So, me, Shaun, Lyk, and the other mods have been discussion a potential newsletter for a little bit, and now we're really hoping to get things rolling pretty soon. So, I was wondering, what would you guys like to see in a newsletter? Please, don't hold anything back. This letter is for the members of the site so you should feel free to suggest what you think is appropriate and useful.

Hmmm.... difficult. YWO hasn't had a lot of "news" as of late.

If you had a monthly contest, the newsletter could be where winners were announced.

If anything interesting was posted in the brag thread--related to literature, think publications--the newsletter would be a good place to promote those individuals' work as well.

You can have maybe a short (emphasis on short) article related to the craft of prose / poetry / etc. Like an essay abstract. Anything longer, then you're taking a dip into journal/zine territory.

* biography pieces that celebrate authors (either emerging or established) that have won a particular prize or released a book, etc
* Interviews with YWO writers
* book reviews
* This User's top ten favourite poems/books
* Musings on literature in general
* Analyses of poems, or a short story, etc
* Could think about posting the most useful guides

Have users submit these. Get them involved. There's not enough YWO specific news to gather interest, in my opinion, so open it up.

Maybe have a small "newbie section" where you introduce the most active newbies for that period. That way, the older members will know who's really serious and here to stay. This is dependent on how many new users are active, anyway.

Literary announcements--who has passed (RIP Philip Levine), who has won the Pulitzer, etc.

Just throwing this out there, but perhaps a "Stats" section: who submitted the most poems? stories? chapters? in the time period. Who had the most critiques? I'd find that pretty interesting. Maybe just me.

I like the ideas that Raconteur recommended; just to let you know, Dabs. The only other thing I'd want to see would be short writing challenges to all forms, including poetry, short story, novel, lyrics, plays, essays, and whatever else you'd like to add. I can see where that'd be difficult in the long term, but you did say to go all out

I'd maybe like to see fun things, too.

Like riddles or quick tips or short activities that would help get our minds into a writing mood. They can be cheesy or anything, just short and interesting.

For example:

• List of open-ended interview questions for a character
• Word cloud of fantastic vocabulary to include
• A challenge to write in red text or purple ink to mix things up
• Instructions for making macaroni maps

I also really like the idea of a stats section and a newbie section-- some sort of recognition for newest active members. Perhaps if they wanted to do an informal interview? I mean, there's the introduction threads still, so. I don't know.

A newsletter could turn out pretty cool.

Originally Posted by Keladry For example: List of open-ended interview questions for a character Word cloud of fantastic vocabulary to include A challenge to write in red text or purple ink to mix things up Instructions for making macaroni maps I also really like the idea of a stats section and a newbie section-- some sort of recognition for newest active members. Perhaps if they wanted to do an informal interview? I mean, there's the introduction threads still, so. I don't know. A newsletter could turn out pretty cool.

But not the 'facebook notes' type of interview questions


the interview or 'user spotlight' has been talked about for ages and I'd to see it happen, I think Shaun was going to be the first 'user' to be spotlighted because he's at the top.

Some kind of "Today in Literature" section, highlighting any news in the literary world.

Member of the Month?

Is this newsletter going to be a daily, weekly or monthly kind of thing? I would think a weekly newsletter is best.

It would be monthly since I would like to maintain my life outside this website.

Originally Posted by Dabs It would be monthly since I would like to maintain my life outside this website.

Oh, right, well I was also wondering then how many people would work on it. Just one person and then it alternates? One person for each section? Do only mods/admins get to write the newsletter?

There aren't any rules at the moment, but I'm happy to have help from people who want to contribute. The point is to just gather ideas, right now, and see what people want from this.

This sounds like a great idea! I reckon it would be really interesting for a lot of people.