Young Writers Society

Welcome to Squills, the official news bulletin of the Young Writers Society!
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1. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW - WATERSPROUT
2. YWS'S FAVORITE FALL READS
3. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW - BURANKO
4. SOME SUPER SERIOUS BUSINESS
5. REVMO 2020 - CHECKLIST CHALLENGE
6. DIXIE KITCHEN: GRAPE JELLY OR STRAWBERRY JAM
7. WELCOME BACK TO LEARNING
8. SHAMELESS PLUGS
9. SUBSCRIBERS

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW - WATERSPROUT
written by Liberty < PM: >

@WaterSpout is our newest featured member! He joined the site back in March and ever since, he’s done seventy-nine reviews and he’s been super active in the Randomosity section of the site. He has even contributed ten reviews to the 2020 Review Month.

Anyway, I got to interview him for this week’s Squills issue~


W: Sure thing!


W: I was very surprised to find out I was FM. Like it came out of nowhere. I was reviewing and just participating in one community forum. I didn't expect to become FM


W: I was both surprised and excited at the same time. After I got over my initial shock, I was very happy and for some reason laughed at everything.
Hmm... the reason I was chosen as FM was that I was very active and reviewing? I think that was the reason or at least part of it.


W: I would like to thank my family, my friends...

Actually, I'd like to give a shoutout to @Magebird for being helpful and encouraging along the way.
I'd also like to say how this was an amazing experience and that I am thankful for every one of you for making the experience even better.


W: No problem!

Thanks once again, WaterSpout for doing this interview!

YWS'S FAVORITE FALL READSwritten by LZPianogirl< PM: >

One of my favorite things to do during the fall is to curl up with a good book in front of the fire. I could go on and on about my favorite books, such as The Catcher in the Rye or A Summer To Die, but I thought it was better to let other YWSers share their personal favorites. I asked @Vil, @lulon, @Elinor, and @Carlito to tell us about their favorite novels.



This is what Vil had to say! I've never read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, but this makes me want to!

Vil: "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" are really great books for the autumnal season. Many scenes and events take place during the fall, during which author Tolkien essentially creates a "traveling season" as I like to call it.

Carlito gave me three of her favorite books, two for young adults and one for middle grades!

Carlito: 1. "Now Entering Adamsville" by Francesca Zappia (Young Adult)
I personally love Zappia's writing style (she's also an amazing artist and some of her art is featured in this book!) This book features mystery, crime, ghosts, and secrets. I loved the town she created and the big cast of characters!

2. "When the Sky Fell on Splendor" by Emily Henry (Young Adult)
This has a similar vibe as Adamsville but instead of ghosts, make it aliens. Also features, a great friend group, mystery, supernatural powers, and a town tragedy. There were a lot of twists and turns in this!

3. "Ghost Squad" by Claribel Ortega (Middle Grade)
This is such a fun book! It's pitched as Coco meets Stranger Things with a hint of Ghostbusters. Diverse, ownvoices cast, a fat cat with powers, ghost hunting, and cool folklore. Claribel is also a great follow on Twitter and is a great advocate for diverse voices!

I wasn't expecting anyone else to give such a long answer, but lulon also sent me three of her favorites!

lulon: - "My Sisters Keeper" by Jodi Picoult: i mean, honestly, this is a good book any time of the year, but it hits different when you just curl up in bed and binge read it. i don’t think it’s a book that people should drag out reading, because every event leaves you on a cliff hanger, and it’s so hard to put down!

- "Sadie" by Courtney Summers: my friend and i bought some books together and we’re trading them off once we finish them. right now i’m reading this book, and so far it’s a really good mystery. the way the author set it up was really cool, and i can’t wait to read the ending.

- "The Coldest Girl in Cold Town" by Holly Black: this is the perfect book for spooky season. it’s all about vampires and a great mystery/romance book. it has the perfect balance of each of the genres and overall has a great plot.

Our very own filmmaker, Elinor, was glad to give a description on her favorite book! I may just have to reread The Giver after reading her response.

Elinor: My all time favorite book is "The Giver", by Lois Lowry. I first read this book in my sixth grade class, but I don't think I fully appreciated it until I rediscovered it a few years later.

In the far future, Jonas lives in a utopian world where this no hunger, poverty, or pain. But as he grows to discover, the world left a lot of things behind. Family. Love. Joy. All of the things that made life worth living.

It's a beautifully written story that carries a powerful message. Without pain, we cannot truly understand pleasure. A perfect society may not exist, but we give life meaning through our memories.

It's also a truly timeless book. It was written in 1993, but I imagine readers in 1943 or 1893 would have found just as much value it, as will readers fifty years from now and beyond.

All these books sound amazing! I'll definitely have to add them to my list of books to read this school year.

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW - BURANKO
written by Liberty < PM: >

On September 22, @Buranko was announced as our newest featured member! He joined the site almost a month ago and he’s already gotten 34 reviews under his belt. He could definitely be seen writing poetry with very interesting titles if you want to go check those out - here’s his portfolio !

Anywhooo, I got to interview him!~


B: Yup, no problem. More than happy to do it


B: Heh, when I saw that I got a new message, I wanted to see what work of mine is in the literary spotlight (only messages I ever received ;-;). I saw Squills, I guess, not rlly remembering where was the message from, and got a little curious. Clicked and what I read made a mix of feelings inside me, mostly doubt and a sense of achievement.


B: I think that what got me FM is the daily posting and reviewing (can no longer do that,school sucks). Just like Hkumar said, I just was myself and did something, not with the goal of becoming FM, though I admit I kinda wanted to become one.


B: Yea, I did participate in revmo. It wasn't my original intention, to participate, but the points system to be able to post a work, made me review daily. Eventually I got pink username, I liked the color, and went further to get bue.


B: I love expressing my thoughts about certain works and this way if I see something that I like I review it. However some people may not share the same thoughts as me, and try their best to review just because they would get rewarded by such an event. As long as the reviews are useful it doesn't matter why you review it. I see the event as being a way to help both the author and the reviewer.


B: Other than the fact that I'm really happy to be a FM nothing else. It was kind of shocking to get the notification. Currently I am looking for another goal to fulfill in the YWS community. Suggestions are more than welcome


B: No problem, I enjoyed it

Thanks and congrats once again, Buranko!

SOME SUPER SERIOUS BUSINESS

Written by CaptainJack < PM: >

REVMO 2020 - CHECKLIST CHALLENGE
written by Liberty < PM: >

This year’s Review Month was definitely a success! With the help of our wonderful and dedicated reviewers, we breezed past the site review goal of 1,250 reviews and shot up to 1,608 reviews. This is the most since 2016’s RevMo!

There were loads of events this September, one of which was The Ultimate RevMo Checklist Challenge with fifty challenges to complete in thirty days! There are many prizes to hand out, many participants that participated (and all of them were awarded with the limited edition Checklist Challenge badge), and many reviews completed.

In total, there were a whopping eleven winners for the 50/50 challenge!

• @vil
• @starlitmind
• @harryhardy
• @editorandperks
• @tuckster
• @gravitem
• @IcyFlame
• @mellifera
• @ShadowVyper
• @Valkyria
• @whatchamacallit

DIXIE KITCHEN: GRAPE JELLY OR STRAWBERRY JAM

Written by CaptainJack < PM: >

Greetings YWS!
For my return to Squills, I decided to create a poll for one of my classic columns. Even if this poll did not get a high amount of community engagement, I still managed to get some poll responses about grape jelly vs strawberry jam. In the future, please leave reasonings for your choices rather than just leaving me hanging.
As it stands, these are the current results:


Let's talk very quickly about the physical difference between the two breakfast spreads before moving on to the next poll suggestion, brought to the column by @ bullet. By definition, jam is soft spread made with pieces of fruit that are not whole that may sometimes contain seeds. (This differs from preserves which have a similar process but "preserve" the original form of the fruit.) Jelly is a harder spread that is made from fruit juice, sugar, and some sort of thickening agent.

Grape versus strawberry is another part of this debate. For the first point, no one really wants to eat grape jam because that's a horrible texture. We're able to compare apples and oranges or strawberries and grapes in this example because these are the two staple breakfast spreads in the USA. That popularity differs from country to country but these are two products whose fans have always fought for and defended.

I find them both delicious with their own time and their own place. There has to be someone on YWS that disagrees with me so make your voice heard. If you want to take your stand on this issue, bringing forward whatever memes and research you think is relevant, be sure to check out the thread.

Next time on the Dixie Kitchen we will discuss:

WELCOME BACK TO LEARNING
written by EditorAndPerks < PM: >

Am I going to write about school although October has already started? Yes, but only because my school year did not actually start until October first.

Anyway, it's time to learn, in a time that seems very weird, very random, and honestly very intense because I have very little else happening besides the literal classes and studying. All of my classes are online -- at one point, I had planned to live on campus, but then my city got really bad again with testing rates, and everything seemed like a mess, so I'm still at home living with my parents.

Past that, we're in the middle of what is probably going to be written as the hottest or worst weather year on record, for sure my state, which also is not fun, so our only option is to try to make the most out of the few opportunities we are provided.

Regardless of what year/grade you're going into, there are a few pieces of advice I feel like can apply to most people or students, the first being to get sleep. Seriously, get sleep. No sleep makes for a very not-fun day, not to mention any possible headaches will only be worsened due to the fact that you're most likely going to be spending some good amount of time in front of a screen/technological device. Sleeping is good -- set an alarm, set a bedtime, put your mobile devices somewhere else besides right by your face, etc.

Another one is to somewhat organize what you need for school. If you've got a desk, or a table, or some kind of space you can lay things down for the day, then gather up learning things, starting with pencils, pens, notebooks, loose paper, notecards (because these are useful for studying), and probably more notebooks. (Not that I'm placing my own personal bias in this article, no.) Well, and then, with this space, hopefully there's enough spots to place everything down and have easy access to it all.

One last note I want to bring up is to maybe have a reward system for yourself, or some kind of a pick-me-up after a long day of classes, or a tough test and you need a break from staring at a textbook or an equation. As I'm slightly on the nerdy side, a reward for me is probably akin to playing my new-old Pokémon game on my Nintendo DS XL (oh yes, I've got older stuff), but something specific for you could be a really nice relaxing section to get you motivated for the next day.

Whether your circumstances are on campus, at home, somewhat mixed setting, I hope you all can keep safe and learn despite some major events happening in the world today.

SHAMELESS PLUGS

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SUBSCRIBERS

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