Young Writers Society

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1. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW - ICYFLAME
2. YWS SCAVENGER HUNT
3. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW - VALKYRIA
4. NANOWRIMO: WORD WARS
5. IT'S OKAY TO TAKE YOUR TIME IN CREATING
6. SHAMELESS PLUGS
7. SUBSCRIBERS

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

On the 23rd of October, YWS was yet again given the chance to congratulate a new Featured Member. This FM is a pretty old member of the site and was FM has been active in almost all the parts of the site, from the Writerfeed Pads to the NaNoWriMo forums (she even has her own NaNo thread !) and the Storybook section of the site! Anywho, I got the opportunity to interview @IcyFlame for this week's Squills issue.


I: Hey Lib!
Of course you can, go right ahead.


I: I think just genuine surprise. I feel like a lot of the time you can kind of predict who the next FM will be based on a sudden increase in reviewing or activity on the site in other areas like forums. I've just been carrying on in much the same way as always, so I was surprised that deserved recognition, haha!

Also, I thought there was some kind of unwritten rule that meant you couldn't ever be FM more than once. Granted, it's been a few years (I'm old, you see) since I've been FM but I honestly thought that was it! (Don't tell anyone though, I don't want them to revoke my title )


I: I think it could be a couple of things. I managed a high number of reviews in RevMo, and went on to also complete Team Tortoise for October. If NaNo hadn't started this month, I might have even attempted a third month!

I've also been more active in forums (thanks to NaNo planning), and my friendly rivalry with a certain someone has probably also caused some attention... so a few different reasons I think.


I: I've been reviewing a couple of really good novel recently so I was able to continue with those and that helped keep things interesting. I'm also very competitive with myself, so it wasn't too hard to keep going (although there were definitely some days I nearly missed). I actively had to avoid reviewing on the first of this month, or I might have got sucked into it again.

I think RevMo really motivated me to get into it though - I love a good challenge!


I: I think the best advice is just to get involved. That way, even if you don't become FM you'll have a really great experience on the site which is what we're all here for, right?


I: Shoutout to both @BluesClues and @mellifera for writing wonderful novels that have inspired me for NaNo (and for unwittingly giving me my ending).

Oh, and to @Arcticus too... I suppose...

Thanks, Lib! It's been fun <3

Thanks so much, IcyFlame for taking time out for this interview.

YWS SCAVENGER HUNT

written by alliyah < PM: >

Hey, instead of an article I thought I'd leave you with a Scavenger Hunt! Back "in the day" during YWS Olympics (2014, 2016, 2018) we used to have YWS-themed scavenger hunts, usually ran by the ever talented and brilliant @Meshugenah and @Rydia ~ unfortunately the Olympics were canceled this year due to covid, but hey might as well get some training in right? So here's your set of YWS-Specific Questions. Please do not "like" or "comment" on the threads that hold the answers so that everyone has a chance to solve the mysteries themselves without hints - all the answers are available somewhere on YWS ... probably ... you'll need to search!

Each question is worth 10 points, and bonus points are 1 additional point each. I think there are a possibility of 204 points ... a nice round number. If you want to see how many you got right, send a message to @alliyah with your answers by November 22th. And if you get the most right, you will get to be interviewed in an upcoming Squills edition! And I'll give you 1,000 points too!

YWS History

*1. What day is YWS's "Birthday"?

*2. What time was YWS created?

*3. Who was the third candidate in the original "Monkey vs. Dragon" Mascot Wars?

*4. What day did YWS reach 50,000 members? (two possible answers)

*5. Which team won the historic YWS Faction War of 2017? (bonus point if you know what color username they chose for their prize)

Things alliyah thinks you should find out

*6. How many likes does the famous "Egg Post" have today?

*7. Name a work that was posted this year that's in the Top 100 Lit Works of All Time Spotlight section.

*8. What is my favorite color?

*9. What day was the first "#Classified" message suspiciously posted on the site by Meshugenah?

*10. How many users currently are sporting at least one purple review star?

*11. What badge can a Knights of the Green Room knight get for logging 1000 Green Room reviews? (bonus point if you can name the first person to earn this ellusive badge)


Know Your Mods

*12. What book is @BluesClues' avatar a reference to? (bonus points if you can guess what it is!)

*13. What are 5 usernames that @Magebird has went by?

*14. Which Global Moderator had a flower themed NaPoWriMo thread in 2019? (bonus point if you can name the color of the flower depicted in the 5th poem)

*15. Who started #20in20 ?

*16. How many current Junior Moderators (lime green) have won the Last Man Standing contest?

*17. Name three users with avatars drawn by @soundofmind!

*18. How many of the current (dark green) Global Moderators have been editors of Squills?

*19. Who wrote the 500th Review in the September 2013 Review Day?

*20. Name ten former or current junior moderators who have had colors as part of their usernames (1 point for each one you can name!)

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

On the 7th of November, just a couple of days ago, @Valkyria was chosen as the next featured member of YWS! She’s been around for a while - three years - but has become active in a lot of the areas of the site just recently. Valkyria has been fighting the beasts of the Green Room, and she even did more than fifty reviews during Review Month, which is an incredibly impressive amount. She’s even been participating in National Novel Writing Month now that it has begun but at the same time, she’s been tackling all the Storybooks and Roleplays she’s currently in.

Anyway, I got the chance to interview her!


V: I would love too!


V: I couldn’t believe it! I was so happy when I found out. I couldn’t stop smiling every time I thought about it.


V: I think it was completing the Checklist Challenge and throwing myself into the Storybooks and Roleplay section. I had so much writing with other people and brainstorming on plot ideas!


V: I'm a part of some really great storybooks, and it always amazes me how much creativity goes into them. The writers pour so much into their posts. I love reading them and adding my own posts!


V: Something that helps me is visualizing the story. It's easier to write my post when I can imagine my character in that situation. How would she react? What would she say or do? I keep trying to tell myself that I'm in enough storybooks, but every time I see something good, I have to join. It keeps me busy since I can't go anywhere, and it expands my storytelling as a writer.


V: I would tell them to try and engage with the community. Always be kind and supportive. It doesn't hurt to get some reviews in either!


V: I want to give a shout out to all the people I’m writing these storybooks and role plays with! You are all so amazing in every way! And lastly, the world is facing challenging times, and a lot of people have breathed a big sigh of relief when the election results came out. But, no matter how terrible things are, there are people being kind to each other. When times are tough, choose empathy.


V: Of course! Thank you so much!

If you haven’t already congratulated our latest FM, make sure to do so by stopping by on her wall or on the thread .

NANOWRIMO: WORD WARS
written by EternalRain < PM: >

If you don’t already know, November is National Novel Writing Month! Folks around YWS are using #NaNo to post updates on their walls about their progress in the NaNoWriMo goal of writing 50,000 words for the month.

After two years of not doing NaNoWriMo, I’m back to try and win! Something I did quite often in my previous years of fighting through the jungle of NaNoWriMo to finally achieve that glorious victory of 50,000 words were something called Word Wars.

Word Wars--if you haven’t heard of them before--are a way to get some quick writing done during NaNo! You may have also heard of the terms “word crawls” or “word sprints”. While a bit different, the basic premise of all of these is to write, write, write (with some sort of force of extra motivation!).

In Word Wars, this “force of motivation” is a bit of friendly competition. Word Wars typically start with a group of two or more who are simply looking to write. Participants will start at a specific time (say, 2:30) and go until an endpoint (say, 2:50). During this time, you write. Most of the word wars I’ve done have ranged from 10-30 minutes, but I suspect there are folks who go for even longer amounts of time! After time is up, you see how much you’ve written with word count.

Word wars, I find, are especially helpful during NaNoWriMo. This is because during the writing of word wars, the goal isn’t to achieve the next piece of Great American Literature, but rather just to spew some writing out. For NaNo, because the goal for each day is so huge, I (and I’m sure many others) don’t have the time for perfecting each and every word I write. Additionally, I often find that it can be hard for me to find that extra boost to get me off Youtube or internet surfing and back onto my document to write. Having a lighthearted competition is enough to get me in the zone to write. For this reason, word wars provide the perfect way to keep climbing the daily word count--in digestible increments--in a fun way!

For the last two weeks of NaNoWriMo, I will try to be hosting some WriterFeedPads word wars can happen! If this interests you, you’re always welcome to stop by and participate. Keep your eyes out, and keep writing!

IT'S OKAY TO TAKE YOUR TIME IN CREATING
written by EditorAndPerks < PM: >

Hello all!

I must admit to being bad at actually writing, even though I've been a part of this writing website for a few years.

Everyone has their own pitfalls when it comes to creating something, whether it's coloring, line work, picking, or writing, literally. Mine usually comes in the form of happily writing out a plot to a story and then never getting to sitting down at a desk and starting the story.

Or, I get a thousand words in, finish a first chapter, and then never finish it, which is a rather frustrating process that I let plague me every time. It's no one's fault but my own, but I still have yet to find a true solution.

And I've certainly griped about my writing woes before on this site. I must say, I think I wrote more when I was fifteen, compared to how I am now. I couldn't say whether this comes from a sense of self-awareness that comes with age, which means I can't as easily accept my work as good work, or if I lost all my good luck when I was younger.

Either way, I need to remind myself and, perhaps to those who need it, that creativity shows itself in multiple ways. And although maybe I can't seem to find myself being able to finish a story anytime soon, I can spend a few minutes making a birthday card, or planning yet another plot, for another time.

Good luck to you all. I know you'll do well!

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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SUBSCRIBERS

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