Young Writers Society

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!





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. A NOTE FROM THE STAFF
2. SQUILLS HOLIDAY CONTEST
3. MOD MOMENT: LAUREN2010
4. YWS MYTHBUSTING: CHRISTMAS EDITION
5. HAPPY GIFT-GIVING!
6. SANTA: GIFT GIVER OR CHRISTMAS CREEPER?
7. SOCIETY PAGES
8. CLUB INTERVIEW: YWS SERIAL CHALLENGE
9. NEW ARRIVALS
10. THIS WEEK'S LINK ROUNDUP - 12/22
11. SHAMELESS PLUGS
12. SUBSCRIBERS

A NOTE FROM THE STAFF

Just like with our Thanksgiving break, the Squillians are taking next week off to spend time with our offline family and friends.

Join us on January 5th for our next edition.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Now what are you waiting for? Get to reading!

SQUILLS HOLIDAY CONTEST

written by Sapi < pm: >

That's right! Squills will be hosting a holiday-themed contest for any and all kinds of writers. Entries can be of any type, whether that be short story, poem, script, lyrics, or something else entirely, but must have a narrative form and contain holiday themes (any winter holiday will do).

Rules

1. Entries must have a narrative form. That is, they must tell a story.
2. Entries must be holiday-themed. It doesn't matter what holiday, as long as it is around this time of year and you can incorporate it into your narrative.
3. No matter what type of entry, it must be 1750 words or less.

Judging

Submitted pieces will be judged by the rules above (most importantly, that the entry follows an apparent narrative path) as well as by the quality of writing and grammatical errors.

Entries will be judged by myself and other members of the Squills team.

Prizes

Yes, there shall be rewards!

1st place: 1000 points, 2 reviews, and a virtual gift
2nd place: 500 points, 1 review, and a virtual gift
3rd place: 300 points, 1 review, and a virtual gift

How to Submit

Entry to the contest will be open until the end of the year (that is, midnight GMT December 31). Winners will be decided shortly thereafter and be announced in Squills January 5th edition.

To submit an entry, PM me (Sapi) or @ArcticMonkey, and make sure to tell us it is for the Squills Holiday Contest.

Awesome prizes, holiday fun, and writing! What could be better?

MOD MOMENT: LAUREN2010

written by Iggy < PM: >

Fierce battles have been won. Some have risen and some have fallen. Dragons, Minotaurs, sirens, Walkers, High Alerts; whatever enemy YWS has faced, it always had an brave and noble staff of moderators to back it up and protect the site and its members. One such warrior is @Lauren2010, who was made a Global Moderator over a year ago, for her excellent fighting skills and beautiful face (I mean, have you seen her?! )

Squills barely managed to drag this lovely lady away from battle to ask her some questions.




Lauren2010: I'm cheating a bit and checking records but I became an official JM on April 9th 2010 just over a year after I joined YWS. Nate must have asked me to join a few days before that and it was totally out of the blue! I thought I was In trouble! I'm pretty sure I was considered because I had been reviewing A LOT so I could apply to Instructors (man I'm really dating myself with that one). I guess JM was a bit cooler? (Still I so wanted to be an Instructor!)

I became a GM on December 17th 2012, which was also out of the blue because it's much much rarer we invite new GMs and I never could have expected to be considered (I'm pretty sure @JabberHut paid someone off). I don't even remember who invited me, whether it was @Nate or an admin but it didn't strike fear into my heart to see a new PM from them. Probably something more like "ugh what do they want now". xD

Both times I was overjoyed to accept the invitation, because I just love YWS and doing anything I can for the site.



L: Okay, so way back when the literary works on YWS were still in a forum, there was a point when all the short stories and novel chapters were held in the same areas (so, like, Fantasy Fiction, Romantic Fiction, General Fiction, etc). Sometime right after I became a JM we made the decision to separate the short stories from the novel chapters and it was our job to go through and move the novel chapters out of the original forums and into new ones. Of course I was still a little shaky with the mod controls, and ended up dumping a load of novel chapters in the About the Authors forum (where I didn't have the power to move them back) and had to PM Nate in a panic so he could fix it.

No harm done, but it was pretty hilarious.



L: Probably knowing when to step back. It's too easy for all of us to get caught up in things and forget to take care of ourselves. It's hard to separate yourself from something you love, especially when you're in a position of responsibility. But sometimes you have to!

And sometimes, as well, when working with young people like we do on YWS you really want to take care of everyone and fix all the problems, but you can't fix every problem and swaddle everyone in nice warm blankets, even when you really want to!



L: I won a bloody gladiatorial contest where I had slain my enemies with valor and pride.

But really, for the same reason anyone is chosen. For being friendly, welcoming, and a great reviewer. I've always loved YWS, and the site has done so much for me, and I have always done my best to try to give back to this place that has meant so very much to me.



L: Don't make it a goal! YWS is much less fun if you're just here to try to gain a position. I think everyone should do whatever it is that will give them the most value out of YWS, whether that's giving a load of reviews, storybooking 'till the cows come home, prowling the resources area with great advice to give, or just hanging out in the chat room. People who love YWS and are awesome active members make the best mods anyways!

Plus, as they say, the best things come around when you're not looking for them.

YWS MYTHBUSTING: CHRISTMAS EDITIONwritten by ArcticMonkey < PM: >

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve done a Mythbusting article, but now considering it’s so close to Christmas, I thought I’d make this one Christmas themed. So here are five common myths about Christmas.



1. People need to get a tree and decorate it.
Although a lot of people think this tradition has been around since forever, the Christmas tree is quite a recent holiday tradition. German immigrant brought the tradition to American in the mid-18th century, but it didn’t quite set off for over a hundred years. In fact, there was quite a bit of haste towards it, and Teddy Roosevelt didn’t want people to cut down trees for Christmas. However, the tradition happened eventually, regardless.

2. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ was written by Clement C Moore.
Seeing as this is the Young Writers Society, I’ve tried to fit a literary- based myth here. I’m sure that many of you are familiar with this poem, and have even read it on Christmas Day as a family. It was first published on December 23rd 1823 anonymously, and it wasn’t until 1836 that Clement Clarke Moore stepped forward as author.

3. Jesus was born on December 25th.
For Christians, Christmas Day is a day to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. However, there is a lot of things to say that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th. Firstly, the Bible says that during Jesus’ birth, shepherds were in their fields. However it would we really cold in Bethlehem in December, so not many crops would grow. Also, the Bible mentions that Mary and Joseph were travelling to take part in a census, but back in this time censuses were normally help in September and October. So December 25th is more just a random date chosen to celebrate Jesus’ birth, which is unknown as of yet.

4. Christmas is originally a Christian tradition.
Christmas originally started off as a pagan festival. It was originally a celebration of the return of the sun god on earth. For example, the ancient Romans exchanged gifts on Saturnalia.

5. Boxing Day is for boxing up gifts you don’t want and returning them to the shop.
Because Boxing Day falls the day after Christmas, many people think it’s a day for boxing up unwanted gifts and taking them back. This is a celebration that only takes place in a few countries. It started in the United Kingdom during the Middle Ages, as a day once a year when churches opened their collection boxes and gave money to the poor. Also, servants were given this day off to spent time with their family, as they’d be working on Christmas for their bosses.

So that was five myths about Christmas. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope everyone has a really nice holiday and a fabulous new year!

HAPPY GIFT-GIVING!written by KittyCatMeow < PM: >

Yep! It’s that time of year again – Christmas! If you don’t celebrate Christmas, you can always call it New Year’s .
Once more, we’re having another gift-giving event, and of course, Secret Santa to go with it!

Last time, we had Christmas in the summer, and what to my wondering eyes should appear… but a whole bunch of gifts given out to my dears (y’all are my dears)!

Can we beat that score? Can we really do such a thing? Well, let’s talk first about how YWS is faring by preparing!

YWS has already decorated the walls with hats, snowflakes, and they’ve still kept our favorite YWS Default Background! If you haven’t seen this magnificent sight, which I highly doubt, here’s what I saw!



So what else is happening? The Gift Weekend countdown! It got pretty exciting in the last minute… literally!





Have you seen Christmas avatars? @Blues has helped me gather up my avi to look like what you should see above in this article. Real awesome! Because of this, you’ll have a Christmas avatar in no time!

@Blackwood had made an encouraging Squills article on Christmas avatars on the last issue of Squills. Check it out here !

After the party began, I was bursting with excitement! I practically leaped into passing out gifts… but I couldn’t decide who to give it to… so I gave it to a random person!




Unfortunately, I may have gotten too far with such an opportunity that YWS couldn’t catch up to me… nor could it catch up to many others!



We’re all in that kind of spirit! Now enough of my dumb talking – let’s ask some real YWS users what they’re doing!

Firstly, I began by asking @Letiki, who said that he didn’t have enough points to spare many for gifts, but indeed, I received a beautiful gift (meow) from this great human!

Then, taking a smaller stroll down the chat, I found @Auxiira answering to my question of what she was doing this “gift-giving” weekend!





After these small words, I wanted to see how down low I was in the rankings, and well, let’s just say the scores weren’t so pretty – for me at least.



Before I quickly take my leave, let’s just say we’ve still got a lot of things that’s going up! There are way too many things to cover, so I’ll try my best!

@Nate has got a “Christmassy” Curious George avi, which is absolutely adorable!

The Santa girl, @Deanie, has been bursting through the rankings! It’s crazy!

@EloquentDragon made a Christmas contest that can have awesome rewards, so check it out here!

Hopefully, that’s got you pumped up for the 24th, and if it hasn’t, then I wish you the best luck in getting a few more friends to join you for a New Year’s Day hot chocolate!

SANTA: GIFT GIVER OR CHRISTMAS CREEPER?written by KnightTeen< PM: >

We all should know the basic legend of Santa by now. (Chris Cringle, goes around every Christmas Eve leaving toys for all the good girls and boys while the bad ones get coal in their stockings.) Truth is, there are a lot of different versions of the legend, with it being a little different in every country. There are so many different Santa's that I can't keep count. But what who is Santa really?

The original "Saint Nick" was a 4th-century Greek Christian saint and Bishop who was a secret gift-giver.

Care to explain to me exactly how we get a fat man in a red suit with flying reindeer and midget assistants out of a man who liked to put coins in shoes?

But somehow, we did. And on December 24th, children are going to go to bed with visions of sugar plums and candy canes after placing milk and cookies out for the fat man (because, naturally, despite all the children he has to visit in a night he has time to stop for a snack) and hardly get any sleep because they want to hear him come in. And when they wake up, presents will have magically appeared underneath the tree, curtsey of Mom & Dad and yet on the tags it will say, "From: Santa".

It's a little creepy if you ask me. Kids get excited because a man is going to break into their house, leave them gifts and eat their food? Excuse me, but eww.

And what about the parents? Sure, they get to see how happy their kids are, but Santa gets all the credit. Do they get thanks? No.

Okay, so I believed in Santa as a kid. I'm not going to deny it. But here's what happened: I believed in him until I found out the truth when I was about eight, and then hated my parents for the rest of the week because they had been tricking me all of those years. The legend gave me nothing but heartache.

So yeah, the kids get a few happy years. But then they find out. Nothing lasts forever, and not everyone is as lucky as Charlie Calvin. (See The Santa Clause starring Tim Allen). Eventually we know that it's all a fib, a lie, a fantasy.

And yeah, we all make our living (or we want to make our living) off of fantasy. We're writers, it's what we do! Fantasy is our forte. Everything we write is a fantasy, something that we dreamed up. We know it inside and out. But personally, this is one fantasy I would have rather done without. The idea of Santa is about as creepy as the Santa who tried to get me to sit on his lap. I was fifteen at the time.

So what do you think? Is Santa a good-loving gift giver, or nothing more than a Christmas Creeper? PM me and let me know.

SOCIETY PAGES

written by Iggy < PM: >

Ask and you shall receive! YWS' own @Blues put up a festive holiday thread where he, with the help of Photoshop, made Christmas-styled avatars for those who requested so. As found in the thread here , he's made avatars for the following people: @Zolen, @indieeloise, @fortis, @WindSailor, @Cheetah, @elinor%20brynn, @ongoeslife, @KittyCatMeow, @Skorpionne, and @alexsushidog. The thread is worth a looksie, but do so knowing that Blues is on vacation in Egypt for two weeks (maybe he'll see @OmarEhab there?) and is not accepting anymore requests. Maybe next year!

Christmas break is now upon us YWSers still in school! Some, like me, have gotten out a week prior, and some people have just barely begun. I wonder if people will be going places for the break? I know @elinor%20brynn is coming to San Francisco. Ellie, we wanna see some pictures when you get back!

Singing, singing. Have you been doing some festive singing for the holidays? Maybe some Carol of the Bells? Silent Night? Or maybe you're like @thewritersdream and was able to not only record a song, but get it produced and turned into an album! She'll hopefully update me with some new info, but until then, enjoy a sneak peak on what the album will sound like.

Speaking of singing! @TimmyJake has a singing performance at a friend's school. Nothing like two friends bonding over a song, eh?

Looks like YWS won over yet another person! @biscuitsbatchavoy is enjoying their time on YWS. Welcome to the dark side.

@hightop has announced a desire to learn Japanese, then quickly updated with how hard it is. I wonder if that's what ESLs think of the English language?

@alexsushidog broke through that age-old enemy we know: writer's block. But for what, you ask? An essay. Was it worth it, Alex? Cause we all know essays are yucky.

@WillowCutz's well-known series, Sheridan Holmes , is going to be a gift for her father for Christmas. How awesome is that? I hope he likes it, Willow!

@Demeter got to go see Cats live onstage. If I remember correctly from the movie, that's the 6 hour long show? Or is it 9? Hmm.. anyways, here's to hoping she had fun and there was a few intermissions for a nice leg stretch!

YWS members seem to be meeting everywhere. First @letiki and @Alpha, now @567ajt and @bloodinkseesfootage, and possibly @Meshugenah and @Lava? Don't I feel left out! When do I get to see @Carina, I wonder?

@Clarity tells me she had a good time at Winter ball, and now I'm curious. I expect to see pics soon, Clar, not to mention more details! Date? Dress? How'd it go? Don't leave us in the dark!

@penandsword spent some time with his niece and watched Monsters University, which makes me jealous cause I haven't seen it yet. No spoilers, okay? (Side note: That username always makes me think of the YWS logo. +10 points to you)

This looks like a busy week, with Christmas around the corner, and people sending friends and strangers gifts in the Holiday Gift Weekend Extravaganza 2013, and the Reviewing World Cup approaching, not to mention the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014. One year since the world was going to end. Who knew? I guess it's only a matter of time before the zombie apocalypse. Now excuse me while I go watch some more The Walking Dead~ I am not obsessed, I swear.

Don’t forget to send me all your scoop for next week. You know you want to.

xxx

Lady S

CLUB INTERVIEW: YWS SERIAL CHALLENGEwritten by KittyCatMeow < PM: >

Yes! You’ve read right! Another Club Interview has arrived, and this week, it’s the club you might as well love if you write stories and novels!

Again, go for the requests! I haven’t gotten one last time, and I’d like to receive tons. That way, I don’t need to be all picky. Find the form to fill out here!

So anyway, sadly, I only got responses from two people, but they’re the essentials, and that means we should quickly get on with this business!

We’re interviewing the YWS Serial Challenge this week! Apparently, it’s some kind of good serial club... let’s find out what exactly this club is about!

Participants: @Paracosm (Creator), @Blackwood (Active Member)





Paracosm: The YWS Serial Challenge is pretty simple, it's a chance to earn points by posting a serialized novel on YWS. A serialized novel, or serial, is a novel that is published as it is written. Generally, you should try to post one time a week, but we make exceptions and such. I know I've been on hiatus for awhile.
Blackwood: It is the people who are participating in Shino's Serial Challenge. Which is to write some serial fiction, a series of works presented in 'episodes' released on a regular basis, eg. Weekly.



P: It depends, a 'soap opera' style serial goes on and on forever. But a regular serial goes on as long as the story allows. To win the Serial Challenge, you have to post twelve entries in your serial over twelve weeks.
B: As long as you like. Some can be sweet and short such as maybe 10 instalments while others can go on for hundreds.



P: I have been experimenting with serials on Amazon for awhile. I haven't been selling well, but it has been excellent practice, and I'm starting to learn the mechanics of storytelling. A serial is basically a trust fall, you put it out there and see if it gets attention and gets popular. Otherwise, you can just say, "Okay, this isn't selling, or I don't like it. Done. Time to try something else."

So I started the club so that other people will know what it's like to write an actual, full on novel, only their novel is serialized here on YWS. Once it's finished, it's still a novel. They can edit it as much as they want and publish it should they choose. Plus, the editing process is a lot easier with serials because you are always writing for an audience.



B: Because I have delivered my serial every week as I have committed myself to do so.



P: Let's hope! I plan on being more active in the challenge after the holiday season. Come New Years, I intend to use the club as part of another project I did... last year maybe? The NovYears. I will use serial writing to encourage novel writing as well, basically. Plus, I hope to get more people who are interested in running the club together so that I don't have to monitor it all of the time. I've been having to wean myself away from YWS lately because of school and TKD and getting ready for ACTs and family and the like. *gasps for air*
B: I don't know.

Now this is me being inspired to write a serial – hold back Kitty! Don’t go for it!

I will now thank these two awesome people for an interview so wonderful! Blackwood, you’re answers were short and sweet.
Hope all of you get a great, fun time for Christmas! Happy New Year’s or Merry Christmas!

NEW ARRIVALS
written by Knight Teen < PM: >


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

@PenAndSword, who was once having Logan withdrawels, is going to get a fix this week. Since joining us, this awesome user has already reached the status of Junior Writer in the Forums, and written twenty-nine reviews in addition to posting several works of poetry. Check out the portfolio and welcome this awesome author!

@Odysseuss310 has, since joining us written some nice reviews and posted some rather...interesting works. Click the name to take a look at this writer!

@JakAnthony is pretty much in the same boat as Odysseuss, only he hasn't written anything yet! Visit with him and get him writing, I want to see what this guy can do!

@Kanome has written us a story about a girl inside Mafia territory . (Warning, rating is 16+) From skimming her first seven reviews, (which are very good) I can tell that we have a keeper in this one.





@ulala8 • @Utopia • @MythMalefacteress9 • @mahusername • @tanverrxd • @anjanaa • @jharbison • @Athina94 • @alycat13 • @RyanJWilliams • @Daizyrose12 • @ClydeHightower • @taytaywuv • @BennyKH • @MeganNicole • @moonbeams • @McSlothington • @TheCowboyAustin • @shinethroughthedark • @Jay57 • @societydefinedbeauty • @allick1 • @JAlden35 • @Meowington • @suigeneris • @NikiGomez • @livelysentences • @creativstarDasia • @jmrburgat • @chrisluo12 • @Meddle • @Potholes • @KatyBrown • @Mckennamarie1170 • @BinayKoushiq • @Amber94 • @dbishop0027 • @jcbutterrtoast • @Sinaryn • @Michael27 • @maweindbcd03 • @AlexDarke • @Tesaa96 • @Segreto • @selena1227 • @BurgandyMad • @saf0313 • @haylesbales • @beepbopboop • @Themaddcater • @dannympoter • @RachelReeck • @DanBrownIII • @Carmella • @BucknerSar • @RainMidnight • @ChynaRyder • @thegirlwhowrites • @truealpha • @doctorv • @salmaa • @JillianM • @PoemPerfectionator • @raj86 • @leofunes777 • @Ravaien • @Sam20045 • @PeaceNyumbaiza • @BiscutsBatchAvoy • @DarthTedious44 • @AlexSmith • @Brinahardmo • @averiemac • @RavenclawStarkid13 • @ocw2021 • @FollowTheLight • @Jessheeran • @iceangel26 • @Haileywhy • @Cupcake5556 • @SilhouettedRider • @IamaHuman • @RefreshingDemise • @CallMeMorris • @kat13254

THIS WEEK'S ROUNDUP – 12/22
written by: megsug < PM: >

Ho ho ho! I left some links under the tree.


Most people have their Christmas decorations up by this time of year. Show us a picture of yours! Comment on the trees or complain about how your Christmas-y plans were foiled by some unfortunate scrooge-ish happening. @AlexSushiDog's reminds me of the tree in Charlie Brown.



I want to see your tree too!


A lot of people have heard about A&E's response to Phil Robertson talking about his views on homosexuality. Did A&E do the right thing by suspending him? Is Phil in the wrong for expressing his opinion? I agree with @Cole:






@Karzkin thinks A&E are in the right while @EloquentDragon and @misstoria say free speech is important no matter the opinion being stated. What do you think?


Oh my goodness. A Christmas themed challenge! You'll be getting this a bit late, but it's never too late! Write a short story for every day in the "12 Days of Christmas." @Auxiira gives us a few more rules:






1000 words a day is easy peasy! Rise to the challenge today~


With all of the exciting Christmas festivities, It's easy to forget that New Year's is around the corner. @Elinor Brynn reminds us with a contest! Just write a short story under 1,000 words that takes place on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. There are some fantastic prizes which Elinor shares with us:






The only other condition is a PG-13 rating. Have your stories in by January 31st!

SHAMELESS PLUGS

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SUBSCRIBERS

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