Young Writers Society

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1. POP UP QUESTION: BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
2. ANAGRAM FUN
3. 2020 WHY NAPO?
4. WORD OF THE WEEK: CALLOW
5. LESSONS FROM LITERATURE: FINDING YOURSELF AT A CROSSROADS
6. SHAMLESS PLUGS
7. SUBSCRIBERS

POP UP QUESTION: BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
written by EternalRain < PM: >

I’ve been stewing over this idea for a while. “Pop Up Question” is actually inspired by a column in my local newspaper and I decided to adapt the idea to fit into Squills. Essentially, how it works is I randomly select a few users who all answer the same question. The point is to connect everyone a little more, share ideas, and see what others have to say. Each week, the question will be different! Members are always free to decline and not answer the question if they’ve been asked.

So, this week’s question is simple. Maybe will help with some quarantine induced boredom. And, it’s always fun to see what people have to say. This week’s question is:

What’s a book or book series you would recommend? Why?

I randomly picked @Riellehn, @silverquill12, @fraey, and @Liberty to respond!


Riellehn: The Obsidian Trilogy by James Mallory and Mercedes Lackey is definitely a good read! It's high fantasy, with an interesting magic system that works really well. The characters are great, and it's generally not too explicit in either sexual or gore content, with the worst bits being their devil race, which fuels their magic through pain (and they've gotten very good at dealing pain).
I loved the series very much, and I definitely suggest it!

silverquill12: The books I would recommend are literally anything by Ruta Sepetys. She is an incredible author and really rocks the genre of historical fiction. Some of my favorites are Out of the easy and Salt to the Sea. Her work is honestly so incredible and focuses on historical events that may not be well-known. So, go read them.

fraey: A book I would absolutely recommend is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak because I loved the characters, I loved the narration by an omniscient Death, and I think the novel really struck the tone of what the Holocaust felt in Germany from young people’s minds. Every chapter in this brings some unique aspect of a daily life, of family, of reading books and lack thereof, and I really enjoyed reading it.

Liberty: Hey Rain!

There's a few books I'd recommend:

Harry Potter (and it's other books): Do I even need to explain myself? It's all fantasy and the world is super easy to imagine. I'd probably recommend this to anyone who likes fantastical books. Like literally anyone. Harry Potter is awesome!

The House of Secrets (and it's two other books): It's full of magic! The MCs go into a completely unknown world of a very old author and they have to find their way out. It's really cool and when I got the little snippets of the three MCs (all siblings) being goofy and adorable, I cherished it because it was written pretty awesomely. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys drama and a whole lotta fantasy.

Fablehaven: I don't even know how to start off. This book, too, is full of magic. Two siblings go to their Grandpa's house and find many things they thought would be impossible. That's all I'm going to say in case I give spoilers without knowing. But it's a great book and I highly recommend to anyone who's looking to get a magical/mystery/action-packed book. PS: Someone on YWS recommended this book for me. Whoever did, thank you.

That's it!


Thanks to all the participating respondents for their fun answers! If any of their recommendations pique your interest, don’t forget to add them to your TBR list. Keep your eyes peeled for the next POP UP Question and always remember that you may have the chance to answer next week!

ANAGRAM FUN
written by fraey < PM: >

Hello all! I figured I would provide a quick, hopefully fun game to you, our amazing readers. Down below are five different anagrams to determine what the original name was. Under the series of letters, there are hints that will hopefully push you towards the right direction, in case you need assistance!

An anagram is a word in which the letters are rearranged. A popular one is Tom Marvolo Riddle as I am Lord Voldemort. See how it works? It can be fun to try to come up with your own versions of classic anagrams. But maybe that's my nerd side speaking.

Simply send in your answers as a PM to me, and I'll provide you 100 points for each correct answer. To start with, every word was originally an author's name! Challenge yourself to guess before using those hints, if you want. ^^

Anagrams:
1. Automatically So
2. Dice Skinny Limo
3. Politic Judo
4. Can Arm Ferny
5. Renegade Effigy Run

The Hints

2020 WHY NAPO?

written by alliyah < PM: >

By now you've probably heard about the exciting event that'll be taking place on YWS in April, National Poetry Month , also known as NaPo. The traditional National Poetry Month challenge is to write one poem for every day of NaPo so that you end up with 30 poems at the end of the month. But you can set your own personalized goals too, to fit with what you'd like to accomplish over the month. Some people try to work on different poetic styles, or one poetic technique, some spend the month editing one poem, and then others (@ScarlettFire!) end up writing 50 by the time the whole month is over. NaPo can really be whatever you make it.

So why should you reader, participate in National Poetry Month? I'm glad you asked, because I'm very passionate about it!

1) This is a good chance to just write.

I think, because poetry is shorter than most prose works, a lot of poets feel like they can only share their best polished work, and kind of hide all of their drafting phrases. Because of that, I think people actually get discouraged from writing imperfect pieces because all they see is everyone's best, or feel like their own work isn't the best they can do. The truth is, poetry like-prose needs editing and practice to improve. And NaPo is a great time to write without feeling self-concious that your work is in the editing-stage, everyone's in the same boat writing a poem in a limited amount of time and doing the best they can.

Two other good threads for conquering your inner-perfectionist when you're in the drafting stage are the Poem Spot [- on the spot] thread started by @Hannah, in 2013 where if you click the thread you have to write a poem. Those are the rules. It's a good way to just get a poem out quickly, or you'll be trapped in the thread for the rest of eternity.

Another thread that can help you fight the inner-perfectionist is another of my favorites called the Write the Worst Poem You Can thread. And the name says it all. You click the thread and write the very worst poem you can. This exercise is actually a great one for just playing with poetry, and half the time I actually like the poem that it produces. Even if you don't feel like writing one right now, I'd encourage you all to click the thread and get a laugh out of what other poets have written down! There are some treasures in there!

This brings us to the other reason why everyone should join NaPo

2) It's a good chance to write poetry in community.

We're all part of a big community anyways on YWS and hopefully you get a chance to interact with people in the people tab, write-ins, role-plays, and reviewing, but you have an even better chance during NaPo. National Poetry Month is wonderful because everyone's working for similar goals, so you can encourage each other and easily see everyone's progress. Also one of my very favorite parts of NaPo is commenting on everyone's thread. When someone post's their poem through the Literary-Center I try to give a good share of criticism and encouragement if I review their work, but NaPo isn't the time for full out reviews, I get to concentrate just one what I love specifically about that person's poetry, almost as if I was reading their poems in a poetry book. The mindset is much different, and I think it creates a really positive environment of everyone encouraging each other and just loving poetry.

3) Also NaPo is very flexible, you'll have fun, there's no way to fail

I don't think I need to explain this rule, but seriously, if you have some hesitations about poetry, or think "I'm not a poet," "I don't have time," "I don't know how to write poetry" or whatever other hesitations you have, this is the absolute perfect event to try poetry out, because there is very little pressure and you have the whole month to experiment and see what works. Don't know what to write? Don't make it complicated! Write an acrostic or a haiku the first day, something short and simple. Or take a look at this list of 30 prompts that I put together for the month here in NaPo Prompt Central.

If my own article didn't convince you to give NaPo, take a look at some of the fabulous interviews from last year:

Why NaPo: Fraey
Why NaPo: bluewaterlily
Why NaPo: Tuckster
Why NaPo: ShadowVyper

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


Pronunciation: cah-low

Part of Speech: adjective

Definition: (of a young person) inexperienced and immature.

Synonyms: immature, naive, inexperienced

Origin: From Latin “calvus”, which means “bald”. Led to “unfledged” and eventually “immature”.

Used in a Sentence: The young, callow wizards fidgeted with first-day nerves and stared into the eyes of their teacher, a man with a long white beard and sad, dewey eyes.

LESSONS FROM LITERATURE: FINDING YOURSELF AT A CROSSROADS
written by fraey < PM: >

There comes a time in a fictional character's life that they realize they need to choose something for themselves, for their own sake. Whether this is at a critical time in a war, or at a playground, this is the most important moment in their life now. It can seem melodramatic, or absolutely unrealistic at times, but it can happen in the regular world.

People in real life, you and me included, also arrive at a crossroads. Some must wander through dozens, while others might only need to worry about a couple. But there will always be a choice that has to be made. In a normal person's chronicles, choosing high school electives and where, or if, to go to college rank at the top of a list containing important decisions.

I know I'm standing at one right now, and it has been here in the distance for a few years. Longer than I would like to admit. And since this isn't a therapist's couch I'm sitting at, I won't go over what I have to choose between, but I will say this: Reading sad books and listening to depressing music makes you feel worse, not better. At least in my case.

Something that I find hard connecting with now from reading books is if these characters really know the stakes, if they really know what consequences will befall them if things go wrong, which they normally do. And I think what gets me the most is all I can see most of every day is how bad my life can get, how bad everyone's lives can get. This is a me problem though, which I attest to fully, but can't seem to hide away from when circumstances get a little more dicey.

To rein in this ramble of a discussion, I want to draw attention to this "crossroads." I'm speaking quite philosophically, so this will get wordy, but I would like to give some kind of advice. This spot in your life might come in five years and surprise you entirely, so there's nothing wrong with getting prepared, but there's also nothing wrong with leaving hour mind open to whatever might fall in your path.

So, good luck to all of you, stay healthy, and take care of yourself.

I'm trying to follow that advice myself. c:

-fraey

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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If you'd like to be paired up with a Buddy for National Poetry Month this April you can sign up in the NaPo Buddies Thread by April 1st!

PM alliyah for questions.





Do you want to participate in a universe with other YWSers? Would you like to create a diverse universe and mold it as you write? Do you want to write a deep story in an interconnected universe? Do you like writing with others, or just worldbuild for stories? Young Writers Universe is always open and inviting!

• Not sure where to start?
  
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• Want in on the community?
  
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• Wanna just read along?
  
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That's all folks~ Now send us yours.

SUBSCRIBERS

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