Young Writers Society

1. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: ELLIEMAE
2. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NAPO
3. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: FLEUR
4. ICY'S READING LOG: MARCH
5. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: RAVENAKUMA
6. WRITING ADVICE
7. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: HERBALHOUR
8. POETRY WINDOWS: ‘SONNET 17’ BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
9. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: JAZZELECTROBASS
10. SHAMELESS PLUGS
11. SUBSCRIBERS

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: ELLIEMAE written by looseleaf< PM: >

It’s safe to say that everyone on YWS knows @EllieMae. She’s truly a master of all trades, from reviewing to writing poetry to maintaining her 50+ day streak on Duolingo. Whatever it is, you can find Ailah excelling at it. She was YWS’s featured member from December 23 to January 8 and was made a Junior Moderator on March 5th. We asked Ellie all about her escapades and new moldiness in her very own FM interview:


EllieMae: Ooh, that’s a great question! When I logged on and saw that I was the Featured Member, I remember feeling really happy, right away! It was definitely a shock to me, but I felt really grateful. I love YWS, so knowing that my friends appreciate me means a lot.


E: I really love engaging with all of my friends on YWS. I try to participate as much as I can in activities and spend a lot of time in WFP. I also like posting silly things to make people smile!


E: My favourite part of YWS is the amazing community and spending time talking with my friends. I love working on poems in pads and working on roleplays too! I also love reviewing things (especially poems) from the Green Room! At this time of year, there’s lots going on for NaPo too


E: Review 101 was AWESOME! It was so much fun and I think it was a really helpful workshop. It definitely was for me! I originally got the idea when I started to notice more and more AI generated reviews and poems on YWS. I was thinking about how to limit the use of AI on YWS and came to the conclusion that we cannot change other people’s actions, but… we can help the quality and desire to leave helpful reviews by starting with the basics. I remember being a new member on YWS and struggling so hard to write reviews. It’s not that I wanted to spam, but I just really did not know how! Review 101 was a really fun place to share our thoughts, experiences, and ask questions, with old and new members


E: Oh, I have SO MANY plans for NaPo. I am so excited for NaPo this year, especially since I recently become a junior moderator and joined the poetry crew! I am hoping to do all thirty days of NaPo and finish writing the poetry novel I am working on right now. It is a goal of mine to self publish, or at least begin the process, this year. I am super excited for April Madness, which my amazing best friend @Quillfeather is hosting! I am most excited to read all of the amazing poetry that all of my friends write! My theme is called, the disease of overthinking. I love free verse and my poems are often just thoughts that come to my head in the moment, as I am processing emotions. So this year, my poems will focus entirely on emotions related to overthinking


E: Great question! I love talking about this, haha! So, last year I wrote a poetry novel called What I Want You To Remember. This book was a symbolic story written through letters, short stories, essays, and poems, that focused on my growth and relationship with my mother. And now, my poetry novel I am writing currently, is a similar type of novel. Except, this one is directed towards my younger brother. Like I mentioned before, it is my goal to begin to publish my poetry novels. So once I am done, I’ll definitely be working hard on that!


E: Oh, it has been extraordinary! You know, when I found out, my heart just about stopped! I think I cried tears of joy for about half an hour, haha! All of my best friends are on YWS and I love this community so much. Becoming a JM has been such an incredible blessing in my life because it has provided me with even more opportunities to get involved in things that mean so much to me. For example, National Poetry Month and our countdown to NaPo


E: Awesome question, thanks for asking I would say, for anyone who wants to be a featured member: just be yourself and love people and appreciate them for who they are! I love YWS because we are all different, we are all imperfect, but we all love to write and we are all growing. Showing people how much you appreciate them and showing interest in things they are passionate about is a way to help someone feel happier- and at the end of the day, I think I have grown as a person if I’ve made someone’s day a little brighter. Everyone on YWS is my friend, no matter how well I know them <33

If you want to congratulate Ellie on being a Featured Member, you can do so on her wall and on their featured member thread ! You can also check out their NaPo thread the disease of overthinking here .

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NAPOwritten by EllieMae< PM: >

What is NaPo?

You may have heard a lot of hype on YWS lately for something called NaPo. With so much information, it can be hard to know exactly what this is. If you are new to the site, or new to NaPo, this article will help you learn the basics of how and why you should participate. National Poetry Month (NaPo) is a worldwide writing event that occurs every April. Writers normally try to write one poem per day, for all thirty days of the month. On YWS, we have our own individual
forums where we can post our poetry.

Here are some of the Official NaPo Events on YWS:

April Madness

Have you heard of April Madness? It is a yearly event on YWS that takes place during April. What exactly is it? Well, I had the opportunity to interview the host of April Madness 2024, @Quillfeather! We asked her “What is April Madness and why should young writers participate on YWS?”

April Madness is a poetry competition held during NaPo. It is done in a bracket-style like the classic March Madness brackets, but this one is all about poetry! There will be four rounds and contestants that make it through each round will submit poems which will be judged by a panel of judges and the winners move on until we have one finalist!

There are many reasons you may want to participate! First of all, it's just plain fun. And who doesn't want an excuse to poet? But it's also a great way to share with the poetry community and work on your awesome poeting skills!

There you have it! Sign-ups for April Madness are still open! If you are interested in signing up as a participant or a judge, please take a look at the April Madness Thread

Poetry Jams

A poetry jam is an event where a group of writers get together to write poetry. These are normally hosted in WriterFeedPads. Oftentimes, a poetry prompt or challenge is posted, that allows writers to collaboratively exercise their poetry skills while writing together. You can write poetry prompts, or just write your own poems, according to your NaPo theme or anything you enjoy. Do you want to join a poetry jam, or even host your own? Join the Poetry Jams Club . Here, you can post links to your own poetry jams!

NaPo Goals thread

Having goals is a great way to motivate yourself to complete a challenging goal. During NaPo, it is common to have a set of goals that you work at accomplishing during the Month of April. The most common goal is to write thirty poems, or one poem every day. Other goals focus on forms of poetry or poetic skills that a writer wishes to develop. Sharing your NaPo goals is a wonderful way to get connected with other writers participating in the event, as well as motivate yourself. Goals can be posted in individual forums, as well as the NaPo Goals Thread .

Spoken Word and Visual Poetry Contest

This year, @EllieMae is hosting a spoken and visual poetry contest. Here is some information about the contest:

To participate in this contest, you must write and record your own spoken word poem. You will then post a link to your poem and post it in this thread, along with an enspoiled text version of the words you say. Poems can be recorded easily on a phone, or using voice memo/Vocaroo online resources. If you are not comfortable sharing your voice, you may create a visual poem instead, and submit that the same way.

You can submit your poem and join the contest by visiting the official Spoken Word/Visual Poetry Contest thread .

Conclusion

There are still so many more events that will be happening during NaPo, but these are just a few to get you excited! Keep watching the People's Tab and forums for more events, challenges, and activities to be announced soon!

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: FLEURwritten by looseleaf< PM: >

What would YWS be without @Fleur? The avid poet has made quite her mark since joining YWS in September 2023. You can find her posting in the People’s Tab almost every day, and her reviews never cease to make people smile. She was featured member from November 23 to December 8. I had the pleasure of interviewing Fleur this week about her experience as an FM and on YWS in general! (Please note her username was Lullaby at the time of this interview.)


Fleur: Honestly, I was so surprised! I had so many notifications and I kind of scrambled to see what happened. After I was in shock I was just so happy, it felt like an honor.


F: I have no idea! I think around that time I was quite social in the feedpads and also posting every so often, so I believe being social made it easier for people to recognize me and my work.


F: Definitely just the people tab and reading people's poetry. So many writers here are incredibly talented that their work only inspires me to write more. I am in awe of how language can be used.


F: So my NaPo theme this year is "Attributes of the Divine," all poems dedicated to characteristics of God in the Bible. I did NaPo in 2017 ("honeymoon vibes"), 2018 ("aftermath of madness"), and 2023 (no theme, all random!). I think it's super fun as a poet to challenge yourself sometimes and you never know what amazing things you can come up with.


F: I love elegant words. I was looking around for "beautiful words" and felt Lullaby was suitable for both my aesthetic and for the fact that poetry can be soothing like a lullaby. I wish there was more backstory, but it's pretty simple


F: My poetry comes so randomly! But right this moment I am attempting to write a poem loosely inspired by Cinderella and princesses, kind of whimsical and lovely sounding. As for novels, I have my teacher romance (I don't wanna spoil the title!) and have been passively working on a collection of non-fiction short stories in my life revolving around coffee.


F: Hmmm... just enjoy the website. Lots of amazing content and people are here and it's real fun to be involved ♡

If you want to congratulate Fleur on being a Featured Member, you can do so on her wall and on her featured member thread ! You can also check out their NaPo thread Attributes of the Divine here .

ICY'S READING LOG: MARCH written by IcyFlame< PM: >

Last year, I set myself the challenge of reading 52 books over 2023. This year, I'm back with an even more challenging task: I'm going to read 60 books in 2024 (that's more than one a week!). I'm using our monthly Squills issue as a bit of accountability, but also to keep you all updated on the best (and worst) of the books I'm reading so far.

(As always, if you're looking to read these books, please make sure to check the ratings and trigger warnings if you need to).

I have indeed finished one of the slowest books this month, but with both camp NaNo and NaPo in April I think my reading might take a hit. For now though, I’m pretty much on track.

Books read this month: 5
Total book count: 17/60

1. The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams:
A chance encounter with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb. I had no expectations going into this one and I was completely blown away. It’s heartwarming and funny but still managed to make me cry on more than one occasion. This is beautifully written, and I’d recommend it to anyone. 5 stars.

2. Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz:
Two women – one alive, one dead – are brought together in the dark underbelly of New York City to solve a tragic murder. Being written from the perspective of the victim this book has an interesting angle, though I found it hard to connect with our main character and would have much preferred her to just have interludes throughout the story. The ending was also slightly too convenient for me. A cool premise, but not one that completely paid off for me. 3 stars.

3. The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden:
Millie returns in the second installment of this series and this time she’s cleaning for a new wealthy couple who live in a super fancy neighbourhood. She is not however, to interact with the wife under any circumstances. Desperate for a job, Millie agrees. But things are not quite as they seem. This book was a quick easy read with a good twist so it keeps you hooked until the final page. 4 stars.

4. Twisted Love by Ana Huang:
I’m not even going to relay the plot for this one it was so ridiculous. This whole book felt like bad fanfiction and was full of overexaggerated tropes that made it feel like no editor had gone anywhere need it. This one was definitely an 18+, but I wouldn’t recommend it no matter your age. 1.5 stars.

5. The Fraud by Zadie Smith:
I’m usually the biggest fan of Zadie Smith’s work; On Beauty and White Teeth are literary masterpieces and I can’t recommend them enough. This one fell flat for me, being Smith’s debut in historical fiction. The pacing was slow and the characters were tiresome and despite being set in three different times of the main character’s life nothing really seemed to happen. The last thing I wanted to feel after investing such a long time into this book was lukewarm, but here we have it. 2.5 stars.

So there you have it, YWS, a round up of my reads for March. Let me know if you check any of them out, and if there are any I should add to my list for next month. I look forward to updating you in April!
 

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: RAVENAKUMAwritten by Liminality< PM: >

@RavenAkuma joined YWS in December 2023. Since then, they’ve shown themself to be an avid fantasy and horror writer, as well as a thoughtful reviewer. As of me writing this article, they are the top reviewer in March with a whopping 56 reviews written! They were our Featured Member from January 8th to 22nd 2024. This month, I had the opportunity to chat with them about becoming FM, YWS and their writing projects.


RavenAkuma: No problem!


R: When I was Featured Member? Mainly, surprise! I honestly didn't know if I deserved the spot at first, because I was relatively new to the platform at the time. Nevertheless, I appreciated the spot and was quite flattered. ^^


R: My favorite feature of YWS then was simply the review/points system. It absolutely fascinated me because, coming from platforms like Wattpad and Booksie, I had never heard of anything like it and I thought it was great idea. Then, seeing it in action, the formula works; i finally started getting the feedback I needed to improve, and I was having a lot of fun reviewing others, with honesty and good faith going both ways (something not incredibly common in my past experiences, not to bash those platforms). Big game changer for me and my writing ~

Now having explored YWS more, it would be hard to choose a favorite feature. I’ve been enjoying the social aspects as there’s always such a fun and friendly atmosphere…But I would still say just being a writer/ reviewer, taking on my book chapter by chapter while (hopefully) helping others. Although I am still exploring, so who knows?


R: Currently, I have two; doing a sort of rework on my epic fantasy story, “The Forsaken Race,” with help from reviewers of course. Then meanwhile, I’m writing the first draft of a new project that’s more in the realm of steampunk fantasy. That project is far from completion, but TFR is coming nicely.

There are some other smaller things I’ll divert to, like my short stories and story concepts that I was even thinking of collaborating with someone over, but those two books are my main focus for now.


R: I’ve always loved the steampunk aesthetic! I used to watch a ton of movies with that style, like I was probably the only kid in my elementary school who loved the movie “Treasure Planet,” or was watching “9” instead of “Frozen” haha. I don’t know exactly where it came from, but a few months ago, I wanted to try something different from TFR. and I figured that could be my chance to finally write in that direction. So far, it’s a little tricky, but I’m having a LOT of fun with it!


R: That’s a tricky one…I would share advice that I’ve had to learn myself quite recently. Don’t be afraid to explore outside your comfort zone! Try something new every once in a while, and even if it doesn’t come out perfect or just the way you want it too, that’s okay. At least you can say you tried, and who knows? You just might find that a genre you thought you could never work with is one of your new favorites, or that a format you didn’t think you could pull off is one of the ones you’re best at ~


R: No problem, and you’re a great interviewer! <3

If you haven’t yet, join us in congratulating Raven on their FM thread or on their wall!

WRITING ADVICEwritten by Isbah< PM: >

Every writer has known writers’ block. Those nightmarish moments spent staring at the blinking cursor or blank page. Furiously cutting out every word you write, making big black blobs on the page. However, there are some easy ways you can help yourself write.

Read!
Whenever you feel unoriginal or out of ideas, the easiest cure is to simply read. It is the best source of inspiration and gives you new ideas. It is also a relaxing break from the stress of being unable to write.

Ideas Dump
Turn off the inner editor and just write. Bring out all the ideas onto the page, forgetting the rules for once. Remember, no one is going to read this but you, and you are free to be yourself on the page.

Do Something Boring
Doing something boring and simple, like taking a shower or cleaning your room, can make your body go on auto pilot. That makes your brain free to daydream and be creative.

Imaginary Friend
Pretend you’re talking to a friend and discuss what you want to write with them. Tell them the story, or idea. This can help avoid focusing too much on rigid rules and structures of writing.

Blackout Poetry
Sometimes it’s not inability to think that’s making it hard to write, it’s thinking too much. If you feel like you’re drowning in ideas, it can be helpful to confine yourself somehow. What could work better than giving yourself a set of words to use?

I hope you find these tips helpful. Happy writing!

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: HERBALHOURwritten by EllieMae< PM: >

If you are active on YWS, it is fair to say that you are most likely familiar with @herbalhour. This user is highly active in WriterFeedPads, roleplays, forums, posting poetry, and basically everywhere on the site. Herb joined YWS last year and quickly became a Featured Member from January 25 to March 5th. We asked Herb about his experience of becoming FM, as well as some more about her poetry, in his very own interview:



herbalhour: Okay, so I had been bugging @LuminescentAnt about it while we were in school-- and then I found out it was ME i had to stifle my immense joy and like... NOT scream yk



H: honestly i still don't know-
but if i were to guess i'd say:

• i've been really active in the community
• poetry & rps = friendship
• being silly
• reviews!

i think the most important thing (for anyone who wants to be FM or just generally) is being a nice person. you receive what you put in!



H: i've been writing poetry for ~3 years now! i love writing because of the utter rawness you can make! i think it's beautiful to be vulnerable in poetry! for example- mint's poetry about empathy, (or how i teared up writing "flaws of our broken society"!)



H: i would definitely say so! everyone here has been such an inspiration! to drop a few names: @EllieMae, @Kaia, @fatherfig, & @Quillfeather have been such great people to talk to in pads, and i look up to @creaturefeature, @envy, and @Spearmint poetry wise! & i can't forget Ant, she brought me here :3! The experience was kind of weird at first, because i felt like i didn't really fit in because everyone was such good friends already! another thing is that a bunch of new people have joined that are cool! notably @JazzElectrobass, @avianwings47, & @Youbeaucupid!



H: aside from what i said, i think that if you're true to yourself then that's enough. i know for a fact that some of us think "oh my writing is kinda bleh" but i assure you that it isn't! i think that if you grow as a writer and just write what you want to put out in the world then that's my advice. be yourself, and keep writing!



H: you too! :3

If you want to congratulate Herb on being Featured Member, you can do so on his wall as well as on his Featured Member Thread . If you want to read some of Herb's incredible poetry, feel free to check out his NaPo thread, melancholia induced by my lack of self !
 

POETRY WINDOWS: ‘SONNET 17’ BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREwritten by Liminality< PM: >

In this edition of Poetry Windows, we’re reading Sonnet 17 by William Shakespeare. Please follow this link to read it first before browsing the rest of the article!

My interpretation

In this poem, Shakespeare seems to write about the limits of language rather than praising it. The speaker compares any poetry they write about their addressee to a “tomb”, which suggests the value of what people can experience directly rather than vicariously through verse. The verse requires that “some child” of the addressee, who presumably resembles them, be alive and present such that people can ‘confirm’ the truth of the speaker’s words. This is noticeably different from other sonnets like Sonnet 19 where the speaker declares “My love shall in my verse ever live young.”

The poem’s tone comes across as very intense, like many other sonnets Shakespeare has written. Comparing poetry to a “tomb” seems extreme. “This poet lies” is abrupt and a very certain declaration. There is also some emotionally loaded language such as “scorned” and “rage”.

Imagery: Focus

Something I notice about the imagery is that it is very focused on a particular line of comparison. The speaker, a poet, writes poetry about the addressee, and this poetry is compared to a “tomb”, “papers . . . yellowed with their age”, “like old men of less truth than tongue” and “a poet’s rage/ And stretched meter of an antique song”. These images bring together connotations of death, oldness, perhaps even outdatedness and untruth. To contrast, the bodily form of the addressee is said to be “alive” including what the addressee might pass down to their birth children. Shakespeare’s ability to stick to one set of contrasting ideas for fourteen lines here helps make the poem more impactful and gives it a sense of unity.

Structure: Argumentation

The poem seems to make its point through a series of hypotheticals. It opens with a rhetorical question: who will believe the speaker’s writings about the addressee, which praise them so hyperbolically? Then the speaker declares the main point, that any of their verse is a “tomb” compared to the living addressee. The next lines of the poem use conditionals like “If I could . . .” and “So should my papers . . . Be scorned . . .” and “But were some child . . . “. I think this is fairly typical for Shakespeare’s sonnets, based on the ones I have read so far. It seems to make the sonnet come across as quite cerebral or intellectual, since it adds distance between the scenario that is described or envisioned and the speaker.

One might imagine a more direct way to write this poem:

My verse is unbelievable,
Filled with your most high deserts.
A tomb which hides your life
And shows not half your parts.
Writing the beauty of your eyes
And numbering all your graces,
Says the age: “This poet lies
Such heavenly touches ne’er touched earthly faces.”
And my papers, yellowed with their age,
Are scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights are termed a poet’s rage,
And stretched meter of an antique song.
You bore no child to live in this time,
you live neither in it nor in my rhyme.

This version I drafted up on the fly feels more immediate, but also less elegant.

The Poet

William Shakespeare is probably too well-known for this section, so I’ll try to give some fun facts that you might not have known about him instead. The source of these facts is this book . Shakespeare mainly wrote plays, but seems to have begun writing poetry while the theatres were closed due to plague. This was in the period 1593-1603. His poems were apparently the first works he published with his name on it. An additional interesting fact: spellings of Shakespeare have varied – William Shakespeare at one point was written as ‘William Shaxberd’, and the name ‘Shakespeare’ has also been spelt as ‘Shakeshaft’ or ‘Shakestaffe’.

Notably, the Sonnets were not published during his lifetime. If you would like to read more about them, here is an old Poetry Throughout the Ages article about the Sonnets in particular.

Now onto you!

What did you think of Sonnet 17? Did you agree or disagree with the points made in this article? Share your thoughts on the People’s Tab with #PoetryWindows !
 

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: JAZZELECTROBASSwritten by Spearmint < PM: >

@JazzElectrobass was our Featured Member from March 5th to 19th in 2024. He's only been on YWS for a few months, but he's already an integral part of the RPing community on here, being in nine RPs and counting. He's also co-DMing a sci-fi/superpowers/government takedown RP called Sovereign! You can frequently find him on WFPs, on the People’s Tab, or bringing chaos to the world as a band kid.

Recently, I got the chance to interview Jazz about roleplaying, his other favorite parts of YWS, and what inspires him to write. Read on below!



JazzElectrobass: Not a problem!



J: Honestly surprised and ecstatic, especially for the fact I'd only been on yws for about 2 months.



J: My favorite part is definitely collaborating on a wfp, where you can write silly interactions while getting to know the person you're working with.



J: I like being in the randomosity section, and seeing just how random is random.



J: I read a lot, and in a way I'm giving a story for the ones I have taken (read, I don't kidnap books). I've also always had my imagination going, and writing stories helps focus it in one direction.



J: You may get stuck and feel frustrated, but that's alright! It takes years for the best of writers to publish a book, and it's better to have one good book than two mediocre ones.



If you’ve yet to congratulate JazzElectrobass, join us in doing so on his FM thread or on his wall!

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