Forum:Newsletter - January 2010

Admin News
New by Nalyd Renrut

Recently, many new rules have been created for the wiki. They can be found here. It is possible we will be getting new admins due to a lacking of active ones. As you can see we frequently bring up admin posts to discuss issues. Currently, we are discussing stories that go months without update. if you would like to weigh in on this or another issues the admins are discussing, I suggest you make a blog post for it, and talk to an admin. Use the same method if you'd like to bring up another issue.

Interviews
Interviews by Nalyd Renrut

Sprinklemist
Nalyd: What kind of story stuff do you have planned for 2010?

Sprinklemist: Well, after Total Drama Reality concludes, I have three competition stories planned. The first one will be more of the same, but I have thought up quite a few funny moments for the story, so it should be slightly lighter than Total Drama Reality. There are still going to be dramatic elements, however, as one plot line is probably the most serious one that I've ever covered. Story four is planned out, and I think it's going to be fun to read and write. Story five is the long awaited All-Star story. Five characters from each story will return. It should be interesting, even if you hadn't read the earlier stories, as I don't plan on it being a systematic placing of characters and having them act the same way they did in their first story. Their personalities will definitely be there, though. Other than that I'll work on reunions, Total Fanfiction Crossover, and After They're Gone. After They're Gone was thought up by tdiandrockmusic2, and I'm honored that he included me in this story, as well as CamperThirteen. He didn't hold back my creative process, either, so I'm excited about what we have planned for this.

Nalyd: What was going through your head when you got Featured Author?

Sprinklemist: I was thinking... That's cool. I was honored without feeling like I was the best ever, or anything. I appreciate everyone who voted for me, though.

Nalyd: Of all the stories you're working on now, which do you most enjoy writing?

Sprinklemist: Total Drama Reality. I think people must get the point of the story by now, that it actually stands for something. The characters aren't shallow stereotypes, they have thoughts and reasons behind their actions. I'm also really glad that I've raised awareness with some things, most notably bipolar disorder. Some users had never heard of it before, and I'm glad that they have, now. My intention isn't to put things in my story for shock value. It's to help people look at people from all sides. If we don't know the reason someone acts a certain way, we have a tendency to not like them, or be critical of them. But when we see the reason behind actions, we tend to empathize. It's been fun to write and see people's opinions on a character as the opinion changes.

Nalyd: What is your biggest goal on the wiki?

Sprinklemist: Be helpful, make everyone feel welcome, and write a story worth reading.

Nalyd: Where's Waldo?

Sprinklemist: Right behind you! He's got an axe! Just kidding. Ha ha!

Nalyd: If you could go back in time, would you change anything in your stories?

Sprinklemist: Not really. There are some things that people didn't understand in TD:BI, but I fully understood, so I don't feel regret. I do regret with TD:BI that I didn't give more characters depth, or make the story focus on everybody, better. Even when I realized this, I still wanted TD:BI to be a stepping stone for being able to have the readers' support for the second story, so I didn't want to scary anyone away. That let me have more deep topics in TDR. I might have added the tentacle joke in the first chapter of Total Fanfiction Crossover...

Nalyd: You have broken so many records - First Featured Author, first Featured Image, first story to be number one and dethrone Total Drama Paradise, first popular story to use custom characters, and I think you've won several final three guessing contests, and you won the first fan-fic fantasy league. How do you do all this?

Sprinklemist: Well... I dunno. I have a ton of support from my readers. I try to not do things the same as anyone else, I guess (though, it's unavoidable at times). Featured Author... I always try to help people when I can (even new ones), and do my best with my stories. Featured Image has to do entirely with everyone's love for the Kendall/Zane moment. XD I have great supporters for being able to overtake TDP, but it came at a time when the wiki began to grow a little more, so that has to do with it. For the contests, I try to think of something logical. It mostly just happens to work out in my favor, for no special skill of my own. For the Fantasy League... As an author, I can think of what character's story is over or almost over, who can easily be disposed of, and which ones have more focus than the others, and so forth.

Nalyd Renrut
Nalyd 1: Nalyd, what were you thinking when you found out you were Featured Author?

Nalyd 2: I was stoked, Nalyd. It just encouraged me to work harder at Total Drama Amazon and my other stories.

Nalyd 1: So, Nalyd, what possessed you to make a no-good villain win a story? It's the first of it's kind!

Nalyd 2: Well, Nalyd, Jocelyn was always planned to win. Susan's jury moment and her being eliminated were planned early on. Unfortunately, it didn't go like I wanted. I had intended for Niles losing to be sad and for users to be outraged but a lot of people were happy about it. Jocelyn just ended up less evil, I guess.

Nalyd 1: What do you have planned for 2010?

Nalyd 2: Lots of new Total Wikia Elementary chapters! Total Drama All-Stars, then my fifth season Total Drama Losers. I gotta get back to work on that Owen story too! 2010 is gonna be full of stuff by me!

Nalyd 1: Where's Waldo?

Nalyd 2: I am Waldo.

Nalyd 1: What is your biggest goal in the wiki?

Nalyd 2: I actually made a list.


 * 1) Beat Sprinklemist at arm wrestling or a writing contest, whichever comes first
 * 2) Make fan-art
 * 3) Read a chapter of Life After Lies in one-sitting
 * 4) Get everybody to participate in parodying my signature
 * 5) Regain the most read story title

Nalyd 2: Would you like to hear more?

Nalyd 1: No, I'm good....

Nalyd 2: Are you sure?

Nalyd 1: Whose asking the questions around here?

Nalyd 2: You, sir.

Nalyd 1: Good. Anything else you wanna tell the users?

Nalyd 2: Yes, if you can guess who wins Total Drama All-Stars after just one chapter, I'll make your avatar a Nalyd hoodie.

Fadingsilverstar16 (Gigi)
Nalyd: Ready for the interview?

Gigi: yep! :)

Nalyd: What was your first thought when you became a featured author?

Gigi: Well...the very first thing I thought was "Wow, I thought it would be a looooong time before this happened!" and then I did a little victory dance! It's such a huge honor, and I'd can't thank everyone who voted for me enough.

Nalyd: What was your biggest inspiration for LAL?

Gigi: Alright give me a minute to type this xD (Gigi types for several minutes) My first inspiration for LAL came about last November. I was alone in my room and had a daydream of Noah and Heather all alone in a metal room, with Noah strapped to a chair and Heather standing in front of him. The rest is history.

Nalyd: What is your biggest goal you want to achieve on the wiki?

Gigi: Well, I guess I've always wanted to just really be accepted and become a part of the Wiki's community.

Nalyd: What is your biggest accomplishment on the wiki thus far?

Gigi: Um, I have to say completing thirteen chapters of LAL really was huge for me, especially since the last scene of Chapter 13 was a very emotional scene to write. I'd never thought I'd actually get this far!

Nalyd: I understand you were recently part of a celebrity scandal. Care to explain?

Gigi: Oh, it was so horrible. I thought that she was my best friend, but then she makes a public accusation that I stole every word of LAL from her! I cried in my room all night after that. "Unoriginal, plagiarism, a sham!" she said. She said LAL was originally named "The Life and Lies of a Raven Haired Girl"

Nalyd: I was just joking around but... okay... Moving on... If you could go back in time and change something you have done on Wikia, what would it be?

Gigi: Oooh, this one's a toughie.

Nalyd: If you want, you can skip the question, or phone a friend.

Gigi: I think I want to skip this one. Nothing really comes to mind. xD

Nalyd: Where's Waldo?

Gigi: Disneyland. There are pictures. xD Or so I've heard...

Nalyd: Who's going to win LAL?

Gigi: Ooh, I can't explain that without giving away the rest of the plot.

Nalyd: What kind of insight into your choices in LAL and Screwed can you tell us?

Gigi: Well, I think LAL's more of a character exploration of Heather than anything else. I mean, Noah's there, and the original character's are there, but if it wasn't for Heather willingly getting involved in Noah's situation, there would really be no story. She never had to offer to be "civil" with him. As for Screwed, I'd been thinking of doing something very dark for Halloween. And I'd always wondered how the torture scene between Chapters 7 and 8 would go if I actually sat down and wrote it. And what really struck me about it is that it actually ended up being from the villain's point of view. That was never planned.

Nalyd: That is all the time we have for today, thank you, Gigi!

DJ Spenstar
Nalyd: What do you have planned story-wise for 2010?

DJ Spenstar: I plan on working on, and finishing, all of my current stories, for starters. After Total Drama Infinity, I'll have an All-star season. It might be a bit early for that, but I really don't want to go back to recolors so soon. That's why I have the winner guessing contest and the Fantasy League. Also, I'm working on a collaborative story with my friends Goldenshane, KoopaKidJr, and Tdiandrockmusic called The Dread of Fanfiction. TDoF is about an antagonist from a story who becomes so powerful, he becomes real, and proceeds to trap many authors in their own stories. It's going to be a lot of fun!

Nalyd: What is your biggest hope or dream on the wiki?

DJ Spenstar: My biggest dream on the wiki is to become an admin. I cringe whenever there's an important blog post where only the admins get to comment. In times like those, I want to be able to join the admins in the discussion more than anything. There's a personal reason too: when I was a new user and just starting Total Drama Insanity, somebody vandalized my page. The IP responsible was banned, but I still want to make all of my pages vandal-proof.

Nalyd: Do you have a favorite story?

DJ Spenstar: A part of me wants to say no, so that I don't hurt anybody's feelings, or whatnot. But the truth is, I have a favorite. Life After Lies by Fadingsilverstar16, AKA Gigi, is my absolute favorite story on the wiki.

Nalyd: Where's Waldo?

DJ Spenstar: Under your bed.

Nalyd: How did you get your idea for the eliminations in Total Drama Infinity?

DJ Spenstar: Do you mean my elimination order, or Justin's way of eliminating people? For the former, I just bump off the ones that I don't like writing for, or eliminate someone based off of a plot point or personal preference on a given week. For the latter, I thought that a dark, mysterious story like Infinity could use a mysterious elimination method. There actually is a reason, why Justin gives out the marshmallows instead of having the guards just drag the unlucky competitor away from The Dark Island. But I'm not telling!

Nalyd: If you could go back and change something about one of your stories, would you?

DJ Spenstar: That, is the hardest wiki-based question anyone has asked me. To be honest, yes, I would change one thing. I'd changethe way Halle was eliminated in Total DramaInsanity, so that it'd be more believeable. Plus, I'd give the chapter that she was eliminated in more focus on everybody else besides Spense, Julie, Halle, and Craig.

Nalyd: Do you have a favorite story to work on?

DJ Spenstar: Out of all my stories, my favorite is whichever one I'm writing or thinking about at any given time. But I am partial to my competition series, Total Drama Insanity, and, Total Drama Infinity.

Story Review
Story review by DJ Spenstar

Everybody likes the classics. The classics around here are those stories that started when the wiki was barely alive, so there was nothing else to read. Notably, there was Total Drama Paradise by Nalyd Renrut, and Total Drama High School by Ricky490. Some of you might ask yourself, who the heck is Ricky490? Well, apparently he’s the guy who created TDHS. Between the two, one became popular, got admin powers, and became pretty much the face of the wiki. The other, practically vanished. So I thought to myself, why not take a trip down the memory lane I don’t have and review Total Drama High School? Now, before I begin, I’d like to remind you guys that this is just one man’s opinion. And that one man is also the same man who doesn't like Audrey from Total Drama Amazon. My point is that I’m very much disagreed with when it comes to story/character opinions. So with that in mind, here we go.

Total Drama High School is about the original 22 TDI campers competing for prize money in a High School. When you’re eliminated, you must walk down the Hallway of Shame and board the Bus of Losers. Sounds great in theory, am I right? A story like that could really shine if it were creatively written, showed humor, gave signs of relationships, and the like. However, what was great in theory just didn’t work in practice. To start, it was almost painful for me to read those small walls of text that were called chapters in this story. It all seemed like just a bunch of jumbled words at a glance, and I had to force my mind to advance any farther than that. I mean, quotes, actions, results, everything was mashed into a single wall of text, and that was just chapter one. Throughout every chapter, it’s the same thing. You can’t excuse it just because it’s old, either; Total Drama Paradise was much better written. TDP had paragraphs! Sweet paragraphs! Decent grammar was never that important to me, but I now realize that grammar means everything. I wonder if anyone else actually feels the same way or if I’m going to be pelted with cyber-rocks and have to resort to many alt accounts after this.

Back to TDHS, once I got past the horrible walls of text, I found that the challenges were interesting to this day, and very much fit the school theme. It did feel like each one represented a high school subject. Challenges included a paintball war in honor of the Civil War, (history) a spelling bee contest, (English/reading) an obstacle course, (Phis. Ed) a gross food challenge, (lunch) and a computer building challenge of sorts. (Tech) While the ideas were very interesting in theory, however, each consisted of little more than a few sentences apiece. Many of these could have been expanded on, especially the Civil War re-enactment.

The chapters are each a single wall of text, and the challenges, while interesting ideas, last only a few sentences each. There is one more thing I would like to address, and that is the eliminations. More often than not, I end up thinking, “WTF?” after reading one. For example, Harold was eliminated first after the Civil War paintball challenge for sucking. This makes absolutely no sense. Harold was not mentioned during the challenge at all except for a single comment he made before it. Also, Harold could have dominated with his extensive knowledge of the actual civil war and paintball guns, as well as his figure skating skills, causing his team to win, not lose. Okay, so Harold isn’t proven to have the former two, but his brain is cramped with so much useless information that knowing such would be very fitting. Another example is that Courtney was eliminated third for quitting and not even trying during the spelling bee challenge. Courtney is an A type girl, and she’s an overachiever! That’s like, the first thing about Courtney, so eliminating her for that doesn’t make sense. (I refuse to comment on how Tyler was eliminated exactly like he was in TDI.) Speaking of which, Trent came in fourth place, for not even trying during the tech challenge. Trent is no quitter! Personally, I think Ricky490 just came up with these out-of-character excuses as a way for him to send those characters packing. It’s just insane!

Overall, I give Total Drama High School by Ricky490 a 2/10. The truth is, it’s a complete mess. Then again, this is just one man’s opinion.

Total Drama Author 4 Coverage
Interviews by Tdi

Interview With Anonymos
Tdi: Why did you quit?

Anonymos: It was a self-esteem issue. I only joined to win and prove to myself that I was, in fact, a top author. I realized midway through week one, that after making it to the final three both times I competed, as well as only barely losing, I was, all along, a top author.

Tdi: If you didn't drop out, who do you think would've gone home?

Anonymos: Hard to say, but I think Zeke, because although, both he and Tdifan failed to complete their stories, but Tdifan skill is greater.

Tdi: Who do you think did best on the challenge

Anonymos: Not having read the majority of the stories, I have no idea.

Tdi: How far do you think you would've gotten?

Anonymos: I don’t want to sound cocky, but I think I would’ve won.

Tdi: Would you compete again?

Anonymos: No, no I wouldn’t.

Interview With Ezekielguy
Tdi: Why do you think you were eliminated?

Ezekielguy: I just never have time to do things like these, you know? And besides, I KNEW I was going.

Tdi: Do you think you should've been eliminated?

Ezekielguy: Yes, yes, yes, yes! I really deserved, because I can just never find time to get these things done.

Tdi: How far did you think you were going to go?

Ezekielguy: At least five episodes, maybe.

Tdi: Would you want to compete again?

Ezekielguy:No. Absoloutley not.

Tdi: Who are you rooting for?

Ezekielguy: Oh, I don't know...Maybe Cokeman11

Interview With Tdifan1234
Tdi: Why did you quit?

Tdifan1234: I quit because I knew myself that I wouldn't have time to write any stories. Also, the fact that Shane felt bad to nominate me, I knew that I couldn't continue on like this.

Tdi: If you wrote a story, do you think you would still be in?

Tdifan1234: Hopefully! I think my writing has improved so much over the course of these camps. I look back on my first story from the first Total Drama Author and say, "This got a 9 out of 10? How?!" I do admit, my first stories really sucked. I won't lie. But now that I've gotten the opportunity to receive constructive criticism to improve my stories, I think that I may have a good shot at winning one day. Maybe when I can finally get all my stories up. :-)

Tdi: Did you think you would make it farther?

Tdifan1234: I wish I made it farther, considering the next round was the poetry competition. Every year, I was the underdog. That is, until the poetry round. I would say to myself, "Okay, now it's time to shine!" I would knock their socks off! But aside from the poetry thing, the main goal I had this season was to make it farther than my pathetic elimination in the second round last season. I achieved my goal, being the 3rd eliminated! Not much of an improvement, I know, but maybe I'll get farther next time. That is, If I compete.

Tdi: Would you compete again?

Tdifan1234: I don't really know at this point, considering my busy lifestyle. I know that there were people that were late for sign-ups, and I feel really bad that I never got to put a complete story up.

Tdi: Who are you rooting for?

Tdifan1234: You see, I think that a Total Drama Author winner should display two qualities: writing skill (of course) and the experience to take on the role of adminship. The person I think that has both these qualities in the game is Turnertang. In my opinion, he is a very talented writer. His stories are always enjoyable to read and I think he is one of the most experienced users still in the competition. I'd love to see him win. Go Turnertang!

Comics