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The likability of a character is perhaps the most contested facet of fiction. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in the Young Adult genre of fiction. Even though immoral or flawed characters have existed as long as storytelling, there has been a recent boom in popularity for the archetypes of the anti-villain and anti-hero. The question is not what makes just any character likable, but what makes an immoral character likable? The prefix ‘anti’ means ‘against’; however, this does not mean that an anti-villain is against villainy or that an anti hero is against heroism. An anti-villain is a character who does bad things for good reasons, and an anti-hero is a character who does good things for bad reasons. In Six of Crows the main character Kaz Brekker’s most famously violent moments is removing the eyeball of a man who hurt his love interest. On the other side of the coin, Alistar Lowe is the very person to attack his love interest. He curses her to suffering in a body that can not die but has no heartbeat. Both characters speak about their own self perception as villainous characters in the text. For example, Kaz Brekker states, “When everyone knows you're a monster, you needn't waste time doing every monstrous thing.” (Bardugo, 42). Meanwhile, Alistar Lowe claims, “Monsters couldn’t harm you if you were a monster, too.” (Foody, 80). It is this second quote that is quintessential to the understanding of pop culture’s love for anti-villains. Both characters are acting in ways that are unethical, yet justified by their backstories. This is the key to their popularity or their likability according to readers. It isn’t about the way the character’s behave, but why they behave that way. Lynn Zubernis, a professor and licensed psychologist with a Ph.D in psychology, researched into the worlds of fiction and wrote the article: Why do we Root for the Anti-Hero?. In the article, she states, “This is one of the reasons fans are often attracted to fictional villains. When characters possess rich, complex psychology, that helps fans connect to them. If a character is complex enough, it challenges viewers’ capacity for understanding others’ beliefs and desires, known as theory of mind. (Zubernis, 6). A character can commit egregious acts, and readers can recognize those acts as wrong but still adore them regardless. Why? Ethical standards appear far looser for characters than people in real life. Why is this? Moral Blindfolds and Ethical Reflections: Imagination, Ethics and Film by Matthew Thorpe states that there exists both, “the simultaneous imagining of the fictional world from within the perspective of a character, and how things are independently from the way that he or she experiences it” (Thorpe, 221). There is a difference between how the world is, how the character perceives it, and how the readers are able to perceive the picture as a whole. From there it is up to the reader to play jury and determine what actions are right and wrong, justified or not. Morality as a term implies clear lines drawn that define the differences between good and evil. Various ethical theories prove that those lines are not as stark as they may initially seem. In the world of fiction, there is a third variable that factors into readers approval of a character or choice: likeability. If a character is likeable enough, their offenses may be outweighed by fan adoration. As Thorpe stated, people are capable of holding the objective facts in one hand and their opinions of a character in another. In the end, there will always be a level of subjectivity to the likability of characters in fiction. Both of the aforementioned characters commit deplorable deeds, yet are beloved by readers. The popularity of the anti-villain archetype speaks volumes to a paradoxical situation where there is a love for the villain but hatred of the villainy. In the end, many readers are drawn to characters who are not only imperfect but complex in their imperfections. There is no denying that anti-villains and anti-heroes alike push this idea to a further extreme. They are fascinating character archetypes that defy the traditional ethical values of the populace yet have won the hearts of millions nonetheless. Complexity lies at the heart of likeability. Works Cited: Bardugo, Leigh. Six of Crows. Thorndike Press, a Part of Gale, a Cengage Company, 2015. Foody, Amanda, and Christine Lynn Herman. All of Us Villains. Hachette Australia, 2021. Thorpe, Matthew. Moral Blindfolds and Ethical Reflections: Imagination, Ethics and Film. University of Kent, 2012. ​​Zubernis, Lynn. “Why Do We Root for the Anti-Hero?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 9 Jan. 2023, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-science-of-fandom/202301/why-do-we-root-for-the-anti-hero. To learn more about the author, check out @cryptic.cryptid.write

Are you looking for a way to expand your writing portfolio? Do you have opinions about the writing industry that you want to share with others, but don’t know how? Then we’ve got the perfect opportunity for you! Our blog is open year-round to submissions about everything from indie author interviews to opinionated articles. Here, we target new and aspiring authors to help them gain experience, whether that be submitting their pieces or publishing. What happens after I submit? Well, it’s a simple process. We will read through and analyse your work. This is usually done by only one Head of Content. If your piece fits the kind of content we publish and the writing style is appealing, we will pitch it to the other Heads of Content and discuss whether to accept it or not. What if I get rejected? There's no shame in that! Rejection is an integral part of expanding your writing portfolio and a great learning experience. If you have a 100% success rate, you won’t grow in your writing. Our team is committed to being professional when working with outside writers and we understand the sting rejection brings. Don’t be afraid of failure and take the risk. When the day comes that you have another article for us to read, we’ll accept it eagerly! It’s important to remember that rejections aren’t a mark of your writing at all. Rather, they are an expression of our tastes. For example, we were approached with an idea for an article about healing and wellness. While the article itself was written splendidly, it did not tie in with our magazine’s theme of publishing articles related to the writing and reading industry. So if you get rejected, maybe it just means you haven’t found the right idea yet :) What if I get accepted? We’ll send an official email to you confirming your acceptance. From then on, we will work together to polish and then publish your work. Whether that be going through one round of editing or more, we’re here to help you improve! Once the editing and revising process is over, we will send another email detailing the date your article gets published and the link to our blog page. Once the post is published, it’ll be shared on our social media to ensure your work gets the best possible reception we can offer! Want to know what our Heads of the Blog Department would like to see? Smrithi: The best kind of blogs are the ones with varied opinions and yet a common theme running throughout. All our blog posts share one trait that is evident from the post itself: the author’s passion for writing. Whether they are discussing their opinions on modern love interests or interviewing an indie author about how they published their book or giving readers ideas to inspire their writing, all of these authors genuinely love writing and want to give back to the writing community. So if you are submitting to us, this is what I want to see in your work. I want to see this passion. That means your article has to be written in your voice, and shouldn’t read like a forty-year-old academic who just swallowed a thesaurus. Don’t be afraid to be humorous in your submissions, don’t worry about whether you sound too “cringe” or informal. Our magazine is for teens after all; we don’t mind a dad joke every now and then :). With regards to specific posts I want to see, I love opinions of any kind! Give me all your hot takes on the latest booktok obsession. I also adore insightful posts that tell me something I don’t know. Think of Jeannie’s posts on historical references and obscure artwork. Enlighten me, dazzle me, and inspire me. Good luck <3 Jeannie: I love reading articles written distinctively in the author’s style. As an aspiring author myself, I often suffer from writing burnout and require inspiration. This is why I chose to write articles such as Artwork to Inspire Your Writing and Obscure Historical Ideas to Inspire Your Writing. I also enjoy reading about people’s niche opinions about the reading/writing community. If your article includes proper citation, grammar, and action for readers (if possible!), then it will make my editing process with you so much easier. Good luck with your submissions! Madhusree: Opinions. I adore articles examining different viewpoints, especially when contextualised with the current trends in literature. I enjoy articles examining the portrayal of society in the literary world - whether it is good, bad, or the ugly. Sharp writing, engaging narratives and a passionate voice, that is the trifecta for me. Not sure where to start? Here are some ideas: Trope glorification Writing how-to’s (ie, take a specific subtopic of writing and craft a guide for it) Indie author interviews Opinion pieces about trending topics Important issues like AI, plagiarism, copyright and more (If you’re a published author) publishing insights No matter what article you submit, we’ll give it a chance! You have absolutely nothing to lose, and everything to gain, so why not submit? You can check out our submission guidelines here and submit your work here. Look to the stars, and perhaps one day you’ll find your article among them. To learn more about the authors, check out @sj_writessss and @theunwrittenstories101 on instagram

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has recently experienced an enormous growth, since many avant-garde industries and companies are investing in its perfection and refinement. It’s undeniable that AI is useful for many things, but since it became trendy, there has been a debate on whether it should be used or not, and in what disciplines is there a room for AI. One of the most remarkable differences of opinion is between artists and AI apologists, and one of the aspects I find most interesting is the growing presence of writers that use AI in their work. To approach this questionable issue, we have to analyze it from the beginning, I mean, to ask ourselves what we think of when we think of art, what or who makes art art, and what’s the relationship between art and humans. For me, art is the materialization of perseverance. It is the idea of loving something so much, regardless of its nature, that we have to put it into words, into a canvas, or a sculpture, or notes on a pentagram. It is the concept of spending time and effort doing something inherently futile just to keep our sanity and our happiness, because it’s something that lets us live more than life itself. Writing, specifically, allows us to display our fears and deepest wishes, clear our heads, go places we can’t go otherwise. It’s a way of not letting dreams die when we turn fifteen. Then, what is art? Art is human, it’s born from pain and peace; it’s full of sweat, and years of keyboard smashes and erased strokes. But AI is the polar opposite of this. It’s empty, automatic, and cold. It focuses on the result, and the creative process is expendable because it’s less profitable than the automatic product. It takes away all the emotion human art conveys, and it’s ultimately an insult to artists, because it equates years of dedication to some combination of prompts and a database. This implies there is an established way of doing art, or an universal one, and invalidates or ignores experiences. It erases individuality because, for AI, writing beautifully doesn’t require great knowledge or many books to read, only the words of (usually stolen) works by previous artists. This virtual puzzle tries hard to imitate human art, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t represent any of us. And it may not be illegal plagiarism, but it is plagiarism at its core, a mimicking as an avoidance of the lack of creativity. Obviously, this has had an impact on writers, because it creates the illusion that wherever our art is, there is also a machine which does the same work. Scenes and dialogues can now be generated by AI, as well as story prompts, and when we actually sit before a blank page, we can’t help but think that the machine could do it better, and we’re worthless, and maybe not needed anymore. This has happened to artists now, who had already written pieces before the appearance of AI, so I cannot imagine what will happen when kids start typing their ideas into a purple prose generator instead of keeping awful diaries with the worst metaphors ever. Although my take on AI is skeptical and I am mainly against it, I do recognise the fact that it is a useful tool, at least in writing. But in my opinion, its use should be limited to consulting, rewording and generating prompts for our stories, like we would use a thesaurus or ask our friend about a certain phrase. The problem is when it starts looking more like a ghost-writing device, in which case I believe the author's credit isn't well deserved. It's fine to need a source of inspiration, but there must be some talent in our pieces, there has to be something that is ours because otherwise, not only will the machine be the protagonist, but our identity will also fade and disappear. It erases the growth, the process of finding the right words and creating your own rabbit hole with little bricks made of sentences you hear and experiences you live. It separates the art from the artist to the point where there’s no artist, and no receptor who needs it, it’s from nobody to nobody. That is a very curious thing, because art is, and has always been about non-conformism and rebelliousness; it has always been about jumping out of the norm just because the norm bothered us. There is just something that doesn’t feel right about the fact that those who make art now are also the corporations that control our wages, when it always used to be the other way around. After all, we need those corny metaphors, those handwritten letters and the diaries wherein we created our first stories. We need the Wattpad drafts, unfinished poemaries and crumpled up papers, because art is not linear, it’s a giant palimpsest. What writers are now is not new, it is what has evolved from all the previous plot holes, what we have worked on perfecting for so long. And we cannot let Artificial Intelligence take that away from us. We can’t unbind ourselves from our effort so easily. We have to fight back, and the only way we can do it is by being the best artists we can be. Yes, by continuing to work hard on our creations by not letting it hurt us, and being stronger than whatever is coming. Because no matter what, no one is going to write your story better than you can. Why? Because it’s yours. So don’t give up, because every mistake of yours is worth more than a million automatically generated successes. Follow us @rewritethestarsreview for more blog posts like these!

by Jeannie Lam Trigger Warnings: Gore/blood, rape Writing, a way of storytelling, is often associated with reading. But what most people don’t think about is the similarities between writing and art. Behind each art piece is a multifaceted meaning or a story that is integral to the artwork. Despite their physical differences, writing and art are very akin to each other. There is much to learn from art which could help improve your writing. Here are some examples and how they could apply to your work in progress: A Huguenot by John Everett Millais You may have noticed the woman’s odd facial expression at first glance but chalked it off as something insignificant. However, this curious look is not a trick of the light. There is a much deeper and more sorrowful story behind this story. Why is she tying an armband on her lover’s arm? And why does it seem as if he is tugging the strip of cloth off? What does the white cloth mean? And why does the man look so in love, while his lover is in despair? The woman is Catholic, and she is currently trying to put a white armband on her Protestant lover’s arm. This painting is a scene moments before horror hits. It refers to St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, where thousands of Protestants were killed. Only a few of them managed to escape the city because they were wearing white armbands. Perhaps he escaped. Perhaps he didn’t. What would you do if you were writing out this scene? Is it a doomed love story - cursed longing for someone who would never truly belong to you? Did the man pass away in the woman’s arms if he died? Or were they separated, never to touch each other again? What goes through her head? Why didn’t he let her put on the armband, despite knowing it was the way to being saved? There is so much going on in the painting, from the historical background to the way they look at one another. Notice the tragically beautiful juxtaposition that happens: the woman realising death was the only option and the look of pure love the man gives his lover. What happens next…? The Roses of Heliogabalus by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema This is most certainly a beautiful painting, from the vibrant petals to the tranquil landscape. But then, you look closer at the facial expressions of the people buried in the flowers and think…what is happening? Well, the guests are dying due to asphyxiation. There are so many rose petals that it is choking the guests! All the while, Emperor Heliogabalus watches this scene unfold from where he reclines at the table (left) with an expression of utter carelessness. Hasn’t the pretty painting turned horrifying real quick? What would you do if you were writing this scene? Would you write about the ironically beautiful death, or will you focus on the terror and understanding of the people? Is there symbolism in the type of flowers? Will you focus on Heliogabalus? Was he misunderstood, or simply tyrannical? Or will you focus on the backstories of the people? Were they going home to a loving wife and family? Judith Beheading Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi One glance, and you can already tell that there must be a gruesome story behind this painting. Judith (right), the heroine of this tale, has snuck into the Assyrian war camp to behead their general, Holofernes (middle). But for this artwork, part of the story lies within the painter, Artemisia Gentileschi, who was one of the only female artists of her time. When Gentileschi was young, she was raped, which many people think inspired how she painted the piece. Put yourself into your character. If you were faced with their problems and circumstances, what would you do? What parts of your story were impacted by your personal life? How can you use your experience to make the narrative more realistic? The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard No doubt, this is a beautiful, light-hearted painting. The woman on the swing seems to be having the time of her life, kicking her legs towards the joyous sun. But then you notice the man in the painting. Two men. One stands behind her, shrouded in shadows, and the other playfully stretches his arms out to his lover. His lover, not wife, like she is to the man in the shadows. An affair is brewing, and the statues nearby know it. One of them, a putto (winged baby that represents love), holds a finger to his mouth. Interestingly enough, the rose, commonly known to symbolise love, also represents secrecy. Think about how you can take your novel to the next level with the levels of depth. How can you play with symbolism and make your literary devices multi-faceted? In addition, think about what secrets your characters will take to the grave to make them more realistic. The Lady of Shalott by John Willian Waterhouse This painting is based on the poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson. ‘The Lady of Shalott’ is based on Arthurian legends and tells the story of a woman with the same name who is cursed to never look at Camelot (King Arthur’s fictional castle). One day, upon seeing the face of Sir Lancelot, she falls in love and her curse falls upon her. The Lady then gets into a boat with the realisation of death approaching her quickly. Around the boat, you can see symbolism pointing to the Lady of Shalott nearing the end of cursed life. For example, fallen leaves, representing a fallen woman, litter the river bed. Her anguished expression and the dull background colours add to the downtrodden feeling of the painting. What do the objects in the art mean to the Lady? Why did she get into the boat? How do facial expressions and descriptions add to the overall feeling of your book? Delve into the backstories of your characters: Why was the Lady of Shalott cursed, and how did she live with it? What these artworks teach us is to think deeply about the thought process of your characters and their background. Don’t simply stick a label on them and call it a day. Treat them as if they are real people. Dig deeper into their character and personality, and once you do so, there will be a deeper layer to your writing - just like art. To Learn more about the author, check out @sj_writessss on instagram.

by Jeannie Lam The mundaneness of being in writer’s block hits you hard. Every day, you make an attempt to continue writing, but your mind just can’t seem to find anything you’re passionate about, no matter how far you reach into the depths of your head. You’re desperate for an idea, but it can’t just be any idea. It has to be something original, something the general public hasn’t heard of before. What if I told you that your next greatest inspiration will come from history? History may seem tedious and distanced - which it is to some. But let me open your eyes and bring you to the past to show a time that you can bring to life. The Kandakes of Meroe The Kandakes (or Candaces) of Meroe were a series of queens who ruled the Kingdom of Kush (Sudan) around 284 BCE. Before the Kandakes were a series of kings that ruled, but after King Arkamani I changed the rules, women’s power over the country increased. Shanakdakhete was one of the queens who ruled by herself. She also lead her armies into battle and brought Meroe to prosperity. Amanirenas is the one-eyed queen who guided peace talks with Augustus Caesar after the Merotic War. When the Roman prefect Gaius Petronius attacked Kush, she once again brought her negotiation skills to the table without flinching from the aggression. During her time in Egypt, she brought back a statue of Augustus that she buried under a flight of stairs so that civilians would trample his head. These powerful women remain unknown to most people. This makes them the perfect story to retell now. How did Shanakdakhete achieve independence and what did the public think of it? What did Amanirenas think when she fought during the Merotic War? Bronze Age Collapse The Bronze Age is known as one of the three periods of prehistory. When it happened around 3000 BCE - 1200 BCE was when humans started using metals such as bronze. They crafted items like the wheel and weapons. But then this prosperous time stopped. The Bronze Age suddenly ended around 1200 BC. No living person is sure of the reason why. Civilisations all across the world suffered, with their cities forgotten and trade routes abandoned. But what truly happened? What did the people living during that time have to face? Were there stories of love and desperation? With the mystery shrouded around this time, it offers a way to pique the reader’s interest and inspire you to question the problem yourself. The Romanov Family The Romanovs were the royal family who lead Russia in 1900. Czar Nicholas II had four daughters and one son, Alexei. The young boy had inherited haemophilia, a blood disease that made the only heir weak. Desperation to cure him helped his mother, Alexandra, believed the holy man Grigori Rasputin could heal him of his ailments. Due to Rasputin’s influence over the royal family, the public raged at him and he was eventually murdered in 1916. Some say he was a fake, others said he performed miracles. But what was he? After years of civil unrest in Russia, the Romanovs were sentenced to death. Soon, they were murdered by the firing squad and were buried. There, they laid forgotten until they were discovered in a grave in 1991. But many believed that Czar Nicholas’ daughter, Anastasia, managed to escape death. Many women have claimed to be her, but none were backed by evidence. So what do you think? Did the family escape execution? If they did, then how? How would they have survived the World Wars? History itself is filled to the brim with countless stories, some forgotten, others thought of daily. As you finish this article, it's important to remember that history is not just plain facts. It is a person’s life: their love, hope, and despair, all bound into a neat sentence. Go wild with your ideas. Bring them back to life. To learn more about the author, check out @sj_writessss on instagram.

In preparation for Issue 5: Jabberwocky, our wackiest issue yet, I have created a list of wacky quotes to inspire your writing. This issue is all about embracing anything fun, weird, and wacky, and these quotes reflect that. It’s important to embrace all writing, even the silly kind. Of course these quotes can be used to inspire any writing, not exclusively any for Issue 5. Whether you choose to submit your wacky writing to Issue 5 or not, I hope these quotes can help! “People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” - A.A. Milne “When life gives you lemons, squirt someone in the eye.” - Cathy Guisewite “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” - Steve Martin “Not my circus, not my monkeys. But I definitely know the clowns.” - Unknown “It was me. I let the dogs out” - Unknown “A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.” - Baltasar Gracián “Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?” - Edgar Bergen “I hope someday to write something worth plagiarizing.” - Shubhranshu Sharma “Money can’t buy love, but it improves your bargaining position” - Christopher Marlowe “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” - Will Rogers “The closest to perfection a person ever comes is when he fills out a job application form.” - Stanley J. Randall “It feels like the sky just sweated on me.” - Hailey (nine years old) “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow just as well.” - Mark Twain “You can spend your whole life trying to be popular, but at the end of the day, the size of the crowd at your funeral will be largely dictated by the weather.” - Frank Skinner “Everyone has a purpose in life. Perhaps yours is watching television.” - David Letterman “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” - Vince Lombardi “Friendship is being there when someone’s feeling low and not being afraid to kick them.” - Randy K. Milholland “Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves?” - Robin Williams “Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow internet service to see who they really are.” - Will Ferrell “I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.” - Benjamin Franklin “I need a six month vacation twice a year.” - Anonymous “If at first you don’t succeed, find if the loser gets anything.” - William Lyon Phelps “I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.” - Steven Wright “I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.” - Fred Allen “If you’re too open-minded; your brains will fall out.” - Lawrence Ferlinghetti “If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments.” - Steven Wright “The first time I see a jogger smiling, I’ll consider it.” - Joan Rivers “When nothing is going right, go left.” - Unknown “The word abbreviation sure is long for what it means.” - Zach Galifianakis “Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” - Elbert Hubbard “You know the trouble with real life? There’s no danger music.” - Jim Carrey “I learn from the mistakes of people who took my advice.” - Pakalu Papito “I walk around like everything is fine, but deep down, inside my shoe, my sock is sliding off.” - Unknown “Am I perfect? No. But am I striving to be a better person every day? Also no.” - Unknown “We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.” - Bryan White “To succeed in life you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone. - Reba McEntire “Two wrongs don’t make a right, but they make a good excuse.” - Thomas Stephen Szasz “The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one.” - Emma Bombeck “I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.” - Arthur C. Clarke “My favorite machine at the gym is the vending machine.” - Caroline Rhea “I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.” - Charles Lamb “Life is hard. After all, it kills you.” - Katharine Hepburn “Marriage is the chief cause of divorce.” - Groucho Marx “I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson “When I was a boy the Dead Sea was only sick.” - George Burns “Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.” - Douglas Adams “Can a cell in a cell sell ramen to a cell that sells cells?” - Sunny and friends I hope this post helped inspire you to create the wackiest story ever! Submissions for Issue 5 open on August 31st, and end on September 30. Follow us at @rewritethestarsreview on Instagram for more information! To learn more about the author, check out @clay_crafts_art_on instagram

I’m sure most of you have heard of the climate issue in some way. Maybe you learned about global warming and climate change in school, or you’ve read an article about the dangers of greenhouse gasses and fossil fuels. But did you know that you can help lessen the extent of damage done by these things by only changing small things in your day-to-day life? I would also like to add a disclaimer that most people contribute very little to the climate issue in comparison to some large companies. That being said, please don't feel guilty if you contribute to the climate issue. Many larger factors contribute much more than the general public, but it's still important to try and help. This is all to raise awareness! What is the Climate Issue? Before we start getting into more detail about the climate issue and talking about what you can do to help, let’s discuss what it is. This problem is often known as and associated with climate change and global warming. These two things have similar meanings. If explained simply, they are all based around how the earth’s climate is becoming warmer due to human activity. Now, let’s talk about why exactly this is happening. One of the main causes of climate change is greenhouse gasses, which are created by the carbon emissions burning fossil fuels creates. Over 30 metric tons of fossil fuels are burned annually. Fossil fuels include oil, coal, and natural gas. Greenhouse gasses create a kind of “blanket” around the earth, trapping the sun’s warmth inside and creating what is called a greenhouse effect. Over time this raises the earth’s temperature, leading to the climate issue. So far, Earth's temperature has increased 33.98 degrees Fahrenheit or 1.1 degrees celsius since the late 1800s. One of the reasons greenhouse gasses are so impactful today is because of deforestation. It's estimated that 15 billion trees are cut down each year, and over 30 million of these trees are used to produce books. Trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and create oxygen during photosynthesis, which lessens the amount of greenhouse gasses in the air and provides us with more oxygen. Some things that emit fossil fuels into the atmosphere include transportation, agriculture, and industrial purposes. According to The USEPA in 2021, agriculture contributed 10%, transportation contributed 28%, electric power contributed 25%, industry contributed 23%, and commercial & residential contributed 13% to the United States' greenhouse gas emissions. Of course, there are other human-related causes of the climate issue, but greenhouse gasses are one of the largest contributors today. Why you should help The climate issue will not only affect the environment, wildlife, and the earth but also humans. Because the earth’s temperature is increasing, ice caps and glaciers are melting and will continue to melt. This causes the ocean levels to rise, which will put coastal areas under water and potentially even almost all land on earth. This will affect humans because the land, resources, and wildlife in these areas will be gone or difficult to access. The climate issue will also cause the weather to become more unpredictable, leading to dangerous weather such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes all becoming more common. This will affect our safety, the safety of wildlife, and possibly threaten our water and food supply. Also, the more burning of fossil fuels and carbon emissions increase, the more our air quality will decrease. This will make going outside unsafe for children, people with breathing conditions, and potentially everyone. It could also lead to long-term health problems. All of these events will also make it hard for plants and animals to survive, which creates food shortages for people. Although the climate issue is caused by both natural events and changes, the main contributor today is human activity. This is why it’s important to educate ourselves and do what we can to help! How you can help Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. They’re in that order for a reason! They are ordered from what makes the most of an impact, to what makes the least of an impact. The first step you should try to take is to reduce your plastic use and waste. You can do this by using environmentally friendly products. Environmentally friendly products include things such as reusable bags, reusable cups and water bottles, wax wraps/covers, clothing made with recycled fabric, products with biodegradable packaging (such as paper), and other reusable, recycled, or biodegradable items. that, you should reuse any plastic or waste you use. This can be done by using items for crafts, washing, and disinfection. Please only do this if the item is safe to be used again! Finally, you should recycle anything that you’re able to. Make sure the item is recyclable, and check the recycling guidelines in your area. Use journals and notebooks made of recycled materials. These can be a great way to draw, write, take notes, complete schoolwork, etc. while helping the environment! There are many journals and notebooks made with recycled plastic and paper out there. You can find some through many online small businesses, and occasionally larger companies. Speak up and support others who are trying to help. There are many programs, communities, petitions, etc. out there that you can get involved in. A quick Google or social media search can direct you to some of these. You can also spread the word about how to help with the climate issue to others. If you happen to be a writer, you can raise awareness through your writing. Avoid buying paper copies of books. The production of books contributes a lot to deforestation and carbon emissions. Instead of purchasing paper copies of books, you can purchase online versions. There are many websites and apps that provide books that you can buy in order to support the authors and avoid using unnecessary paper. Reduce energy use at home. You can reduce the amount of energy you use at home by unplugging things if they aren’t being used, turning off lights in rooms you aren’t in, and taking shorter showers. Some of these things can even save you money! Donate books. Donating books to local libraries, bookstores, schools, and friends can help reduce the amount of people purchasing paper copies of books. Sometimes these organizations will even pay for books. This will also allow you to clear up space, and allow others to explore more amazing books. Use public transportation, carpool, or bike/walk places more often. It’s not only good for the environment but in many situations good for yourself to bike and walk places. An alternative to this is carpooling or public transportation. All of these options can help you save money and are beneficial to the environment! Make homemade paper from recycled paper. This is a great way to have fun, create something unique to write or draw on, and help the environment all at the same time! A quick search on the Internet will bring you to many methods, and you'll just have to try some that work best for you. One of the best things about this is that you can personalize your paper as much as you want, and have fun with it. Get food locally. Getting food from farmer's markets, local farmers, and other local sources can help cut back on fossil fuel emissions used during transportation. Getting food from your own garden can help with this even further. Write digitally instead of on paper. After all of the rough drafts and edits made during the writing process, a lot of paper can be used. In order to avoid the unnecessary use of paper and creation of waste, it's better to write digitally. It can also be a much easier and more organized option at times. If you would like to see what your carbon footprint is, and how many Earths we would need to live like you every day, please click here. Just as a quick disclaimer, I do not earn any commission from sharing this link. It is simply a resource that will calculate your carbon footprint, and give you tips on how to decrease it. I hope this resource and article have helped you become more aware about your contribution to the climate issue, and provide you with ways to change for the better. References: United Nations. “What Is Climate Change?” Climate Action, United Nations, www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change. Accessed July 2023. United Nations. “Actions for a Healthy Planet.” Act Now, United Nations, www.un.org/en/actnow/ten-actions#:~:text=Much%20of%20our%20electricity%20and. Accessed July 2023. Biferno , Anya, and Randal Jackson. “Global Warming vs. Climate Change.” Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet, NASA, 26 July 2023, climate.nasa.gov/global-warming-vs-climate-change/. Accessed July 2023. National Geographic. “Climate Change | National Geographic Society.” Education.nationalgeographic.org, National Geographic, education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/climate-change/. Accessed July 2023. ‌US EPA. “Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions | US EPA.” US EPA, 28 Apr. 2023, www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#top. Accessed July 2023. US EPA “The Sources and Solutions: Fossil Fuels.” Www.epa.gov, 20 Jan. 2023, www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/sources-and-solutions-fossil-fuels#:~:text=oxide%20emissions%20include%3A-. Accessed July 2023. The Royal Society. “The Basics of Climate Change.” The Royal Society, royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/basics-of-climate-change/. Accessed July 2023. ‌‌Onya. “48 Eco Friendly Products You Can Buy Today to Help Stop Plastic Pollution.” Onya Life, 20 July 2017, www.onyalife.com/eco-friendly-products/. Accessed Aug. 2023. B-cap. “Eco-Friendly Products: 6 Examples of Daily Product.” B-CAP, 2018, b-cap.eu/environmentally-friendly-products-5-examples-of-daily-products/. Accessed Aug. 2023. ‌Faiz, Muhaiminah. “How to Make Paper (Easy Method of Making Recycled Paper).” The Craftaholic Witch, 30 May 2022, www.thecraftaholicwitch.com/how-to-make-paper/. Accessed Aug. 2023. ‌Babcock, May. “Here’s How to Make Handmade Paper from Recycled Materials.” Paperslurry, www.paperslurry.com/2014/05/19/how-to-make-handmade-paper-from-recycled-materials/. Accessed Aug. 2023. ‌ wikiHow. “How to Make Recycled Paper.” WikiHow, 30 May 2023, www.wikihow.com/Make-Recycled-Paper. Accessed Aug. 2023. ‌Talbot, Dean. “Impact of Book Publishing on Environment – WordsRated.” WordsRated, 22 Feb. 2023, wordsrated.com/impact-of-book-publishing-on-environment/#:~:text=For%20the%20US%20alone%2C%20the. Accessed July 2023. ‌Global Footprint Network. “How Many Planets Does It Take to Sustain Your Lifestyle?” Ecological Footprint Calculator, Global Footprint Network, www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en. Accessed July 2023. ‌Kilgore, Georgette. “How Many Trees Cut down Each Year or in 2023? The Deforestation Crisis Explained.” 8BillionTrees.com, 10 July 2023, 8billiontrees.com/trees/how-many-trees-cut-down-each-year/#:~:text=Paper%20Production. Accessed July 2023. ‌World Nuclear Association. “Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Electricity.” Www.world-Nuclear.org, Oct. 2022, www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/energy-and-the-environment/carbon-dioxide-emissions-from-electricity.aspx#:~:text=Worldwide%20emissions%20of%20carbon%20dioxide. Accessed Aug. 2023. To learn more about the author, check out @clay_crafts_art_ on instagram

by Smrithi Senthilnathan Issue IV: Song Of The Earth has garnered such a tremendous response that we wanted to offer you more content on the issue! To further this objective, we explored the stories behind each piece. We talked to the artists responsible for these wonderful creations, and sought the inspiration for each piece. This feature is a glimpse into the minds of these wonderful young artists, as they tell us what their piece meant to them. Let us know in the comments which creators' words resonated with you the most <3 Note: The instagram accounts of the creators are mentioned in brackets for you to check out more of their work. Please do give their work the love it deserves :) POETRY Elisabeth D - i wish i could heal you (@bethowdiewrites) I'd like to say this is an ecological poem. It is about wanting to give back to our common home, Earth, despite the hard times. I think it's a good fit for the magazine because everyone can relate to it, no matter the country, no matter the age. I'm personally a teenager and I'm hopeful we can heal Earth if we all work for it, and I hope other teens will too. Teresa M Medina - Soil and Soul It doesn't have a direct inspiration, but I'm sure everyone has ever put their feet on the grass, or walked through the woods, and wondered what would it be like to stay there forever, and grow roots somewhere in the wild. This poem tries to reflect that desire to merge with the trees and the sand and everything around us, because that would be more peaceful and just easier for us. I think it fits the theme because it talks about the way we connect with the earth and how we feel a part of it even if our lives don't take place there directly. I think that is something that never dies, and whenever we have the chance, we feel it, and that is what makes us love it and try to protect it. Kiran - Emerald Dreams (@folklxrei) I was inspired by the natural disasters, as morbid as it sounds. I wanted to draw attention toward how losing feels, even when it isn’t a person. A forest, in this poem, has the same sentimental value as a person to the narrator. The poem is also about rage, and how we blind ourselves to our future for a transitorily comfortable present. Arryn Liu - Earth Song & Good Intentions (@arrynnat_the_peculiar) For ‘Earth Song’, I thought about the beauty of the Earth and how people including myself have done things to harm it in spite of how much we claim to love our planet, which all contribute to global warming. Thus, I wrote down the feelings of remorse and guilt associated with this in the poem. Then for ‘Good Intentions’, as someone who really likes turtles, I have always felt like I needed to say something about the practice of ‘mercy releases’ by certain Buddhists who don’t know any better when they release invasive/ non-native species of animals into the wrong types of habitats for the sake of good karma, ironically causing ecological destruction and unnecessary suffering. As such, I wrote this piece from the perspective of a red-eared slider—a common freshwater turtle—who has been wrongly released into the sea and is thus in pain and angry about his treatment and the hypocrisy and ignorance of the humans who did this to him. To sum things up, both pieces are supposed to reflect how the complacency, ignorance and hypocrisy of humans have harmed the earth and its other animal inhabitants whatever their intentions may be. Tapasya Bhardwaj - Sorry (@laxmisharmabtp123) The poem seems to be simple but it contains a lots of things related to nature. Poets mainly write about human emotions by using nature as metaphor and that's why I have mentioned it in the first two lines of every para/stanza to drag more attention and make it more creative that it is mainly and only about nature and it's beauty. Every stanza symbolises different qualities of nature. It has a lot of elements from nature including sun, aurora, moon etc. etc. I kept it simple because I want the readers to focus on the beautiful things I have included. MG - Melody of Agony (@melifuousgelatoo.writes) Pondering over this issue, I suddenly remember that in the Islamic world creation story, the Earth cried hard and resisted when the Angel tried to take a piece of soil to make humans. That made me realise how cries can be another way you interpret Song of the Earth. Then I also remember how ridiculous it was when Earth day came and we would be told to make save earth; go green posters for school projects when all we did was nothing but wasting papers. I think most students have experienced wasting tons of papers throughout studying at school, which really, can be improved if only the teachers actually cared a bit about the Earth. Ava Palmer - Pondering (@avajanepalmer) This poem is inspired by my growing concern over the state of the world. I like to study astronomy, and so I am in constant reminder of just how brutal our universe is, and how lucky we are to live on a planet as hospitable as Earth. I think this is a problem that affects everyone, but it affects young people most of all, though we are not the ones who caused the problem in the first place. Though it may be easy to live in blissful ignorance of climate change, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. I think young people are worried. We are choking in a fire that we never started. This poem, like many others, is about the beauty and resilience of nature. Life on Earth has survived at least five mass extinctions, and so, there is hope. We live such busy lives, we fail to listen to the Earth, and take the time to experience nature. I wrote this poem as a reminder that life is both finite and resilient. We each possess our own power to change the world, for better or worse. Shamik Banerjee - To A Fountain (@where_tales_end) If I were to attribute this poem to a particular scene or name, the credit would fall short as I have been privileged to see many breathtaking fountains, especially in Northeast India. Not to mention the pristine beauty of the south and its wondrous hills, the short hills of Meghalaya and the sweet melodious streams falling from them had captivated me the most. Nethi - earth. (@venus.in.verse) I feel as if my poem represents the true power of nature and how much nature can mean to us. It is a driving force in all our lives and we should appreciate it for everything it gifts us with. Olajide Overcomer - You Can Not Hear The Earth Speak You can not hear the earth speak explored the disconnection between humans and nature. Humans tend to overlook the beauty in little things of the earth. I aim to emphasize on the significance of even the smallest details in our world, their origin and meaning or the mysteries behind them. A repetition device was used to emphasize on our ignorance. Elisabeth Flett - Callieach (@essaflett) Inspired by the windswept landscape of the Uists in Scotland, this piece of writing is a modern take on the Scottish tale of the Callieach, an ancient folkloric figure known for her power to alter landscapes, throw rocks and change the seasons. What better place for such a wild woman to retire, I thought, than one of the wildest places I know? The addition of a dog was inspired by one of my favourite fictional witches of all time, Tiffany’s Granny from Terry Pratchett’s Wee Free Men series. Elisabeth Flett - Aberdeen Beach (@essaflett) A few years ago I signed up to an online course in witchcraft, interested to know more about the esoteric and explore religious beliefs outside the institutionalised practises of Christianity, the religion with which I grew up. On the night of Halloween we were encouraged to do something which connected us to our ancestors, and as the descendent of Aberdeenshire fishing folk I went down to the beach near where I lived in Aberdeen to look out on the sea where they once worked so many decades previously. The weather was outrageous; a true storm, one that hurled icy rain in my face and stopped my steps with wild, furious wind. Battered and bruised by the elements, I never the less paid the disbelieving taxi driver, stepped into the darkness and screamed my pre-planned spell into the black, my words drowned by the sounds of sea and howling gale. The rest of the experience can only really be described as the unarguable fact that something definitely heard me, and something certainly replied; I even felt a very strong request for the hymn May Your Anchor Hold, which made sense since many of my family were apparently staunch members of the Salvation Army, but tricky for me as someone who had never been to a SA service in my life! The whole experience was otherworldly; afterwards, dripping and shivering in the Pizza Hut bathroom trying to wring saltwater out of my clothes, I wasn’t sure what I’d done or who I’d potentially just met, their ghosts reaching out to me in the dark. This poem is an attempt to describe that lifting of the veil that night, and I love performing it live as a sort of (much drier!) re-imagining of that magical experience. Cyrus Berry - he is my world. (@starchildcy) What inspired me to write this poem was the love me and my partner share. As a teen, I feel like we’re all desperately searching for someone to love us and for someone to love. I want to share my work so others know that it is possible, especially for queer youth. Maggie - Plants Get Tired, Too (@musingsofmaggie) I wrote this poem a year or so ago while prepping for college admissions—I was severely falling into a pit of unreasonable and unhealthy ambition. I rewrote it recently with a kinder narrative; I hope it can serve as a reminder to other teens in that pit that it’s okay and necessary to slow down. Vastriane - The River of Rue (@vastriane) Sophocles' play, "Antigone," was my favorite one out of the Oedipus Rex trilogy. This three-fold tragedy and the intricate manipulation of the Fates of the lives of Antigone, Ismene, and Creon inspired this poem, which originally followed the syntax of Louise Gluck's "The Triumph of Achilles," but with the incorporation of nature elements that symbolized the characters. "Antigone" stuck with me since I read it for the first time for an academic report in high school, mostly because, despite it being a tragedy, I enjoyed the way Aeschylus portrayed the interwoven lives of such differing characters. I believe that it has a certain brilliance, the showcasing of death and love side by side—both so beautiful and haunting—which is what I also want to echo for the young readers. Death is a part of nature, just as love is, as honor, as life, and as the patches of sunlight that shine through the leaves and branches of a tree. I hope that the aforementioned trilogy and my poem serve as reminders that just because death is terrifying doesn't mean it's unnatural. Just different. Finally, as part of the writing community, I also hope that we can write more about death as a part of nature and the many ways we react or reflect on it, so that it won't just be an idea only associated with fear. PROSE Sophia Wang - i want to see the stars one day (@fya.heathers_writes) "i want to see the stars one day" is a tale spun from a few of my deepest thoughts, wishes, and dreams. I have always loved nature, from the stars in the sky to the sparkling waters that reflect them. I love watching sunrises and going camping and walking in the forest. Yet, I have often received implied invalidation for my love of nature and desire to protect it. In my short story, this sentiment is reflected in Angelica's parents' ignoring her dream to travel to Iceland. Moreover, her resolve and courage to defy her parents' expectations embody my goal to free myself from others' critical ideas of my dreams and embrace my willingness to fight to preserve nature. As this piece empowered me, I hope it will also empower other teens to step forward to protect the Earth and all its beauty. Jake Malaya - the last words of the mud nymph (@jake_malaya) When I think of nature, the first thing that comes to my mind is how it's alive and beating, how it's constant and variable. In a way, the earth has its memories. And when you think about it, it's magical and ethereal. Even when we build cities and empires, we always commune with nature and its beauty. After all, we come from it and we also benefit from it. Regardless of where we are from, nature plays a crucial role in our history. This piece calls for us to reflect on the past that has shaped us and to take inspiration from the ground that we walk on. Grace - Symphony of Freedom (@snowflake12374) To me, nature means many different things, and displays many things. One thing it displays well is beauty. However, it crossed my mind that not many have sat down and thought about our relationship with the earth. Not many have appreciated it for what it is and was, at least not in the realm of writing. I tried to solve this in my own way, which inspired my story. I hope other teens can also come to appreciate the wonder of earth, too. CREATIVE NON-FICTION My Soul's Designs - One Breath (@mysoulsdesigns) This story was inspired by my own personal healing journey. From a young age I’ve always questioned society, my purpose, the purpose of life. I felt so constrained and restricted by society. It wasn’t until I began to recognize how we as humans have become so far replaced from nature that I began to come back to myself and heal. It’s my journey of coming back to myself and the Earth. Sunny Solaris - Mother Nature's Revenge (@sunnyyisawriter) This was inspired from one of my school assignments for economics last year from when we were learning about problems going around in the world and one of the topics we explored was the coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef. I'm not so sure about teens relating to it but for myself, helping the Earth is one of the things I fight for. I think that this piece is a good fit for this theme. Smrithi Senthilnathan - The Diminishing Influence of Nature in the Digital World (@theunwrittenstories101) There's no denying our world is becoming hyper-focused on technology and scientific advancement, pushing nature to the background. However this is backfiring on us tremendously. Everyday I wake up to a new climate disaster- either a wildfire or glaciers melting or toxic smoke emissions - the list goes on and on. In such a world, it is important to at least acknowledge what is happening to our country. We cannot take any action if we do not first acknowledge that we need action in the first place. I know this article does not contribute to actually improving the way in any possible. However my goal is to get people talking about the climate disaster. The more people that talk, the more likely people in power are to take proper action. The most useful action can be taken by those in power- and for them to do so we must pressurize them into it. Thus I hope everyone who reads this article continues to spread the word about climate change, and we create enough of a rebellion for actual change to occur.

by Sunny Solaris Featured on our second young authors interview, we have Y.I Turner who was interviewed by Sunny Solaris. You can check him out on Instagram as @author_yiturner. If you want to read his books before they’re published, they’ll be on Wattpad under the username @flamesword01. Sunny: First up! Can you please introduce yourself and your book? Y.I Turner: Alright, I'm Y. I. Turner, an author of character-centric stories across a variety of genres. I've written a lot in action, adventure, and fantasy, but lately have been getting into the thriller genre. My forthcoming novel The Black Rose Insurgency is a thriller, and it centers on a soldier forced to go AWOL for reasons of morality, who proceeds to join a six-piece of insurgents intent on bringing down an oppressive regime. While filled with adrenaline and action worthy of the genre, the book also takes time to explore themes of honor, duty, and unity. A key takeaway from the book is that good will never triumph over evil, if evil governments/organizations/ etc. show themselves to have more unity than those working for the greater good. What was the inspiration for this book? I'm a discovery writer, so what kick-started me down this path was the idea of a deserting soldier. The complicated morality of war has to weigh heavily on those sent out to fight them, and I wanted to explore that in my work. The rest of the story more or less flowed from there; since my protagonist abandoned the army out of principle instead of cowardice, I had to give him a new fight to throw himself into, and hence the plot for the rest of the book. Who are your favourite authors and did they influence your writing, more specifically your book? To be honest, I haven't read as much published fiction as I'd like, and most of my inspiration comes from movies and television instead. Star Wars is a heavy influence for me, as well as several of the Marvel movies, both in and out of the MCU. I'd say for the Black Rose Insurgency in particular, the introduction for the stormtrooper/deserter Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens intrigued me, and I wanted to do my own version of that. Many of the ideas from later in the book are more or less my own beliefs and convictions. Given I wrote the first draft in 2020, during a period of racial tensions in the United States where I live, some of those elements in the story are a sort of reaction to what I felt at the time. How many drafts did you write until you got to this stage? I know it's a no-no in the writing community to edit as you write, but I'm a perfectionist and a completionist, so I polish every chapter as I'm writing it. That makes my first drafts a lot cleaner than they have any right to be, but so be it. Currently, the book is in its third draft. Of course, the first was more spontaneous, creating the story from scratch and discovering things along the way. The second was a fairly deep edit after taking two years away from the book. I applied what I learned about writing in that time to the story and cleaned up many instances of awkward wording and such. While far less involved, I did make another pass to create a third draft, catching some small issues and cleaning up mistakes from the edit. When I get my professional edit done, that will be a fourth and (presumably) final draft that will be ready for publishing! They say it disrupts the creative process--ruins the spontaneity. I think it just depends on the writer, because for me, leaving errors or clunky phrases behind weighs on my mind and messes up my flow. Nice! You're self publishing right? What's the process like? Yes! After getting a professional edit done and having a cover made, I have my sights on publishing through Amazon's KDP program. This is my first time with any of this, so I will be groping blindly and hoping I'm doing at least half of it right, but my hope and prayer is I can recreate any of my wins again in the future, while avoiding making any mistakes twice. How much does publishing cost? Going through Amazon's KDP program is free, so technically, publishing through that route doesn't cost anything. (Amazon does take royalties, which if memory serves, is something like 30%.) That said, part of publishing is producing a quality manuscript, which includes editing (I'm paying $175 for mine, which I believe is on the lower end price-wise) and a cover. I haven't had a cover made yet, so I can't speak on that. But again, the publishing itself is free through Amazon KDP. Oh it is?? I used to think that if you self-publish in general that it would be really expensive I understand that used to be the case more or less, but opportunities are opening up for indie authors, which I'm glad to see. One of the big costs is marketing, which I'm still researching. While in traditional publishing, you typically have a company do a lot of the heavy lifting for you as far as getting eyes on the book and then getting it in folks' hands, indie authors handle that themselves, which can get costly. How do you write a good book blurb that can catch readers attention as an unknown author? I won't claim to be an expert on that myself, but I typically search for examples of successful books in the same category/genre as my book, study their blurbs, and then try to put one together that describes mine well and takes the best elements from those. Then I take it to a variety of readers and writers I have in my circle, get their feedback, and implement any changes needed. A lot of it is instinct at first, and then adapting to how the blurb is received by my test audience. How did you fight writer's block? Writer's block...every writer's worst nightmare. Most of the time when I hit writer's block, I find it's because I've written the past few paragraphs, scenes, or even chapters poorly, or at least went astray in some respect. The words I have before me don't feel right, and so my brain won't let me move on. As much as it hurts, my quickest cure for writer's block is tear away the last chapter or two, rewrite them from scratch, and usually, that ends out fixing whatever problem I had. I will say that my episodes of writers block are fewer and shorter than many of my peers', so I'm certainly grateful for that. Is your book going to be a stand-alone or a series? The funny thing is when I first wrote it, I had absolutely no intentions on making it a series. Back in 2020, it was a standalone novel, and I had every intention of leaving it that way. But when I started polishing it up and sending it to beta readers in preparation to publish, the positive feedback inspired me to rethink those plans, and as a matter of fact, I am slowly but surely writing a loose sequel! Not to say too much, but the sequel follows its predecessor in a rather thoughtful and introspective way, slower pacing and more intricate storyline. Been enjoyable to write so far (and only one case of writer's block, which I fixed by--you guessed it--rewriting the previous chapter from scratch). Funny how things turn out, huh. Well… I think that’s all I’ll do. Thank you so much for letting me interview you. No problem! Thank you for having me; I'm honored, and it was a lot of fun! I'll keep you posted as I continue this journey of self-publishing. To learn more about the author, check out @sunnywithasideup on instagram.

by August M This piece was originally submitted for issue iii: kindle the flame, however the editors felt it would be a better addition to our blog. Some days, I feel like an artist. Other days I feel like a kid masquerading as one, because I have no idea why I started. I'd like to say I can pin down a moment where I read a comic or saw an animated movie or a painting and thought "I want to do that". But in reality, I can't say that's true. I don't know what it was. I've been drawing since I was a kid. Every kid likes to draw, but a lot of people stop at some point I think, and I never did. Usually, my identity as an artist depends on how "good" my art is, how a piece measures up to my better works. And the quality of a piece depends on how inspired I am. Sometimes I just want to draw. I start making lines on a page, and I don't stop until I'm done and then I realize I haven't done well. I feel like a fraud, tear out the page or delete the file, and lose my self in hour-long video essays and hot cocoa. Sometimes, I get an idea. And it lights me up and I want to make a certain drawing. I work with purpose and enjoy the process. I take my time and think ahead. I see that I have finished, and usually, I'm happy. I've made something I'm really proud of. After five years as an artist, I've cracked the code. Motivation will help you finish things, but it takes inspiration to finish good things. Because if you aren't inspired to do something, it doesn't work out well. It can be technically good, but in my own work, I can always tell there's something missing. In my experience, finding inspiration can be easier said than done. In fact, it's hard to find it if you're looking for it. But sometimes, you want to find inspiration. It isn't something you can force, but you can make it easier to find. How to find it Take a walk! It's good for the mind and the body. I know, I know. An artist's natural habitat is in their room or at their desk. But getting out can be a good way to rest and recharge your creative batteries. Taking time away from your work (or social media) gives you time to think and brainstorm. Sometimes you have to leave space for new ideas, and that's hard to do if you're always working on something Listen to music. Songs you know and love can be a big inspiration. Make a playlist of some of your favorite songs, listen to that new artist you've been wanting to listen to, or ask your friends for some music recommendations! This can be a great place to start! Read more It doesn't have to be a new book, or even a novel. Reread an old favorite. Read some comics. You can even watch a TV show or a documentary. Any kind of longform media will do. It can be fun to write and draw and make things. But every once in a while, you have to take a break from making and creating to just relax and consume some media. You learn so much from this, and it's a great way to get ideas for future projects Talk to people Life imitates art. Or is it art imitates life? It doesn't really matter, because both can be true. Talking to the people around you can be a great source of inspiration. You can bounce ideas off of your friends. You can base characters off of people you know. You can base stories off of your own unique experiences. Art doesn't exist in a vacuum. What you create will reflect your life in some way, so you might as well lean into it Look to other artists Don't copy them. Learn from them. Watching speed paints or draw with me videos on YouTube can be a great place to learn and get ideas. Seeing other people's art styles and design choices can help you try new things with your own art! Make sure to ask permission and give credit if heavily referencing another person's work! And ask before you share heavily referenced artwork online! This has been Enkindle, a piece about finding creativity, made by a novice artist! These things are tried and true ways to get inspired, according to my friends and I, and I hope that they help you too! To learn more about the author, check out @sincerely.ches on instagram.

by Jason Wu As a science fiction enthusiast, I've noticed that a lot of authors are unsure of how to accurately portray spacecraft and combat in space. Today's post will go a little in detail on how to do write about spacecraft combat, and I hope this is helpful for science fiction writers around the globe! In every sci-fi story, like Star Wars, the most interesting moments are when there are some sorts of spacecraft fighting each other. This is the same for most sci-fi stories in general. As a Sci-fi writer, one should know how to write spacecraft combat. But how does one even start? One of the main features of sci-fi combat is spacecraft battle scenes, specifically spacecraft themselves, whether that includes fleet ships or smaller spacecraft like fighters or bombers. It's important to grasp an idea of how they work in order to write any scene with spacecraft involved. The main aspects of spacecraft combat are movement, weaponry, and capabilities. Movement in spacecraft differs significantly from aircraft. For the most part, there will be no gravity nor drag in space, of course with the exception of spacecraft being near planets or large objects that have a gravitational pull. So, what does no gravity mean? For starters, you won’t fall out of the sky or start descending when you stop giving the spacecraft thrust, it will still be going in the same direction that it was beforehand and will continue to travel in that direction with the same velocity due to no drag. For the case of being near a planet, a spacecraft will be affected by its gravitational pull, which you can imagine, can be very fun to play with. For example, you can make a pilot crash into a planet due to its gravitational pull. Due to the nonexistence of drag and gravity in space, a spacecraft’s control surfaces will not consist of traditional control surfaces that aircraft have. Instead of using material to redirect air to generate lift or drag, a spacecraft will use rocket thrust to change directions by using tiny thrusters or rocket engines to make those adjustments. It’s sort of like star wars or halo if you think about it. Though, it’s a mix of both. In space, weapons like rail guns, missiles, or lasers will work best. However, each type of weapon has its own pros and cons. Spacecraft should be equipped with a variety of weapons, whether it is for dogfighting or conducting an attack on a ship. For example, lasers, railguns, or ballistics require humans to operate, meaning that they require a pilot or controller to aim and fire. Lasers are capable of melting through materials, and causing constant damage to the enemy spacecraft’s hull. I mean, the death star laser went through the entirety of Alderaan! They require precise aim at every moment but have a high fire rate. Missiles, powered by rocket engines, are capable of delivering large payloads. They have variable range and can be equipped with all sorts of damaging elements. However, one can also construct a nuclear missile in theory, for the limit is one’s imagination afterall! If you want to get creative, you can get them to have “magical” powers in them too! The ideas regarding superweapons are endless, from long range laser beams like the death stars from star wars, or spaceships capable of disrupting tracking systems - the only limiting factor is the writer themselves, so go insane with your ideas! Hopefully this helps you understand how spacecraft work and their mechanics. Note that these mechanics can be blended with fictional magic systems because by the writer's mind after all, nothing is out of reach! To learn more about the author, check out @editor_masterwu on instagram.

Ever wondered what parts of your writing are immediate turn-offs to editors? I’ve often wondered the same thing, which is why I made this blog post with the help of several editors. I hope this post helps! 1. Info Dumps As readers, sometimes we have come across parts of the story where the character goes on and on talking about something without any relevant action. This is very common in high fantasy stories but other types of literature are still littered with info dumps too. Consider this example from a very famous classic: (Excerpt from Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky.) For about 5 or so pages it was just a drunk man rambling about his wife to a young man he just met. Despite the fact that this book is overall a really good read, it was quite a pain to push through those pages-long info dumps. So what can you do to ensure that you DON'T info dump? Just remember this thing: 'Tell the readers ONLY what they should know, WHEN they need it.' Save other info for later, and reveal it to the readers when it mattered. 2. Cliche beginnings Do you remember when you saw a post on Instagram and you read the first few letters of the caption? If they're interesting enough, you'd tap the read more option. If they don't, you'll simply scroll through it, not giving whatever hidden underneath the beginning any chance. Now the same can be said for books. Readers may continue reading if enough people continue on pushing them to do it. But editors with their little time will simply send you a rejection letter. We don't want that now, do we? Those beginnings when they wake up and mention the morning routine that we have seen in like 2735228393 other books? YES. This is a cliche beginning. Do NOT do this. Here are some alternatives: Drop the readers right in the middle of action. State some philosophical argument/theory/question. Take a cliche trope and twist it (but make sure your twist comes soon enough that the editor doesn’t drop your book) Try to remember those books you have read. Which beginnings intrigued you? And which ones made you drop the book? 3. Slow start That first page where nothing happens is like telling the readers 'hello, I'm boring.' so don't have a start like this. As an example let's see this excerpt from a novel that one of our editors mentioned to have a painfully slow start: (Excerpts from Neuromancer, William Gibson) You don't have to read all of it, and even if you did, you probably found your eyes skimming the passage, trying to find something that can keep your mind interested. The parts after this may very well be interesting, but what's the point if the readers can't push themselves past the first pages? Make sure your first line (and the lines that come after that) are gripping enough that your readers will think that your piece is worth reading. This is especially true if you don't have any reputation (because yes, if Fyodor Dostoevsky or Donna Tartt writes their books with painfully slow starts, people will still read it because they know that the books by these famous authors are going to be good. But the same can't be said if I—a nobody (right now)—write the book.) 4. Leaving ideas unfinished unintentionally Also sometimes also called head hopping, this when you talk about apples, and the next second bees, then before you even finish saying about how those bees are pink you start talking about the political tension in the 1880s. And all the topics are left without having any other relevance to the story than just being there. Yes, real humans do this a lot. But no, too realistic is not good. Pay attention to your pacing and sentence flow. Unravel those mysteries in your stories one by one, placing teasers here and there, guiding the readers through a well planned path so they won't stray away from your book. All the way to the ending. 5. Repetitive words Isn't it somewhat annoying to have one word repeated all over again? Overused words like beauty, see, walk, think, etc all have synonyms that can step up your writing. (Of course, try to have a little info on what those synonyms actually mean because when writers use synonyms just because, it shows.) Take a look at this: 'I opened the door and came into the spacious room. Natural rays of light flowed in from the floor to ceiling window opposite from where I stood, sand coloured curtains hung on its sides, glimmering in gaudiness. A chandelier hung gracefully solo on the ceiling, the crystals and diamonds refracted the light into stunning fragments of rainbow splashing all around the room, decorating the cream coloured walls and marble floors.' (Excerpt from Raeliana Adfrenssa, Melifluousgelatoo.) See how in this excerpt we can actually describe something without using the same words over and over again? Yes, you can do even better than this. And voila! We've reached the end of this blog, how fast the time goes— Anyways, good luck on your writing and see you again next time! With love, MG. (PS. the editors who helped me are our editors, Bri and Jason.) To learn more about this author, check out @melifluousgelatoo.writes on instagram.