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 apply to become a Squillian Journalist by submitting a sample article to Squillsbot today!

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

1. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: AMADEUSW
2. STORYBOOK COVERAGE
3. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: HIRAETH
4. NEW ARRIVALS
5. SOCIETY PAGES
6. SEARCH FOR ANSWERS: #CLASSIFIED
7. SOME SUPER SERIOUS BUSINESS
8. VOICES FROM: #CLASSIFIED
9. KOTGR UPDATE: BADGES FROM THE NEW YEAR
10. WHY YOU SHOULD WRITE FANFICTION
11. TWO CENTS: FANFICTION
12. WORD OF THE WEEK: ARCANE
13. GREEN ROOM GALLERY
14. SHAMELESS PLUGS
15. SUBSCRIBERS

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: AMADEUSW

written by alliyah < PM: >

@AmadeusW was featured member for late December early January, and at the Squills office we've just gotten ahold of them for an interview. So here we are!



AmadeusW: At first I was like "What's a Featured Member?" Then when I found out I was like, "Oh that's cool!"



A: I probably just reviewed a lot and posted a lot. I don't do so much of that anymore, though.



A: I really enjoy the Storybooks. That is a very fun idea and I like brainstorming ideas for other people's creative sparks.



A: I look forward to moving forward with editing and publishing my very first novel, "The Silver Cross."



A: Shout out to @Terian805! Shout out to @Magestorrow as well - She seems like a really nice person. Also shout out to @hiraeth please. She's an amazing person.

Excellent! Thanks for your answers Amadeus, it was great hearing from you.

For you readers, Amadeus is also the host of a storybook that is being released soon - if you want to check it out, here's the link , and be sure to check out some of there writing too.

STORYBOOK COVERAGEwritten by concord < PM: >

Hello, readers to another addition of Storybook Coverage! I wanted to go over some 16+ SBs and a few others that sound interesting!

To start this off, here is a list of stories meant for the slightly older crowd of YWS:

-World of Remnant by @Kirkiln
This is actually an extended universe of a previous SB called Shattered Moons linked here! Not to worry, however, after completing a character profile, anyone may join with an inkling for a journey through a dangerous world.

-Seven Deadly Sins: The Storybook by @Magestorrow
This SB is based on the anime of the same name or Nanatsu No Taizai in Japanese. Follow this story with the embodiments of "sins" infighting between their past of bloodshed and mistakes, or saving a kingdom and country they once called their own.

-Classified: Document 37 by @Sheyren
This SB has made its rounds across YWS, and may or may not be linked to the mysterious #classified tag. Click on the link above to learn more about a futuristic, science-fiction world in which people with unique powers search for a place to call their home and to fight against a dangerous enemy.

A few other Storybooks that are still looking for more writers but are for all ages include:

-WWE: Wraithaxe Wizard Entertainment by @Chaser
This sounds like a hilarious SB complete with a classic slogan, pitting all types of magic users that one could think of to fight against each other. All of this is in the name of good for the people to have a good way of letting go of built-up magic. Come join in this fighting group of wizards - if you feel you've got what it takes.

-The Journey to Elmyr by @Basil
This SB is all about a kingdom hoping to find peace in a wedding proposal between their beloved princess and that of the rival's royal family. Come any type of person, criminal or not, from the elven people, from the fae, from a mixed breed family - the princess needs people to escort her to her new destination. Are you up to the challenge of bringing her there?

Once again, there are plenty more SBs out there that may catch your eye! Please check out the tab to find more lovely creations!

Until next time, readers!

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: HIRAETH

written by alliyah < PM: >

Our most recent featured member is one of Young Writers Society's newest members, @hiraeth. They made a strong showing at Review Day and have since been a strong reviewing presence on the the site. They've also got a great photography section over in the forums. Squills was able to catch them for an interview this week, to chat about their YWS experience as featured member.



h: Well, I visited the site anonymously for a few days at first; so obviously I liked YWS, or I wouldn't have registered. I wasn't disappointed when I joined; people here are really friendly, and very helpful. It's a great way for me to share (improve) my writing and connect with writers and readers across the world.



h: So, I'd just returned home from giving an eighty-marks science exam; which hadn't really been my greatest paper. You can imagine, then, that this came as a very pleasant surprise (actually, I kinda screamed 'no way in hell,' in a very unladylike manner; which made my twin look at me like I was loco. According to my sis, I was 'blushing like I do when I see Tom Holland without a shirt in "Spiderman: Homecoming".



h: Um, I think it's mainly because of participation? Like, I guess my performance on review day had been good, so maybe that's why.



h: Well, not really. I guess I review only those works which....get me interested? Or, like, those works that I can relate to. It's easier for me to write about something if I'm familiar with it. I try not to review works that use vocabulary slightly above my level; otherwise my reviews just turn out to be more confusing than helpful. As for method; it's mostly random: I start with what I like, what I don't like (rare), and then point out the errors or grammatical mistakes.



h: I'm fairly new to the site, so I'm not really very chummy with anyone, though I'd like to say hi to @MariaDaCat (she's new, and she gave a huge load of praises on some of my poems), to @Zoom, whose chapters give me something to read when I'm bored at night and works to review, and finally to @DSnayini, who joined this site without a second thought just because I asked her to.

Wonderful! Well that's all the questions I had for the day. If you'd like to stop by hiraeth's wall to wish them congratulations, you still can, and you can also check out their photography in the forums.

NEW ARRIVALS
written by ShadowVyper < PM: >

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

@Etteim has jumped into the spirit of YWS by getting started right away on reviewing and has already earned their first star! They write lovely short stories, two of which they've already posted! Go check out Sleep and Hands now!

@PassionatePoet01 went straight for the fun and is making full use of the Writing Activities forum, participating in threads such as One Word Poems and The Name Game . Why not give it a try yourself?

And then there is @TheEgg who so far has been a vocal proponent of the #LongLiveBigBrother movement and an active member of the Unclassified club, beating @Classified (who seems to be ready to stir up a #classified conspiracy of their own) to the site by a mere two hours.

SOCIETY PAGESwritten by neptune< PM: >

Let’s get into this week’s gossip!

@Coffeeism created a club for recommending music of all genres. Whether you like k-pop, rock, country, or jazz, you can recommend and look for suggestions. Click here to check it out

@rosette bought a car the other day, @SirenCymbaline is getting a kitten, and @fishsashimi is trying to break the YWS record for number of likes on a wall post with the world record egg!

With it having been Review Day this weekend, the site was filled with reviewing spirit. @BlueAfrica got her thousandth KotGR review and a new star, and @alliyah and @Magestorrow got new stars too!

There was some talk about movies, too. @Hattable just watched Solo and @zaminami just watched Edward Scissorhands!

As far as tags go, we’ve got #FebruaryGoals . This tag is for planning your goals in the coming month of February — if you have goals, share them with the tag!

And finally, of course, we have the #classified tag. What might the motive of this mysterious movement be? Will we ever know?

That’s all the juicy gossip for this week, but stay tuned for the next Society Pages!

SEARCH FOR ANSWERS: #CLASSIFIED

written by alliyah < PM: >

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How it Started
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Odd Connections

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*"BlueAfrica" changed her ██████████████ avatar ██████████████,██████████████ Blues Clues.


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Search for Answers

CLASSIFIED ██████████████ ██████████████ ██████████████ ██████████████

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What is #Classified ? ██████████████
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████████████████████████████ that's all the information ██████████████ ██████████████ ██████████████ ██████████████

SOME SUPER SERIOUS BUSINESS

Written by LadyBird < PM: >

VOICES FROM: #CLASSIFIED

written by alliyah < PM: >

The Squills newsroom reached out to a few of those in the Classified Movement who have been calling themselves the #ClassifiedCrew to see if they had any comments that could shed light on our questions. @BlueAfrica, @AlexOfLight, @MJTucker, and @Sheyren were all chosen based on having shared the "classified hashtag". I asked one question, and one question only. Some of those interviewed were cooperative, some were hesitant to share. Read their words and decide for yourself.



BlueAfrica -




AlexofLight -



MJTucker -



And probably are most unexpected answer comes from Sheyren, one of the early posters of "#classified"

Sheyren -
There's only so much I can say without putting myself and my loved ones at risk. As you can see from backlogging the hashtag, my post predates any other #classified post, but only because @Coffeeism made the connection in the replies. As a result of her connecting the dots, I've been cut loose from the project, and I don't know much.

That being said, I know the original purpose. And while I can't outright say what it is, I can tell you that it worked. Dozens of unconnected individuals became, well, indoctrinated, if you will, repetitively posting the hashtag. They got what they want.

Look back at the first person to actually post #classified. Red username? Kinda weird then, that the tag that spawned to "combat" #classified is #longlivebigbrother. I've not been directly informed, as I'm cut loose, but I don't truly think #longlivebigbrother is meant to combat #classified. I think it's an extension of the highly secretive Project Classified, something I'm not even allowed to say out loud.

#stayvigilant

I will leave the interpretation of these words to you the reader. If you are part of either movement and would like to weigh in, you can PM me, send a note to my Squills Author Page , or you can speak your mind in the Unclassified Club . You can count on the Squills news staff to continue to get you the latest answers as the plot unfolds.

KOTGR UPDATE: BADGES FROM THE NEW YEAR

Written by LadyBird < PM: >

As the raccoon is darting through the halls with new instructions for our next round of Squires, here's a quick rundown of everyone who claimed badges during the month of January, during the year 2019.

The Commander - @KotGRCommander
Our dear Commander has lost his horse. Perhaps it was even stolen. If you see a horse wearing a blanket and a coconut bra, please report it to Lieutenant Commander Lizz (@LadyBird) or Lieutenant Commander @alliyah.

Knight Concord (@fraey)
Knight Omni (@Kirkiln)
Knight Rain (@EternalRain)
All of these fine knights have battled enough monsters and beasts to design their own Coat of Arms, a crest they shall now bare on every quest and fortune.

Knight @Shikora
This knight has earned the following:
Helmet
Shield
Horse
Full Suit of Armor
Jousting Lance

Knight Vyper (@ShadowVyper)
This knight has been on a bit of rampage, earning a chest of silver and chest of gold.

Knight Promotions
Squire Eagle has advanced to the rank of Knight Eagle (@eaglefly)
They have also earned a Sword to better slay with.

Squire Introductions
Two civilians, @cloudkid and @Oxara, have joined us as Squire Cloudkid and Squire Oxara. At the last moment, @paperforest flew in and has become Squire Paperforest, with their knightly name to be claimed in 10 reviews time.

Staff Positions of the Court
@ladybird - Captain of the Guard
@alliyah - Court Magician
@Kale - Chief Scribe
@blueafrica - Chief Battle Advisor

WHY YOU SHOULD WRITE FANFICTION
written by Cloudkid < PM: >

Whether you're an avid reader of it or avoid it like the plague, fanfiction is an essential part of any fandom. It's looked down upon, mostly because it's considered "not real work", but thousands of writers like myself have found vast improvement in their writing through the fanfiction they write.

Writing fanfiction has several great benefits. First of all, if you're having writer's block with your WIP, it allows you to step outside of your project and perhaps get the creative juices flowing. Allowing your brain to divert its focus onto something new unlocks new potential and may even help you see your project in a new light.

Not to mention, writing fanfiction is challenging! You're working with set characters in a set universe, and you have to learn how to bend your style of writing around that. It helps you with being able to write consistent characters, and can often times force you to write outside of your comfort zone. It helps you explore and push your limitations, as well as opening your mind to new possibilities of where to take your writing and your own characters.

And practice makes perfect. Writing fanfiction and allowing it to be "trashy" gives you the freedom to make mistakes, and the more you do it, the better you get at it. By using fanfiction to practice, you lose all of the pressure that gets put on you when working on an original project.

Finally, it's fun. You get to take some of your favorite media and make it your own, whether that be through introducing original characters or placing the media characters in an alternate universe. It's freeing to see what you can create with a base, and it'll even give you ideas for your own stories. Not only that, but others in your fandom will get immense enjoyment from reading your work.

For instance, I'm a bit known around YWS for writing Sherlock fanfiction. And no matter what alternative universe I like to stick the Sherlock characters in, they're expected to be the same characters they are in the BBC adaptation - whether that be a cold, snarky Sherlock Holmes or a strong, hot-headed John Watson. When I first began writing this fanfiction, it was to distract myself from a block I was having with my WIP. I began writing Sherlock fanfiction because I wasn't confident in my writing skills anymore - I wanted to give myself the freedom to write badly, and I knew that if I wrote bad fanfiction, it wouldn't matter. Through that, however, I began to play around with my writing and really build up my own style, which allowed me to take what I learned through writing fanfiction and apply it to my own stories.

So, although fanfiction isn't often considered 'true work', I ask you to broaden your mind against the stigma a bit. There's nothing wrong with writing or enjoying fanfiction - in fact, it's where many writers start. I urge you to try it out if you haven't, especially the next time you're at a crossroads with your WIP. You might just be surprised where it takes you.

TWO CENTS: FANFICTIONwritten by Aley < PM: >

First of all, if you haven't checked out @Cloudkid's article, Why You Should Write Fanfiction , before you read this one, go back and check it out. I saw his article in our final news publications for posting and I wanted to add my own two cents to it.

Fanfiction is something that's near and dear to my heart. When I first started writing, it was Inuyasha fanfiction. I know, I'm old. Inuyasha was still young at the time. Sesshomaru was by far my favorite. I wrote fanfiction for Quizzilla and published it as quizzes where you read the paragraph, then clicked a senseless answer, and read the next paragraph of the fanfiction.

Because of that style, my parents believed I didn't know how to write in paragraphs until I was in college getting a degree in English. The thing is, without fanfiction, I would never have gotten into writing. You see, I've been writing stories since I was in 7th grade because of fanfiction. I've only written 1 complete book which isn't fanfiction, but I've written well over 100 page novels and finished 6-9 fanfiction arcs.

Fanfiction keeps me writing prose despite loving poetry, and it also gives me a way to hone my craft of writing. I can jump into writing a Yu Yu Hakusho fanfiction with hardly any consideration of plot to develop my internal dialogue and showing not telling. That's incredibly useful to me as a writer who has a hard time getting through a plot.

I get caught up on character and world development rather than writing, so being able to already have that done for me allows me to focus on just the craft of writing.

Also, fanfiction is becoming more popular and esteemed. Take the abridged shows on Youtube. Dragon Ball Z abridged is, in essence, a fanfiction of DBZ. They took the plot of DBZ and rewrote it. There is a type of fanfiction which does that called Alternative Universes, AUs. You can take someone like Yusuke Urameshi and make him a Mafia boss rather than a Spirit Detective, and that's an AU. They did a less-extreme version of that!

Moreover, there are some great podcasts all about reading fanfiction, usually fanfiction which is poorly written with alcohol, but sometimes it's about reading the works of authors in a dramatic and exaggerated fashion.

Either way, fanfiction is an incredible source of material to jump-start new characters, develop writing techniques, and gain readership. It's not just a steppingstone for people to learn to write fiction either, it is a place for fans to revel in their favorite characters' stories, adopt new community cannon material, and develop a united love sometimes deeper than what they could ever achieve with just the source material.

So go find your fandom, and enjoy.

WORD OF THE WEEK: ARCANE
written by EternalRain < PM: >

Pronunciation: ar-cane

Part of Speech: adjective

Definition: understood by few; mysterious or secret.

Synonyms: secret, mysterious, hidden, concealed

Origin: From mid 16th century, from Latin word arcanus, arcere meaning ‘to shut up’ and arca ‘chest’

Used in a Sentence: The arcane #classified movement on YWS is infuriating to those who don’t know what’s going on.

GREEN ROOM GALLERY
written by ShadowVyper < PM: >

As of January 26th there are 82 pieces in the Green Room that need rescuing, 19 of which don't even have a single review! 6 of those works have been sitting there since November 2018, and plenty more have been there since as early as December! Did you know that works over a month old gives you an additional 25 points, on top of the extra 25 that you already get for reviewing a Green Room Piece? Hopefully this weekend's Review Day will be able to cut that number down, but there's tons that you yourself can do to help out. Head on over to the Green Room to get a taste of pieces like these...

Hell or High Water Chapter 22.2 by @mellifera
is a truly lovely action/adventure novel about a princess who has a run-in with pirates while she's trying to find her father. You can find the Prologue over here, though Mel does a great job of summarizing the plot at the beginning of each chapter so you can jump right in at any point!

Mujhse Bada Ek Paap Hua Girl and Zindagi Mil Gayi by @nishthabawa2896
are both excellent dramatic poems that you should definitely check out if you just so happen to be one of the awesome bilingual YWSers who happens to know Hindi!

~ The Art of Assasination ~ by @MykelLinden
is an awesome fantasy/historical fiction cross over in a short story format that would be a fun read for anyone!

The Risen Chapter 15 by @elysian
is an action/adventure novel that I have personally had the good fortune to be following. It is about a team of teenage demon hunters that have to pool their strengths together for the greater good. You can also check out Chapter One here!

A Flower at the Foot of the Cross by @DoubleRiders
is a spiritual poem written as a Petrarchan sonnet. Go take a look!

Down Chapter 1 by @RemerMiguele
is a great example of a dramatic chapter written from the perspective of an individual with Down's Syndrome. Definitely an excellent piece!

Mission Earthling, Arrival (Part One) by @Horisun
is an interesting mash up of science fiction and romance that is sure to thrill your reviewing fancy!

In Which My 3 Fave Avengers Go Shopping: A Script by @lelu
is a short, bite-sized little script in the humorous fan-fiction genre that would love to be the subject of your next review!

Tic-Talk: A discussion on the stigma and stereotypes behind Tourettes Syndrome by @GodHatesShane
is a thoughtful essay that, predictably, talks about the struggles that Tourettes suffers face on a daily basis. I've personally reviewed this essay and can attest to what an engaging read it is!

To You With Hate by @Katnes
is a dramatic, lyrical piece that uses lovely imagery to convey strong emotions.

There you have it, just a brief smattering of all the lovely pieces that there are to choose from currently! From poetry to lyrics to essays to short stories and novels, there's a work to fit every niche! Go help out all these awesome authors and earn yourself some points in the process! It's win-win!