Rob's Writing Achievements

Here's a page for me to keep track of my various writing contest wins. Enjoy!

NEOPIAN TIMES

T.H.U.U.F.T.T.H.I.O.T.N.T. - My very first article. T.H.U.U.F.T.T.H.I.O.T.N.T., or Two Hundred Unusual Uses for the Two Hundredth Issue of the Neopian Times, was a lengthy list article I co-wrote with dragonx325. In retrospect, it's amazing that it even got in, since we submitted it the week of the issue. I got the nifty Weewoo avatar from this piece.

Warning! - I return 48 issues later with my only comic to date. The amazing velveteen illustrated this wonderfully.

Kreludor, Kreludor, Wherefore Art Thou, Kreludor? - Another 48 weeks passed before this article was published. It was a cry for common decency in a word where Neopia's moon can be wantonly barred from the Altador Cup. Well, actually, it was a list of reasons why Kreludor wasn't in the Cup. But the first thing sounds better. Also, I will eternally question my intentional misuse of "wherefore" in the title.

The Tale of Woe: The Musical! - After an 80-issue hiatus comes one of the pieces I'm proudest of. This six-part series is a retelling of the Tale of Woe plot in the form of a musical! It was lots of fun to write, and many people have written me to say they enjoyed it. While creating it, I often found myself thinking in couplets for several hours after I finished writing for the day. :P This series serves as the first of what I hope will be many plot-based musicals.

Alternate Uses for Illusen's Underappreciated Prizes - Another list article; boy, I'm really fond of those. In this Illusen Day special, I explored ways to get the most out of your cheap prizes from Illusen. This article also earned me my third Quote of the Week!

Commander Valka's Grand Mission - Ah, Commander Valka. One of my favorite Neopian characters. So, of course, I had to make fun of him. This humorous story told the tale of how Valka aided Xarthab in finding a birthday present for Zorlix. It was one of those stories that made me laugh while I was writing it.

Colonel Cobb Meets His Match - A special short story for Grey Day, this piece explored one of Neopia's lesser-known persons, Colonel Cobb. Specifically, it recounted his encounter with Dankle, a rather sad-looking Grey Turnip.

Ten Neggs Sat on a Shelf - This is a story I originally wrote for the Easter issue, but it turned up many weeks later. It was a bit of a stylistic experiment, in that it told the same events from ten different perspectives. I had particular fun with the Vortex Negg and Cool Negg.

The Return of Sloth: The Musical! - So much to say about this. First of all, I have to thank my friend Birdy (birdinggal) for giving me feedback and egging me on throughout the entire writing process. Many of my favorite Neopian characters come from the Sloth plot, so I had a great time putting my individual spin on each of them. The character of Ylana Skyfire was particularly interesting. I didn't care much for her going into it, but when I started writing her first solo, I realized that she was actually a pretty cool character, and I now adore her almost as much as Valka. I also tried to round out Parlax, Garoo, and Gormos a bit, adding some depth to characters that could be written as static cliches. Really, I need to stop myself now before I go on for paragraphs writing about this one. One last thing: Cylara's parents, Simon and Mella, are named in allusion to "Firefly" and Storytelling #396 (my first win) respectively.

Virtupets® Synchronous Conferencing Console - In this collab with the wonderful ginny_invisible, we throw a handful of Neopian characters into a chatroom and watch the sparks fly. I think my favorite character is Commander Valka. As you might have noticed, I have a bit of a thing for him. :P

Scars: Cravings - This story was part of a grand experiment involving myself and several other wonderful authors (tashni, cpmtiger, kittengriffin, and micrody). We wrote a series of stories about Parlax and then linked the stories together with a common setting. I chose for my Neopet representation to be a green Eyrie wearing a beret. If you're familiar with my Storytelling writings, you'll know the significance of that. ;) Despite the supposed author of this story, the work itself is actually comic.

STORYTELLING

STC 396: Vaech's Adventure - Ah, my very first Storytelling win! I was able to bring some science-fiction humor to a rather dramatic story that featured cryptic poems, promises of peanuts, and massage chairs.

STC 398: Bixle's Resolution - A pretty unremarkable entry here. Basic plot progression, mostly. Yeah, not much to say about it.

STC 399: Boo and the Would-Be Ghoul Hunters - My first double win! This was a fun story; it started off as a spooky one, then turned into a comedy. It featured a friendly ghost with an unpronounceable name (whom I now own on a side, thanks to the wonderful Larkspurlane). This was also the first time I wrote an ending. It was a bit cliche, but it featured a headless Wocky and a pretend zombie, so it's all good.

STC 400: The Epic Tale - Seriously, go read this one if you haven't already. It's amazing. A sprawling tale of treachery, redemption, friendship, and hot chocolate. I love this story particularly because I introduced the character of The Storyteller. Even though I can't take credit for even a tenth of his awesomeness (that was all thanks to the other talented writers), he will always hold a special place in my heart. I could say much more about this story, but I'll spare you my rambling.

STC 403: A Tyrannian Adventure - Another double win. I introduced the character of Archibald Chesterton the Third, the loquacious Kacheek explorer. I'm quite fond of him and his accent.

STC 404: The Berry Caper - This was my first time to get into the first slot. I introduced The Berrymaster, whose name in retrospect is a cheap knockoff of The Storyteller's.

STC 405: Shenkuu vs. Krawk Island - Yet another double win with one of them being the ending. To this day, I can't look at Ealyn Hawkshanks the same way. Now that I think about it, the trio of Shenkuuan rulers in the ending are more than a little similar to the Ghastly Gang of STC 399. Oh, well. Also, trivia: Inara's name is a tribute to the show "Firefly".

STC 409: Negg Follies - In this entry, I mentioned that the Negg Faerie had a dark secret. When I was writing it, I had absolutely no idea what that secret could be. That's one of my favorite things about Storytelling: seeing what directions other people go with your ideas.

STC 410: Goldrun Meets Jelly World - This was an awesome story. It used the made-up world of Goldrun, and the even more ridiculous made-up world of Jelly World. In my entry, I was able to squeeze in Chet Flash, White Weewoos, the Faerie Wars, and Neoschools. In-joke mania! Much love to the Storytelling judge for letting us go wild with this one. And trivia: The line "Weave a circle 'round him thrice" is an homage to Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan".

STC 411: An Icy Tragedy - This is the saddest story I've been a part of. My entry wasn't very significant, but the overall story was quite moving. A story of sacrifice, disappointment, and sobering realizations.

STC 412: The Great Squash Festival - Another one of my favorites, and another double-win. This story is absolutely hilarious. Seriously, you will laugh when you read it. From the gourd rap to the evil arpeggios to the randomly-invoked internet memes, it's absolutely side-splitting.

STC 415: Yurbot - This was an incredibly unique story, told from the point of view of a robotic Yurble, and involving some unique pseudo-programming language. I once again got two entries in, and I'm quite proud of them. This is another one I highly recommend that you read.

STC 417: The Dellund Seras Code - I was brought the Lenny Curator into this story. It was lots of fun to follow the twists and turns of the plot, and, interestingly enough, it has two endings!

STC 418: Heads or Tails? - This story just goes to show why you shouldn't drink strange potions that your sister gives you. Nothing good will come of it. The concept of the twin coins was another instance of something I introduced with no idea where it would end up.

STC 419: Spectre's New Game - Yet another double win. This is quite possibly the most confusing story I've been a part of, with everybody double-crossing everyone else, and no one being who they really claimed to be. And, in the end, as always, the butler did it.

STC 420: I wish... - Not much other than backstory here. I'm afraid I didn't advance the plot very much, especially for a penultimate entry, but I suppose if I advanced it too much, there wouldn't be a need for an end at all, so I'll be satisfied.

STC 421: The Reporter's Hat - I took the story in a humorous direction here, and I had fun doing it. I pulled out all the stops and threw in all my comic tricks, from repetition to alliteration to monocles popping off of faces. Trivia: the "Walter's gates" scandal is reminiscent of another certain scandal broken by reporters...

STC 422: The Talent Agent and the Conman - I both started and ended this story, a first for me. The intro reminded me of a David Mamet play for some reason (bonus points if you know who that is). I'm glad my ending was chosen, because I wanted to see an unhappy ending for Kita and a triumphant one for Reed. Dunno why.

STC 423: The Curse of the Golden Sceptre - In this entry, I added a little humor to a serious, dramatic story and did some explaining of previous plot points. The bloodline curse actually doesn't make much sense in retrospect: it would bounce back and forth between Myrial's family and that of the Mummy Ruki forever. Oh, well.

STC 426: The Usuki/Quiguki Caper - I got over a two-week slump by doing what I do best: cheesy humor. I had lots of fun writing the announcement; I was quite surprised when I found out it didn't come from Quincy himself. But again, the unpredictability is what makes the STC fun.

STC 427: The Neovian Nuthouse - I love this story. Neovia in general is great, and this story is particularly spooky. I tried my best to be creepy while still putting in a few dark jokes. The style of speech I gave to Mullen is greatly influenced by the character of Tobias from the musical Sweeney Todd.

STC 428: The Locket of Friendship - A double win this week. I didn't expect my first submission to get in because of the terribly cliche 'drink this potion" plot, but it did. I was happier with my second entry, as I was able to play around with the environment inside the locket.

STC 429: The Beautiful Tapestry of Narrative Threads - This is my favorite STC. It's hard to find words to summarize or describe it without rambling on for pages. First of all, this is a significant story for me since I won four times and my final entry is, according to a list compiled by the wonderful Reve, the second-longest entry in Storytelling history. But that's not important. What is important: The Storyteller returns!!! That's right, the amazing character from STC 400 has a part in this story as well. Rilnyi and Reira make a return as well. This contest also marks the return of two characters from STC 352 and two others from STC 327. The Storytelling Judge, as I have said before and will say again, is wonderful. She spoils us writers. So yeah, the premise of the story alone is epic. But on top of that, I think I did some of my best writing in this contest. As did all the other writers; everybody was on the top of their game for this one. This is going to sound conceited, but I absolutely love the ending I wrote for this story. I wish I had had time to further develop a few parts, but overall, I adore it. So yeah, this is my favorite contest. It's not very easy to read because it's so very long and because you have to read three other STCs to fully appreciate it (and one of those STCs (400) is even longer). Still, if you want to see the Storytelling Contest at its best, this is where you'll do so. And one final note: I wrote in another "Firefly" reference. xD

STC 444: The Naughty Gnome-Napper - After the massive outpouring of writing and epicness for STC 429, I took a long break. Fifteen weeks later, I returned with a very silly and nonsensical entry for this contest. It's not my best work, but I think parts of it were funny. Trivia: the address of the gnome-napper's house is an allusion to "Lost".

STC 445: The Lamp in the Window and the Curse on the House - This was another really cool story. I again wrote the first and last entries (although there were three separate endings for this story). The first entry was inspired by an article I'd recently read about the grave of Edgar Allan Poe (to whom I blatantly alluded in my ending). The ending was written a little hurriedly and glosses over some logic, but overall, a great sad, Gothic story. After you've read it, you absolute have to look at Lark's hilarious take on it in comic form. (I'll put the link here once I find it. :P)

STC 450: "Dear Sloth... This was one of the stories with an interesting structure of which I'm so fond - this time, letters! I filled the first slot with a letter from Sloth to Jhudora, in which I had fun with passive-aggressive insults.

STC 455: The Memories of an Old Bori - Again, the abnormal structure of this story attracted me. It's a pet re-telling a story to his granddaughter, and the chronology is all over the place. I love the endings (the Judge posted two again) that Ariana and Janice wrote. Trivia: I named Orsino after a character in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" since I'm bad at coming up with names. :P

STC 456: When Garbage Becomes Sentient, Watch Out - I wrote the first entry for this contest and didn't really do that much to advance it. The other writers deserve all the credit for making this story quite interesting.

STC 460: The Writing is on the Wall - More proof that I can't pass up aggrandizing self-insertion. A cult of mysterious, riddle-spewing guardians of Neopia called The Storytellers? That has my fingerprints all over it. Very fun to write, but very self-indulgent. And then, on top of that, to throw in a Green Eyrie correcting someone's grammar? Well, that... that was actually pretty cool. I also wrote an ending for this story that I sort of like, but Krista's ending was much better, and I'm glad it won. Overall, a pretty neat story.

STC 467: Taking the Red Pill - I jumped on the "Kaja's lab" line in the prompt and decided to bring in the idea of virtual reality. The plot eventually got crazy-complicated, and the fact that it was a two-weeker just added to the confusion. Still, some interesting concepts in there. I liked the format of my first entry.

STC 468: Be Careful What You Wish For - Craig started this story off with a beautifully-written entry, as all his entries are. Plus, stories set in Neovia are always cool, so it was good from the start. I threw in the somewhat-cliche archetype of the Monkey's Paw story - three wishes, but with terrible consequences. Also - spoiler alert - at the time, I didn't realize that a three-hole flute could actually play four notes. I was hoping somebody would bring that in as a twist ending, but the end managed to be cool without it.

STC 469: Them and Us - A post-apocalyptic setting? Never seen that in a STC. It was such a fresh format for a story. It's always fun to do alternate-reality type stuff, and this was no different. There were some neat characters too.

STC 471: Toybox Shenanigans - This is a fairly straightforward "toys come to life" story, but made a little special because all the characters are somewhat genre-savvy and frequently nudge the fourth wall. I also realized that a "British accent" doesn't exist in Neopia while writing the lines for the Pupplblew, so I eventually decided to call the accent "posh," hoping the point would get across.

STC 472: By Word of a Storyteller - This is one of my favorite stories. The format was very unique, almost like a scrapbook: interviews, clippings from "primary documents," and interjections from the editor. Incidentally, it's yet another story in which I won the first and last slots, which is a bit of a pattern for me. I'm really happy with my ending for this one, since I think it tied everything together pretty well. I liked the twist when we found out the author's identity, although I'm not sure if I made that part clear enough. But overall, this story is definitely in my top ten.

STC 500: Darkness and Light - I took a long break after 472, but came back for the milestone 500th contest. As in 400, everyone was on the top of their game and did a great job. For me, it didn't have quite the same spark that 400 had, but it was still wonderful. I always like writing introspective monologues for characters, so the beginning of my section was a lot of fun. I drew some inspiration from Javert's song "Stars" from Les Miserables for that section. The story has two endings, and in both of them, the character of The Storyteller shows up, which always makes my day. In both endings, he's quite mellow and seems at peace, which I think he deserves after everything he's been through.

STC 506: Dear Reader - This was my 50th win, and even if it may have been more fitting if I had reached that number in contest 500, this story is more than worthy of holding that milestone for me. I really love it. In case you hadn't noticed, nontraditional formats really appeal to me, and this one is very out there. Time was a major theme in this story, and we all played around with it. The whole story also has a very strange, contemplative tone to it, which I think is just wonderful. It seems like all the storytellers loved this one as well, and the judge was generous enough to post a record-breaking five endings, all of which were wonderful. My ending really stretched the concept of fluid, circular time to an extreme degree, and I also made the narrator a bigger part of the story. One of my regrets is not putting the sections of the story set in the future in the future tense, since I played so much with tense later. But I decided to follow the precedent that had been set earlier in the story instead of changing it to fit better with the themes I was developing. Also, I had originally made it clear that the Wocky in the future was Vician's descendant, but it was (understandably) edited out. The final lines of this was probably the most I've ever played with the fourth wall, and I love it. I think that asking the reader to finish the story by using the exact wording that the judge uses before the final entry ("How do you want the story to end? Tell us!") was really, really cool. This was one of my favorite stories of all time, and definitely a wonderful entry for my 50th.

POETRY

PG 538: The Mysterious Symol Hole - My very first poem! And it's in a style which I love: the sonnet. The line spacing is a little weird since I didn't yet know about the character limit, but oh, well.

PG 563: War Storm - My next poem was in a gallery dedicated to the Maraquan war. I'm still a little irked that "prophesy" was changed to "prophesize"; they're both valid present tense verbs! But no matter, no matter. *takes deep, calming breaths*

PG 649: When Whack-a-Kass Met Splat-a-Sloth - This was a fun poem to write. It was, of course, back in the days before "Kass Basher," years and years ago. The poem tells the tale of an encounter between two of the most-abused plushies in Neopia.

PG 1053: In Celebration of Three Wocky Games - After a long hiatus, this was my triumphant return to the Poetry Gallery. In this trio of stanzas, I explored the Swarm Wocky, the hero of Wicked Wocky Wobble, and the noble Sewage Surfer.

PG 1064: An Ode to Dr. Sloth - I imagined that this poem was written by a rather sarcastic Grundo poet who was forced to write something for Sloth, but couldn't help interjecting with his own comments. It was also my first stab at finding words that rhyme with "Sloth".

PG 1069: Squire Meekel, Kacheek Captive - Poor Squire Meekel. The war's over, yet somehow he's still one of Darigan's prisoners. And those inmates he's locked up with; one of them is crazy enough to believe in a world made of jelly! How insane!

PG 1083: Lifira, the Uni Librarian of Neoquest II - This poem is about an extremely obscure character: Lifira, who is actually LFRA, a computer program on Rohane's spaceship. However, she was transformed into a Uni in the fantasy world by the virus that attacked the ship. I wondered how a computer program would feel at becoming something alive - and how it would feel about being able to feel. Interestingly enough, writing this was, in a way, practice for Storytelling 415.

PG 1084: This Poem is Cancelled - A poem written for March 3rd, the day that doesn't exist. The meter was fun to play with in this poem, and I remember it fondly.

PG 1085: Rayn Trueshot, Gelert Archer - Another obscure character, Rayn Trueshot. I went into some pretty deep subjects here, with archery serving as a metaphor for life. A little cliche? Maybe, but still good practice.

PG 1089: A Sonnet to Shumi - Another sonnet, this one celebrating the resident Scorchio of the Cyodrake's Gaze. His hat is almost as cool as Hoban's.

PG 1090: To an Illusen's Cream Cookie - Another fun poem stylistically, this one used rather archaic language and hyperbolic praise of a very simple cookie. I'm sure the cookies can't actually be that good, but it's a poet's job to exaggerate.

PG 1092:A Sonnet to a Yellow Chomby Gnome - Yet another sonnet; as I said, I'm fond of this style. The idea for this one came to me by necessity. There aren't many Chomby characters in Neopia, so I turned to Chomby-related items, and the gnome just spoke to me. It's so cute!

PG 1095: Farewell, Bugeye McGee - Remember NeoBuddies? I know I do. And, even though I knew it was a joke, I found myself growing attached to Bugeye McGee. But then, on April second, he was whisked away, never to be seen again. I wrote this poem as a way to cope with my loss.

PG 1096: To the Coffee Shopkeeper - I have an interesting relationship with coffee: I go months without touching in, then suddenly binge for a few weeks before going off it again. But whatever stage of the pattern I'm in, the Shoyru Coffee Shopkeeper is always there for me.

PG 1100: Lifira, the Uni Librarian of Neoquest II - Every 100th Poetry Gallery is a sort of "best-of" collection, commemorating some of the best poems of the past hundred galleries. I'm still rather surprised that I managed to get in, given the quality of the poets I was up against. Much admiration for my fellow writers!

PG 1103: Krawley - This is a poem with a long history. I had submitted it months previous, but the lines were too long for the character limit (which is around fifty to fifty five, for all you aspiring poets). Then I submitted it again for Krawk Day, but it didn't get in until the gallery after the Krawk one. It remains one of my favorite poems I've written, and Krawley is one of my favorite characters.

PG 1104: The Blue Lutari of Terror Mountain - We all love Mr. Chipper! By the way, if you happen to read the first letter of each line of this poem, you'll get a surprise. ;)

PG 1105: A Goldrun Encounter - I can't say this enough: the Poetry Contest judge is amazing. Like, more amazing that a Pan Galactic Gargle Slushie mixed with a Tigerfruit Smoothie. In honor of STC 410, which involved a trip to Goldrun, some of us Neopian poets decided to take the prank even farther, spreading it to the poetry gallery. And I will be forever grateful to the judge that she indulged us and our silliness.

PG 1107: Commander Gormos' Plea - Like my Krawley poem, this Gormos piece got in the day after the Kougra gallery. Gormos is an interesting character, and I've written a lot about him, in the Storytelling Contest, the Poetry Gallery, and, soon, the Neopian Times.

PG 1109: Ramtor's Spellbook - Have I mentioned that the Poetry judge is awesome? She indulged us again, this time with a Neoquest II-themed gallery. This poem was interesting to write, as I always like stories about people who become twisted with power.

PG 1110: Reginald - As a Tale of Woe enthusiast, I'm always ashamed at how overlooked Reginald is. It was him, after all, who got Sophie to safety. I commemorated him with this poem.

PG 1115: 00 Hog - Once again, I was a day late for a pet day; this time, Moehog day! 00 Hog has always been my favorite Cheat! player, so it was obvious that I write a poem about him.

PG 1118: Come Out, Koi! - This is a rare poem that's not about a specific Neopian. I started out with the line "Koi, Koi, why so coy?" and went from there.

PG 1124: Bennie the Jub, Redeemed - Bennie the Jub is a background character from the Tale of Woe plot. Remember that Jubjub who grew arms? Yup, that's him. I wanted to give him a more sympathetic side, so I wrote this poem.

PG 1127: To Borri, the Neoadventure Generator Spotlight Quiggle - This poem came shortly after the announcement that the Neoadventure Spotlight would be ending. As a winner of said spotlight, this made me especially sad, which made me wonder how devastated Borri must be. Where will he go from here? Alas, it's unknown. But at least he got a poem or two out of it.

PG 1129: Kalandra - Round Table Poker is full of wonderfully large personalitites, and Kalandra was simply too mysterious to resist.

PG 1132: Lucy, Acara Nurse of Meepit Oaks Sanitorium - Yet another poem about a Tale of Woe character. No, I don't have an obsession! I swear!

PG 1136: 400 - In celebration of the 400th issue of the Neopian Times, I wrote this poem! I didn't get into issue 400, but I got into this poetry gallery, which is just as good, right? Right?

PG 1137: A Poem for Ixi Day - With Ixi Day rapidly approaching, I was in a bind: there are so many cool Ixis I could write about! How could I choose just one? That's when I realized that I didn't have to - I could write about all of them and my trouble choosing between them! This is also my first poem to feature Commander Valka, one of my favorite Neopian characters.

PG 1140: Senator Palpus' Battle of the Buffet - A late Tuskaninny Day poem here. This is a fun little poem, and it was my first to be featured by name on the News page.

PG 1142: A Mutant Peophin's Lament - All mutant pets have it rough, but pity the Peophin. It has such unsightly claws! I was inspired to write this poem after the lab ray turned one of my pets into, you guessed it, a Mutant Peophin.

PG 1146: Meridell's Turdle Races - Once again, a day after the holiday, this one being the Discovery of Meridell. It got the top of the page, which is always nice. By the way, my favorite Turdle is Nutty.

PG 1152: The Magical Hair Usuki Reject's Plight - Usuki Day! I kind of had to force this one out of my brain, but it came out okay. I really do feel bad for that Usuki, though.

PG 1153: The Four Grundo Programmers - Happy Grundo Day! This little poem was thrown together at three AM, but managed to get both the top of the gallery and a mention in the news. I think the placement and mentions are probably random, but it's still cool. The Neopets V2 plot is unjustly ignored.

PG 1154: My Mutant Lamp - For the second day in a row, the top of the gallery and the news page! And the picture at the top of the gallery? A Mutant Lamp. ^^ That makes me happy.

PG 1156: Glug Glug Jones - Glug Glug sure loves his Kraku Berry Juice, but he'll sure regret it in the morning. This little rascal is one of the cooler characters I've had the pleasure of immortalizing in verse.

PG 1158: The Velveteen Draik - Based on the Neopian book of the same name, this poem tells the story of a plushie Draik that longs to be a real pet. The final stanza is really cheesy, but it rhymed well and expressed the sentiment of the poem, so I guess it's excusable.

PG 1159: The Gallery of Heroes and the Gallery of Evil - My rather uncreatively-titled poem for the Gallery of Heroes and Gallery of Evil-themed gallery has a bit of description and a lot of listing. Again, a kind of corny ending, what with the "follow the heroes' example and not the villains'," but it's all good.

PG 1160: Franchisco and Federisimo Corvallio, Masters of the Food Club - For Techo Day, an ode to two Food Club members who've helped me earn thousands of neopoints. I'd recently discovered that the Food Club is a great way to supplement your income, and I thought it was fitting to commemorate the unsung heroes of gluttony.

PG 1161: The Chocolate Ball Begins - I co-wrote this poem with the wonderful and talented Nat. I like the meter of this poem, and it was fun to write with someone else.

PG 1163: O, Snappy Poogle Keyring Thingy - I got silly with this poem. I couldn't think of any Poogles to write about, so I looked at Poogle items. Guess which one caught my eye. A word of warning to aspiring poets: there's only so many words that rhyme with "thingy".

PG 1165: Zargrold the COOL - Zargrold seems like a pretty hoopy frood. That's about all I have to say about this poem.

PG 1205: Sargent Brexis, Buzz Hero - After quite a few weeks, my dry streak is broken by a poem that I'd actually submitted for Buzz Day the previous year. Of course, back then, I hadn't yet gotten skilled at spacing out my poems, so this one is another big chunk of text. :P

PG 1216: Jhudora's thoughts on the Jhudora Bobblehead - A late Jhudora Day poem. This poem follows a structure I like - someone denouncing something and eventually coming around to liking it.

PG 1218: Bounty Hunters Don't Have Time for Silly Things Like Love - I really like this poem. It was for an anit-Valentine's day gallery, and it involves Ylana Skyfire, whom I have a special fondness for. Ever since I wrote "The Return of Sloth: The Musical!" I've speculated on the nature of the relationship between Ylana and Garoo. This poem is one take on it. Really, this whole poem was lots of fun. Trivia: the transmission number is an allusion to "Lost": when combined with my reference in STC 444, the show's complete number sequence is formed.

PG 1224: Poor Dr. Grumps - This is another poem that I'd written the year before. I like that I used the word "spleen" to refer to anger. I think that's a cool word.

PG 1125: Arnold - Yet another poem from the previous year. I tried to take a different perspective on Arnold. One tends to think of him as someone who delights in cheating others, but I painted him as someone who regrets the way he makes his living.

PG 1255: An Encounter With the Ghost Hissi of Geraptiku - Again, from a year earlier. I don't have much to say about this one - a lively little meter and mostly fluff for content.

PG 1388: The Storyteller - After STC 500, I just had to do something else with The Storyteller. So even though it had been ages since my last poem, I wrote something. (Fittingly, it was my 50th win.) I like the format of this, and I'm happy with how many internal rhymes I managed. And, of course, the ending repeats my refrain from STC 429 that I love so much: "the story never ends."

Storytelling Tips

Welcome! Somebody asked for some tips for getting into the Storytelling Contest, so I thought I'd post them here in case anyone else was interested.

The most important thing is perseverance. It may take a long time for one of your entries to win, but you can't give up. I think it took me about five tries until one of my submissions got in. And even after your first win, it's important that you don't give up when you aren't accepted. I've had plenty of practice and experience, and I'd estimate that I still only win about a third of the times I enter. So step one: perseverance.

The next thing is to acquaint yourself with the "rhythm" of the Storytelling Contest. What do I mean by that? Well, I'm talking about the structure of each entry and the structure of the week's story as a whole. Overall, each week's story usually has nine sections (ten if you count the first piece by the judge) unless it's a two-week story or is cut short for a holiday or something. (If this is the case, there'll be a note at the top of the page). But usually, five days, nine winners. For the first few days, the story is set up. This is when characters are introduced and the plot is formed. Usually all the major players have been introduced by the end of Tuesday. The next two days are for working the story forward with its plot. The second entry on Thursday usually sets things up for the climax by putting all the characters in place and establishing exactly what the final conflict will be. (Sometimes this doesn't happen until Friday.) The final two entries wrap things up. The big climax begins in either the first or second entry of the day, and the final entry often contains a brief wind-down. Of course, this is just a general pattern. Individual stories often deviate from this greatly. But in general, all the main characters should be introduced by Wednesday and the plot should be headed towards an ending by Friday. By the way, the times the winners are posted are one at about 11:30 AM NST and the second at around 4:30 PM NST.

Now comes the rhythm of each individual entry. They usually end on a mini-cliffhanger for the next person to resolve. Something like, "and what we have to do is..." or "my plan is..." or "and around the corner, they saw...". This is so the next writer has a clear thread to grab on to. It's easier to complete something like that than it is to pick up a scene with nowhere to start. Also, that kind of "hook" allows the story to go in interesting directions. In the "around the corner, they saw..." example, when you're writing it you might have no idea what the characters will see. The next author has more of a hold on the story when they can introduce something new. There could be a person around the corner, or a thing, or anything, really. That's one of the things I find most fun: seeing where other people take your ideas. So in your entry, you want to quickly resolve the previous mini-cliffhanger, continue the plot a bit, and then end on another mini-cliffhanger.

That's structure in a nutshell. Another important thing for your entries is consistency. Probably the most obvious part of this is that you don't want to contradict anything that's been said before. For example, you don't want to accidentally change a pet's species, or color, or even gender (it's happened before). Sometimes these things are minor (previously a character put down a cup, but in your entry it's still in his hand), but sometimes they're big and can derail the plot. So try to remember all the details of the previous entries while you're writing.
Next is tone. This one's pretty simple too. The first writer usually establishes the tone of the piece, and the other writers should follow it. If the story starts out humorous, it's probably a bad idea to suddenly put in a dramatic, serious entry. It also works the other way around. I remember that once I was the second or third entry to get in. The previous two weren't funny or dramatic; just sort of in the middle. Since I like writing comedy, I made an entry that was silly and upbeat. But the next writers went back to the middle-of-the-road tone of the previous entries. Now when I look back at the story, my entry sticks out and feels out of place. (Of course, as with all the rules, there are exceptions. I remember a scary story that turned, quite successfully, into a comedy. But it's usually better not to try and subvert the rules until you've had plenty of experience following the rules).
Third, you want to keep the characters consistent. If a character is timid and shy, he shouldn't suddenly start commanding people and being bold. A character who talks in a dialect shouldn't lose it halfway through the story. Characters suddenly changing like that is not a good thing. Now, this isn't to say that there should be no character development. In a really good story, the main character usually changes in some way. If the shy character goes through some experience that gives him more confidence, that could become a strong part of the story. But the point is that this change should be gradual and logical.
So, to sum those last parts up, read the previous entries several times and be familiar with the plot, setting, and characters before you start writing. Oh, and this should be obvious, but don't put in anything that would be against Neopets' rules (romance, excessive violence, cursing, etc.). Death is okay, but it should be handled delicately.

And it sounds corny, but the last thing to remember is that Storytelling is supposed to be fun. I've probably made it sound like there's an exact formula that you have to follow and there are tons of rules you need to know, but that's really not the case. You should certainly try to avoid contradictions and not use inappropriate topics, but the rest of those are just suggestions. You should enjoy what you're writing, and let it come naturally. If you have inspiration for a section, write. If you don't, don't force it and wait for the next section. Enjoy.

A few other tidbits I just remembered: Be sure to edit. Nothing major, just read over your entry at least once before you submit it. You might catch some typos or inconsistencies, or find some rough spots that you want to smooth out. You might even feel the need to add in new paragraphs to explain things that you glossed over the first go-round. It's always a shame when you look back at your entry after it wins and think, "If only I'd done that differently…

This sort of goes hand-in-hand with editing, but be sure to check your spelling, punctuation, and grammar. A few mistakes won't be a dealbreaker, but having general competence with spelling, punctuation, and grammar are essential to a good entry.

Read previous contests. Go back in the archives and look at stories from a few weeks or months ago. Reading them will help you to learn the rhythms I was talking about earlier. It'll also show you the anatomy of a winning entry. Plus, lots of them are just fun to read. :)

A note about the prizes. When you win, you get two thousand neopoints and a randomly-chosen rare item. The item could be an expensive paintbrush or super-rare petpet worth hundreds of thousands, but it's just as likely to be a codestone or a cheap petpet paintbrush. Don't get discouraged if you win one of the cheap items, or even if you get three of them in a row. Eventually you will win one of the big prizes.

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: PERSEVERANCE. You probably won't win the first time. Heck, you might not win the fifth time or tenth time. But if you keep trying and practicing, you'll improve your writing skills and hopefully start to win.

I haven't said anything about length yet. Going back over old contests will help you a lot with this one. I tend to write rather long entries, and my average is about one page in Microsoft Word. But it's perfectly fine to write less than this. Having just a few paragraphs in an entry is fine, if it progresses the story. (It's also fine to write more – my longest entry was over 2800 words. XD A friend looked at old contests, and there was actually one winning entry that was even longer than THAT.) The main thing is that length isn't nearly as important as content.

Also, the Storytelling Contest does have a FAQ page located HERE. It can be helpful, but it's also very, very old, so some of the answers are outdated.

I think that about wraps it up. All the major points, at least. Sorry I went on for so long. :P Bottom line: persevere and have fun. Good luck!