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Squills 1/12/19 - 1/27/19



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Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:15 am
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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!

CREATIVE STAFF

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Editor-in-Chief
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General Editors
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Literary Reporter
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Community Reporter
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alliyah

Resources Reporter
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Storybooks Status Reporter
Available - PM Squillsbot if interested

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Social Correspondent
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Ghost Reporter
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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!





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:16 am
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POETIC MADNESS
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written by TheWeirdoFromBeyond< PM: >

Prompt 4
A new beginning


This column is finally back *apoligies*. We are already two weeks into 2019, and I hope this year is amazing so far. We all probably hoped we left behind somehting or the other in the previous year. Afterall, 2019 will be better, right? Though we cannot find an answer to that question yet, we can talk about our hopes for the year. What do you hope to achieve in this new year? Write a poem, which can be of any style and a rhyme scheme is not necessary, completely up to you. The last day for submission is Saturday, whatever time zone you are in, PM me your entries or post them through the publishing center/your wall and tag me.

Featured Poems
Prompt 3
A special memory


By @alliyah


[img]ERROR[/img]


Make sure to let the poet know what you think about their poem.

And see you in a few.





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:17 am
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NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS
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written by fishsashimi < PM: >

Ahh, the notorious new year’s resolution. We all try to make them, but most of the time, we end up failing the next day. We should all try to improve ourselves, and some of these YWSers, according to the forum post , started by @Magestorrow, YWS has some pretty big plans for the new year!

@RaidenCheese is looking to complete their webtoon, “Trippin’ on Success”! You can check it out here.

@LadyBird is hoping they can successfully complete the Navy’s Pre-Entry Physical Training Plan.

@manilla is attempting to learn new languages using Duolingo. They hope they complete a course in either Norwegian, Chinese, or French.

@zaminami is making a Gravity Falls AU and is hoping that they can find some voice actors and even animate it!

No matter what your New Year’s resolutions might be, try to keep a positive mindset and set realistic goal for yourself. Even something as simple as limiting your sugar intake every day or simply trying new things can lead to a healthier mind and body, rather than being let down by outrageously unrealistic goals that can prevent us from getting where we want. I wish everyone good luck with their resolutions, and a very happy 2019!





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:18 am
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SOME SUPER SERIOUS BUSINESS
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Written by LadyBird < PM: >

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Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:18 am
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POETRY PERSPECTIVE - MEANING LAYERED
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written by alliyah < PM: >

Hi poets and Squills readers! This article is part of a series on Poetry and Poetic Meaning that I've been doing. To give a quick re-cap, in the last two issues ( Part 1 and Part 2 ) I made the claim that good poetry needs to portray meaning that the reader can understand, and that that meaning can be communicated in the form of narrative, character development, emotion, moral teaching, or a critique of reality. So basically poetry needs to mean something and there are many ways to do go about doing that. Which brings us up to speed for this issue's subject; layering meaning.

Layered Meaning
Not only should poems have meaning, but a good poem should be able to be read on multiple levels, because of layered meaning. Here's what I mean, just because a poem needs to portray meaning, doesn't mean that the real meaning needs to be evident on a first read, or by anyone whether or not they get the metaphors or historical references. But if the deeper meaning is complicated - there should be a surface meaning that any person could get.

Layered Meaning - Case Study
For instance, think about the poem "Walking through the Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. Here's a great example of a poem that can be read on multiple levels. Looking to the examples of meaning covered in Part 2 of this series, the poem fits under a few categories.

1. Narrative -
When I was a little kid, we had an illustrated version of this poem, my mom would read it around Christmas, and to be honest it didn't at first even occur to me that the piece was a poem. I just thought it was a nice story about Santa Clause. Narrative is one of the easiest ways to communicate meaning because people are used to telling and hearing stories in daily life, we look to pick up narrative threads and can lace them together. From a flat narrative perspective, without any dissections of poetic symbolism or character development, this poem is about a man walking through the woods with his horse on a cold evening, trying to get home.

2. Emotion -
If a person just wanted to interpret meaning from an emotional level too without the narrative, they might easily pick up on different emotions that are being expressed in the poem. Some might find the poem communicating a contrast between internal reflection and the pull of external commitments, sadness, devotion, peace. There's a lot a reader could pick up from, and more importantly support their analysis through lines within the poem.

3. Character Development / Analysis -
And lastly, if you've ever read this poem in a English course you may have been presented with interpretation that this poem is "really" about the speaker grappling with entering into death - or struggling to continue back into life and responsibility. This interpretation uses the woods and winter as a symbol of death and outside of the woods as a symbol for life. This type of reading takes extra analysis, and might build off of those first two layers of reading.

Layered Meaning Applied
An important note here is that just because one of these layers of meaning is valid, does not invalidate the other meanings, whether one is more simple or one more complicated. I would submit that a good poem has levels of meaning that can speak immediately upon a first reading to a reader no matter how educated they are in poetic interpretation. A really well written poem though, will have added layers of meaning that might be accessible at different levels or to people with specific knowledge or experiences, this is what gives a poem a re-readability quality, and I think is part of what makes it good poetry.

How to Write with Layered Meaning
You might be asking yourself, okay, if layered meaning is so important to poetry, how do I do it? You won't need to write in code or implant crazy conspiracies within your writing. In fact, the first, and most straight-forward way to start adding layers of meaning to your poems is inserting more metaphors and symbolism - so that your poem has meaning at a literal and figurative level.

The second skill you can do is pay attention to narrative and environmental elements in your poems. If you normally concentrate on "just telling the story" (narrative) maybe try to insert some imagery elements, or watch what tone the scenery of your poem is setting. If you normally pay more attention to "setting the mood" (environmental) of your poems, maybe do some reflecting on how you're portraying the speaker or characters of your poem, and think about the narrative elements as well. This also helps to give your poem more layers of meaning.

Ultimately, giving your poem layers of meaning is also going to help it appeal to more people, because poetry is so diverse, its readership is also diverse! And in order for your poem to be receptive and communicate meaning to readers effectively and intriguingly - consider using this idea of layered poetry.

And that concludes my Poetry Perspective series on Poetic Meaning! Let me know what you've thought of this series, do you agree or disagree about the necessity of communicating meaning in poems? Also if you have ideas or suggestions of poetry subjects you'd like me to explore in future Squills issues, I'd love to hear what you're grappling with, and we can explore it together. You can reach me by PM or over at my Author's Page .





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:19 am
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HEY! CHECK THIS OUT
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written by TheWeirdoFromBeyond< PM: >


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Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:19 am
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POP CULTURE CORNER: STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES
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Written by LadyBird < PM: >

Even if you're not well acquainted with Star Trek TOS, it's likely that most people are aware of the original gang. Or at the very least, most people will be able to recognize the angsty Kirk and the 60s flower child Spock.

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Just a brief description from the Internet because they can do it much quicker than I can.
The iconic series "Star Trek" follows the crew of the starship USS Enterprise as it completes its missions in space in the 23rd century. Captain James T. Kirk -- along with half- human/half-Vulcan science officer Spock, ship Dr. "Bones" McCoy, Ensign Pavel Chekov, communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura, helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu and chief engineer Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott -- confront strange alien races, friendly and hostile alike, as they explore unknown worlds.


So the question that everyone is probably not asking:
"Lizz, what's the point of this article?"

Well I'd love to say that I created this article just to be able to discuss Spirk and other Star Trek ships, but I decided to change up my pop culture articles for this year. While I do normally do articles that encourag people to explore music, I'm turning my sights to television and movies.

I feel that this is a series that everyone should try and make their way through. Even if you're a die hard Star Wars fan or think that generally all sci-fi pop culture should go and die in a hole, it's still going to be a series that I recommend to everyone.

And now if anyone is still alive to ask: wHy?
Let me tell you.

If you like comedy:

Episodes like the Trouble with Tribbles are a prime example of the comedic aspect of Star Trek. Or really just any time Jim tries to explain human culture to Spock, the Vulcan who wants absolutely nothing to do with "all of that". The aliens involved in the plot lines are often very serious in their mission but the human audience can find some comedy in their design.

Anyone remember the fairy unicorn dog from the transporter malfunction?

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If you like science fiction:

TOS came up with some very interesting monsters to fight and life forms to find. You can often tell how much money was in the budget that week by the plot point chosen. Or so I like to joke around with people.

Even with how stupid the plot lines might have sometime seemed, there was a fair amount of serious sci-fi work and politics involved. It was the 1960s and this show did try and match up to everything that was occurring. Yes, it's the Cold War but Chekov is in Star Fleet in this futuristic version of the world.

And also again.
Just the aliens they decided on.
Who can forget purse size Godzilla?

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If you like romance:

Though the romance rarely differs in TOS (aka Kirk gets the girl), there's other more complex plotlines to grab the romantics heart. Some may remember the unrequited love scenario for the unfortunate Nurse Chapel, searching after Spock's unused heart. (or the heart totally only being used by Kirk)
Or perhaps in Amok Time when Spock's "wife" makes him fight to the death for her love, which she had already given away to someone else.
Also remember the City on the Edge of Forever, where McCoy and Kirk fall for the same girl while trying to fix an issue in history (that McCoy totally caused but...)

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and finally...
If you like drama:
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Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:20 am
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SHAMELESS PLUGS
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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!

And now for this week's Shameless Plugs!



Review Rampage

Do you like competitions? Do you like easy ways to make extra points? Then read on!

The #ReviewRampage is a competition hosted by @ShadowVyper and @Kirkiln that is a Go-At-Your-Own-Pace review challenge. You set your own review goals and wagers, then race against time to see if you can get done in time. Or, for the more competitive spirits out there, you can also duel against your fellow Rampagers.

Go check out the Q&A Forum for more information and then head on over to the Entry Forum to claim your place as a Rampager.

Get your Rampage on!


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fishsashimi welcomes you to the YWS Hunger Games Simulator! Have some fun and win some prizes! PM @fishsashimi with any questions you may have.


That's all folks~ Now send us yours.





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:21 am
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SUBSCRIBERS
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written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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“A good book isn't written, it's rewritten.”
— Phyllis A. Whitney, Guide to Fiction Writing