Squills 9/29-10/6/13

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!

Spoiler

Editor-in-Chief
Hannah

General Editors
Iggy
ShadowVyper

Friendly Neighborhood Robot
SquillsBot

Friendly Neighborhood Cow
CowLogic

Literary Reporter
SparkofDoubt

Community Reporter
Sapi

Storybook Report
AfterTheStorm

Link Cowgirl
megsug

Quibbles Columnist
skorlir

Social Correspondent
StellaThomas

General Reporters
Cspr
BlackNether12
ArcticMonkey
HomeschooledTeen

Past Editors-in-Chief
GriffinKeeper
AlfredSymon

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.

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

1. REVIEW DOMINATION
2. YWS USERNAME: JKROLLINYOLO
3. OH, WHAT’S IN A NAME?
4. SOCIETY PAGES
5. STORYBOOK UPDATE
6. GREEN ROOM GALLERY
7. COW SAYS: SEPTEMBER 29th, 2013
8. THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 9/29
9. NEW ARRIVALS
10. SHAMELESS PLUGS
11. SUBSCRIBERS

REVIEW DOMINATION

written by HomeschooledTeen < PM: >

Earlier this week I sat down to my computer and contacted two of our users. And not just any two users, but @dragonfphoenix and @TheMessenger. If you recognize those names, it's because they have been dominating the monthly review leaderboards. In the past few weeks, they both have completed more than 100+ reviews (or over 200), and I just had to ask them how they do it.

Messenger, who is 2nd on the leaderboard with 137 reviews, was the first to respond to my PM.




TheMessenger: Well there is obviously the fact that you must do so to get points, and then I can post my own stuff for others to review. And I like to read. Always have, always will, and it excites me to see and read about other young writers like myself. I've read some really good stuff and look forward to reading more. So since I like to read, I also like to say what I think of the writing. I always try to keep it positive, but not ignore the faults of the writers



TM: Well first of all let me give you the outline of how I usually review.
Recently I joined the Knights of the Green Room , so I first say I am reviewing for them, and then I tell the writer that I will simply show them errors as I read. So I read and point out anything I see that is either a typo, punctuation error, or if I think a sentence should be re-phrased.
Then at the end I wrap it up with a summary of my thoughts story-wise. I will commend the writer if I think they did a good job, and if I think they excelled, then I will tell them so. One way I try to stay positive is that at he end of almost every review I put the words "Keep it up!" I try to stay enthusiastic, because I know that no one wants to read a review that is all negative.



TM: Yes, I agree. If you want good reviews you need to review with that in mind. And you need to remember that you are trying to help the person with your review, not bash them for all their problems.
I believe reviewing is VERY important. Especially for young writers like myself, who want to see how they are writing. I think reviews are a good thing to do and get, and I think the founder was very smart in making it so that you must review to be able to post your writing.
Also, when you review it allows you to converse with the author; you can see what they thought about different things, and come to agreements on certain chapter sections. All in all, I think reviews are important and necessary for a writer to improve.



TM: Thank you, and you are welcome.


As I said, I also chatted with my fellow KOTGR , dragonfphoenix, who is currently topping the leaderboard with 221 reviews. That is the most that I have ever seen in my YWS life.

When I asked Knight Dragon if he would answer a few questions about his reviewing, this was his reply.


dragonfphoenix: Sure, that'd be fine.

PS-on the review note, do you know how absolutely frustrating it is when you've reviewed practically everything in the Green Room (barring series you aren't following)? I've been sitting here for a few days now with that problem.



DP: It's actually not as hard as it seems to do that many reviews. Most posts are only about 1,000 words, so it only takes a few minutes to read through the post. Reviewing is just as easy. You're not trying to retell the etymology of every word you correct or the subtle nuances of grammar when you find a mistake. It's just a simple sentence, "Hey, you missed something here."

Lots of things motivate me to review. As a Knight of the Green Room, it's my duty to help by reviewing as much as I can. The more I review, the less other Knights and general YWSers have to review. If I review every piece (or as many as I can feasibly get to), then all it takes is one review and we've rescued that work from the Green Room. Badges and stars are a nice plus that comes with reviewing so much, and who doesn't like shiny things?

Also, having so many works already reviewed means that I have to spend less time reviewing new works. When pretty much everything in the Green Room's been reviewed, then you can focus a little more on new works.

Specific goals? Haha, well, that depends. My current goal is to get my next star, and at some point I plan on acquiring all the badges available for Knights. As for what I'll do after I finish out all the Knights' challenges, I'll probably just keep reviewing for the fun of it. Reviewing is a twofold thing: it improves others' writing, and it improves your own. You learn what to do, what not to do, and what your writing pet peeves are by reading other people's works. And at the same time you give writers the feedback they need to focus their writing. Probably a long term goal would be to go back through the tabs and review some of the older series, once I get some extra time on my hands, but that's going to be a while.

Anything else?



DP: I structure most of my reviews this way:

Standard intro ["Knight Dragon, here to review!"]

Technical [often I say "Technical:"]

Content [again, I typically label this]

Anything else I liked.

Standard conclusion ["Hope this helps!"]

Whenever I don't follow that format, I'm either in a rush or don't feel like it.

Tips for other users:
Start at the beginning of a series. Even if you don't review it, read the first chapter BEFORE reading any following chapter (unless the author says you don't need to).
Read the entire story. REREAD ANYTHING THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. If you stop to think about what the author's just said, then quote that sentence or section and explain WHY it didn't make sense (and if it still doesn't make sense), and suggest possible changes.
Quote everything that you feel needs attention. This is where you learn how to prioritize. If the author has 150+ comma splices, then quote one and summarize the rest, i.e. "here's just one comma splice, and you do this a lot." If there are a ton of misspellings, note the glaring ones and just mention the others.
You do NOT have to find every mistake. Just aim to find all the obvious, glaring errors, sentence structure or flow issues, and maybe word substitutions or misspellings.
Remember that some things are just style. If it's your opinion, say so. The writer doesn't have to agree with you, but if you just suggest it instead of saying they have to do whatever you said or close to it, they're more likely to listen.
For series, if you mention something and the author says it's intentional, then don't point it out for the rest of the series. Just note that it still bothers you in the next review and move on. They know where you stand, and you've given them a reason to consider revising it.

Now I feel like I should sit down and write a chapter on how to edit other people's writings. Hmm...

Anyway, I hope that covers everything. Enjoy!



DP: No problem. Lemme know how it turns out. *grins* Hehehe...bad spelling, bad grammar. Rather fun to use at times.

Phew. Oh, were you taking notes as well? There's a lot of wisdom to be gained from just sitting down and talking with awesome people, eh?

Do you agree with everything that Knight Malachi and Knight Dragon said? If you have anything to add or any more questions, feel free to post them in the Squills Fan Club for discussion!

YWS USERNAME: JKROLLINYOLO
written by Hannah < PM: >

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: written by J. K. Rowling at age thirty and later published by Bloomsbury in 1997.

But what if we changed history?

What if instead of thirty, J. K. Rowling had written Harry Potter when she was just fifteen? And what if instead of first publishing with Bloomsbury, J. K. Rowling decided she needed to polish up her work on YoungWritersSociety.com, a fantastic resource for young writers all over the world?

Well, we'd need to do a little math.

We'll start out with overly ambitious JKROLLINYOLO who hasn't been around on YWS much and thus just wants to post as much of her new book as possible, regardless of chapter breaks, scene breaks, etc.

Currently, there is a 10,000 word limit on literary works. This limit is to help prevent the YWS database from crashing. Imagine if everyone posted the entire manuscript of their novels in a single post. Bad news, right?

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone clocks in at 76,944 words completed, which means that in order to post the entire manuscript, JKROLLINYOLO would need to make eight gargantuan posts to hold all 76,944 words of glory. Depending on whether the Green Room is full or empty, this could cost anywhere between 2,000 and 4,000 points to post. Which means to earn those points, JKROLLINYOLO would need to make anywhere between 14 and 40 reviews on YWS, depending on whether she makes Green Room Reviews or not.

So, to review, JKROLLINYOLO would need up to 8 posts, 4,000 points and 40 reviews of her own to post in the biggest chunks possible.

You and I both know, however, that those chunks would sit unreviewed in the Green Room for ages before being tackled by even the bravest Green Room Knight .

So what about JKRowlin15, a slightly less enthusiastic, more aware of the YWS customs 15-year-old J. K. Rowling? She decides to post each chapter properly -- each literary post will contain only the contents of that chapter, and nothing more. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has 17 chapters, which would mean J. K. Rowling the fifteen-year-old would have to spread her novel over seventeen posts and spend anywhere between 4,250 and 8,500 points to get all seventeen chapters posted. That's a lot of points. That's probably more points than what you can win if you are chosen for the Knights of the Green Room's inaugural library (a considerable prize of 5,000 points!).

But more daunting than the required number of points is the required number of reviews. To achieve 8,500 points, JKRowlin15 would have to do 85 reviews if she's sticking with the standard non-Green-Room works. She could cut her review load to 57 if she earns the extra 50 points by helping out unreviewed YWSers. At a review a day, it would take JKRowlin15 almost two months to earn enough points to get Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone out to the YWS public.

The problem is that breaking a 76,944 word novel into seventeen chapters still results in an average of 4,526 words per chapter. This number is still too large to be easily touched by YWSers!

So what is the more managable average number that a good fifteen-year-old YWS member futureauthorJKR would aim for? Pieces that are short enough to be easily read over and reviewed usually fall at around 1,500 words. Are you ready to tackle the math?

Posting scenes averaging around 1,500 words would cut Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone into 52 parts. You're already shaking in your boots, aren't you? 52 literary posts on YWS would cost, at the worst moments of Green Room Overflow, 26,000 points. If futureauthorJKR gets lucky and finds the posting cost at 250 points, she'll only have to spend 13,000 points, but that's still a considerable amount of spendage!

Considering the worst case scenario with the best intentions, futureauthorJKR would review only works from the Green Room, and would earn her necessary 26,000 points in a mere 174 reviews. 174 reviews. To put that in perspective, that is enough to shoot futureauthorJKR up to the 213th spot on the All-Time Leaderboards. At a review a day, she'll achieve the necessary reviews in just under half a year. It'd be almost April before we'd see the final scenes.

Of course, there is an easy way around this math and point nightmare. Once futureauthorJKR completes her manuscript, she can submit it to the Novel Workshop forum , which works by providing documents to download. Should futureauthorJKR choose this route, posting her novel will cost no points at all (since posting in the Novel Workshop forum is free), and the only payment required of her would be providing feedback on two of the other novels currently waiting feedback in the oft-forgotten corner of Novel Workshops.

So how about you? What's the math for your latest masterpiece? What route will you choose? Are you more of a JKROLLINYOLO or a lovely futurueauthorJKR, and how much effort are you willing to expend to get your novel in front of an audience?

Share your calculations in the Squills Fan Club Forum!

OH, WHAT’S IN A NAME? written by AfterTheStorm < PM: >



Let’s face it: People can invent some pretty weird names to use as internet pseudonyms. Ever wondered how on Earth YWSers come up with usernames like @lateritic or @letiki? Squills wondered the same thing, so AfterTheStorm set out to put this strange mystery to rest.



After speaking with roughly twenty members of Young Writers Society, I discovered that a majority of YWSers incorporated their actual name into their internet name. Around 70% of those I interviewed answered with this response, like @567ajt, @JackJackson, @TaylorLove, and @Blues.

567ajt replied,






Blues said that his original username, AhmadBlues, was actually chosen for an MSN account to avoid spam. He told me that he simply added a random color next to his first name, then asked why we don’t use MSN anymore...

The other percentage of Young Writers Society users answered with more random reasons for explaining their names. Take @lateritic, for example. I have never heard of a person basing their username off of a type of soil, until I spoke with the incredibly random Lateritic.






Other YWSers use random name generators, such as @letiki. Another large percent is taken up by users who add in something personal to their internet pseudonym. @WillowCutz told me that “Willow Cutz” was the first character she presented to another person, and @EnigmaticSpirit replied that her username perfectly describes herself!



After looking over the data gathered from the survey, it appears that a majority of young writers use their initials, last name, or first name while deciding their user title. However, there is still a large chunk of people that randomly decide upon theirs! So, it seems as if the mystery of YWS usernames will never quite be solved… Unless there is a brave soul willing to ask each and every one of us where our usernames came from.

Until that time, we did our best.

SOCIETY PAGES

written by Stella Thomas < PM: >

September is continuing the way September usually does in the northern hemisphere: getting busier, getting colder. There are goodbyes to be said, both @Deanie and @SparkOfDoubt are regretting distance, and everybody’s getting swamped under the pressures of full-time education, including @ArcticMonkey. Meanwhile @Blues is looking at his Sixth Form work hard and trying to decide what the best route to take to get working in journalism would be.

But never fear my dears, there is light at the end of this month. @beckiw and @AngerManagement met up -- I hope there wasn’t too much anger to be managed. @Demeter continues in England, and this year is learning modern Irish. Because she needs yet another language under her belt, am I right? @Wonder got a new cello, not to mention new clothes! I hope that there were dresses involved…

Has anybody been missing @ScarlettFire? She’s been having some computer issues, which is why she hasn’t been around, but sources assure Lady S that she still loves us. Which is very reassuring. @Snoink has been taking life as a mature married woman very seriously and has been taking the time to read the Bronte sisters. Lady S approves, but sparks will fly in the three way battle between the sisters as YWS discusses who was the most talented (Lady S will let you in on a little secret -- it was Charlotte).

Siteside, @Nate is calling for YWS to be nominated once again as one of the top 101 sites for writers. Top 101? Surely we’re in the top ten. And @Paracosm is continuing to spread the love of serials by creating a challenge. Sounds exciting, if only we had time to be involved… unfortunately there is gossip to be gathered.

And finally, @Hannah has decided that Squills needs to be bigger, brighter and better than ever. Fair enough, although I think I bring enough sparkle for ten journalists. We’ll keep an eye out for new writers and how they feel about cranking out articles before their deadlines… maybe there’ll be some dramatic turnarounds!

As always, send your juicy details to me, I thrive off scandal!


xxx

Lady S

STORYBOOK UPDATE written by AfterTheStorm < PM: >

Welcome back to another Storybook Update! And boy, have I gathered the scoop on all things Storybooking this week. Covering everything from forests with murderous tendencies to tournaments with deadly consequences, this Update is sure to satisfy all your SB needs. Read on!



Another week, another Storybook in the spotlight. This time around, @ladcat13 ’s SB, The Forest Labyrinth , has earned its rightful place in the limelight with an eerily exciting plot and setting.

When your character stumbles into what seems to be an amiable forest, you soon discover everything is not as it first seems. Vines writhe to life, paths alter themselves and leave you confused, darkness envelops your character, and the labyrinth goes on and on. Welcome to The Forest Labyrinth.

Here’s what Ladcat13, the writer, said:






Can your character survive and escape The Forest Labyrinth ? Find out now!



Alimento mori: the awareness that you will die. @ReisePiecey ’s brand new Storybook, Alimento Mori , features four main characters and their attempts to stay alive throughout a malicious Tournament, using their stealth, strength, skill, and smarts. Reise wrote,







Alimento Mori , started on the 24th, seems very well put together and planned. If you’re into action centered Storybooks or interested in sci-fi type storylines, I highly suggest checking out this hot-off-the-press SB.



I want to hear from you, the Storybooker! Over the past week, I asked random users, “How can the Storybooking experience be enhanced?”

@JackJackson replied, “I’ve been looking around the SB section for a while, checking out some new topics that I could potentially join. Whilst doing so, I’ve found that most Storybooks die out quickly, even if they have a really good plot line. I think that the Storybooking experience could be so much better if the members of an SB stay excited about their story, and continue to want to post. *shrug*”

@567ajt said, “I think there's been a lot of overused ideas. I understand there is no such thing as originality anymore, but writers should [try] to reinvent older styles. Give it a more modern twist.”

That’s it for this Storybook Update! Stick around for another next Sunday, and as always: Write on!

GREEN ROOM GALLERY

written by HomeschooledTeen < PM: >


AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, done being unprofessional for the day.

Who am I kidding? I'm unprofessional all the time! Literally, the only reasons these GRG articles are not full of grammar errors and mistakes are a) the fact that I have access to spellcheck and b) Squills has several amazing editors on our staff.

And those who know me know exactly what I am talking about.

But, can you guess why I am crazy today?

Here's a hint: everyone on YWS should know about this.

It's almost Review Day, duh!

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Alright, I think that I've been a fan girl long enough today.

But seriously everyone, if there is one thing that I look forward to (besides payday that is) it's R-Day, which is, in my opinion, the most awesome time of the month.

I love the effort that is put forth by the users (you guys are awesome), and I love the teams and the goals that everyone sets. It's just a really cool 24 hour period.

Anyway, let's just try to get the Green Room empty, shall we?

And yes, even through everything that is about to happen in the next few hours, we will have a GRG featured work. And as I have mentioned before, if the two people who knock it out will link their reviews to my profile page, or PM it to me, Squills will donate a minimum of 300 points to those users.

The Kingdom of Boredom, Chpt. 13 by @dragonfphoenix is the oldest GR work today. And as of right now there are 150+ works in the GR. Wow. Some people went posting crazy. But, having that many works is a good thing for once. They're all about to get reviewed anyway, so we won't go under High Volume Alert.

So let me just say to all our R-Day participants, have fun! But more importantly, do your best. I wish you all a very happy September Review Day.

COW SAYS: SEPTEMBER 29th, 2013 written by CowLogic < PM: >



You can act any way you want to anyone you want. You can be any person you know to any person you know. Your apparent personality is infinitely malleable, and as long as you are in control, impressions of you can be begot in too many ways. I can be a hopeless ladies man when confronting a gorgeous woman, yet become a cold and staunch, unmotivated pillar of salt in front of a teacher or employer (notwithstanding gorgeous female teachers and employers). I’ve used this tactic all my life. It’s taken me a long time, and it’s still taking a long time to pinpoint exactly what my personality is because I’ve spent my life as so many different people concurrently.

While some of you may see this as a strength, a one-up on any competition, I’ve recently realized that it’s the opposite. It’s a weakness. You see, I’m not saying it’s a weakness to be able to treat different people differently, to control your mood and impulse. Those are good things. But unless you remain constant and genuine in interactions, you forget who you actually are. You lose self-actualization, self-awareness.

I’ve spent so much time regretting how I manipulated people’s impressions of me. Actions that seemed like good ideas at the time now make things awkward with those people. I feel guilty. Hell, maybe my interactions with them have improved BECAUSE of my tirades, yet I just can’t shake the feeling that I need to compensate for my sin, to show people who I really am.

I can’t help feeling that if I was less dictated by moral suasion and cognitive espionage, that the things that haunt me this very night, the things I will be thinking about as I fall asleep, could be solved. That if I remained truthful to myself and to others of who I really was, what my sense of being was, I could be happier, healthier, the loose ends today which have slipped from their knots could instead be secured by triple fisherman’s loops.

My advice to you, my friends, is to refrain from synthetic personalities. You may think that a singular interaction with someone you will never meet again is a chance to experiment with who you are with no collateral in your own life. But you are wrong. Legitimacy is the only way to improve yourself and to know what you need to do to make yourself better than you are.

If you are too many people, which people do you have time to improve?

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 9/29
written by: megsug < PM: >

Here's your Link Roundup! Side effects may be but aren't limited to curiousity, learning something new, and fun.


Though there was a similar contest recently, @Spotswood has created another. With reviews from the contest's own creator up for grabs as prizes, this contest is a great chance. If you've never run into other contests like this one, here's the run down: You write the cheesiest, worst story you can. @Spotswood has added a bit of a twist:





Sign up for a prompt now and find your list of clichés to avoid. Except this time you won't be avoiding them!


What, you ask, is a serial? I had the same question as well. @Paracosm enlightens us,





That's all good and well, but why would we need to know? is probably your next question. I've got your answers right here. @Paracosm is offering a challenge. Why yes! It does have to do with serials. Starting September 29th, he wants to see if you can write a serial for three months. Any topic, any genre. The posts just have to be 300-500 words, and the goal is to post once a week. If you can make a post for this serial once a week for three months, the grand prize is 3000 points. There are also bounties during the three months with point awards. At the end, the one awarded the most points wins! Easy points for anyone who wants to try writing a serial.


Charlotte with her Jane Eyre, Emily with Wuthering Heights, or Anne and her The Tenant of Wildfell Hall? All are classics. All are sisters, but which is the best? All themes are rather dark but… As @Hannah says:





That really is the question. What aspect of these novels make them so popular when the plots are so dark and many of the main characters so unlikeable? That's part of the discussion! What do you think?



What can we say? We're interested. Have you finished one? What's it about? @Nate wants to know what you think about this, too:





What do you think of this new idea? Let us know in the thread. Your voice is important!

NEW ARRIVALS
written by ShadowVyper < PM: >

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

@AsianQueen17 has only been a member for a few short days, but has already started spreading some awesome reviews. Unfortunately, she hasn't posted any works for us to review, yet, but I'm sure that with a bit of encouragement she'll open right up and give us some amazing things to read!

@aliceceleste is also quite new to our family, but has been making good use of her time, writing lots of lovely reviews. Why not return the favor by reviewing her short story, Innocence ?

@Saichi has only been on the site a few days, but she too has kept himself busy writing lots of awesome reviews. Go check out the second chapter to her novel, Sanctuary .

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

We love to run articles and questions, but we also love to advertise for you. Let people know about your new blog, a poem or story you’re looking for reviews on, or a forum thread you’d like more traffic on through Squills’ Shameless Plugs. PM @SquillsBot with the exact formatting of your advertisement, contained in the following code.

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Ever thought theme music for your character would be an awesome idea? Or you would like music tailored just for your novel, or perhaps storybook? Click here and it'll happen!



We're accepting new members! A club for Bloggersand Writers! Kindness is promised and all you have to do is co-operate with us! We hope that you decide to join since we are looking for new members right now only! To join today just go to this link: clubs/1742 We look forward to seeing you there! This is a club for young writes of all types so anyone can join!

That's all folks~ Now send us yours.

.SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

Find enspoiler-ed a list of our subscribers!

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