math?

Because their idea that math has nothing to do with English is Balogna. Let's just relate a few things from English to Math.

Any time you're making connections, you're adding them. Any time you use a comma, you're adding them. (Any time you're using a comma) + (You're adding them.) Sentences are constructed just like math is constructed. You have compound math problems just like you have compound sentences.

An example of this is the complex sentence I'm writing now where I can even use a prepositional phrase or a conjunction.

(An example of this) + is (The complex sentence (I'm writing^now) + where I can(even) + use a (prepositional phrase) – or (a conjunction).

The different phrases can be broken down just like order of operations. Certain things are reliant on other things, certain things are unbreakable.

Given that, when you're looking at math, 2x^2=288, don't think about it like math, think about it like words. "Two times something times itself is two eighty eight." Yeah, maybe that doesn't help right off, but that's just a start, that's just looking at the problem. You still have a paragraph to write!

Two times something times itself is two eighty eight. So something said it was doubled, and it's twin was doubled too, to two eighty eight. Both sides are equal powers. They're both raging in balance with one another. The dark side of the force cannot outweigh the light. So if we take away the two, we have to do it to both. Taking away the two on something's side means dividing by two because they're so tight. They've got the bonds, so we have to divide on both sides. That gives us one forty four, perfect square. He's a special man, and twelve times himself. Something is twelve.

If you make characters out of these guys, you can keep yourself entertained while you learn your math, and you can come up with ways to remember what you need to do. Don't make math harder, but challenge yourself to think about it like paragraphs, think about math like a mystery novel when you have variables, and learning the skills of a detective otherwise.

We're all equipped to do math just as much as we are equipped to do English, Science, Social Studies, any of it! We all have the ability if we put in the time.

The last thing I want to say is that if something is challenging, such as math, seek help. There are programs online like prodigy which you can do for free to help you learn math better. Take advantage of them.

LET'S TALK SCIENCE: SPONANEOUS GENERATION

written by LadyBird< PM: >

The most basic thing that you will ever learn about in science class is the magical Scientific Method and while I would love to spend a few hours talking about the evolution of that, this article is instead about one of the most famous cases to utilize it.

If you have never heard the term spontaneous generation before, think about the phrase "magic meat flies", for a moment.

If Francesco Redi came to mind, you've earned the point but unfortunately there's no grand prize.

Let's start with an official definition:

The theory of spontaneous generation held that living creatures could arise from nonliving matter and that such processes were commonplace and regular.

We once have Aristotle to thank for an scientific myth that set things off the path for hundreds of years, and had a few people who angered the Church. Though this was the Scientific Revolution and anyone who made a breath towards the real sciences, was a sinner. So just take it all in context.

There were two leading examples of spontaneous generation:
- fleas from dust
- maggots from meat

Redi decided to tackle the "maggots from meat" myth and that's how I ended up with the phrase "magical meat flies", to summarize his entire experiment. Though Redi was never able to properly disprove it, he is one of the first to work on disproving it and it much more memorable than Pasteur, just based on his test subject matter.

For the experiment, he used a set-up that is often studied in Biology, occasionally in Chem, but just mainly Bio. This must be because Bio is better but you know I love you anyways @TheSilverFox

Here's the set-up of the 1st experiment:
A piece of meat, each of a different type is put into jars, and some of them are opened and some are closed. The original design has 6 jars involved, 3 uncovered and 3 covered. For these purposes we'll throw some random initials on them.
1A, 1B, 1C
2A, 2B, 2C

Group 1 has no covering on the jars but Group 2 has a fine piece of gauze, so that air can be allowed into the jar, and to see if life forms just from the combo of meat and air.

Spoiler alert: It doesn't.

Group 1 has flies land and a few days later, it has maggots appear on the different substances in the jars.
Group 2 has no flies an therefore no maggots, and Redi concludes in this first experiment that flies just don't magically appear from meat.

He goes on to do a series of experiments and does disprove it, but this is the end of the 1600s, which means he has witnessed what has happened to many other scientists. So for obvious reasons, he never really went public.
Guess he just didn't feel like death or house arrest for eternity.

Still, Redi is called both the father of experimental biology and modern parasitology.

If you have not taken Biology yet or still did and never heard of this case, I can guarantee you will be hearing about it eventually. This has been a super short summary because if it had been any longer, I would have been talking for days.

If y'all are interested in another round of science next week, like this article so editors know to keep me around.

Questions?
Comments?
Concerns?

Drop a line in my mailbox: >

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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Haiku and Tanka Contest

snowmonkey9 is hosting a Tanka and Haiku writing contest this month. The deadline for submissions is June 15th and everyone is invited to participate! There are point prizes being offered for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

For more information, follow this link Haiku and Tanka Contest

That's all folks~ Now send us yours.

SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >
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