User talk:Freefalling Lilacs

Welcome
Hi, welcome to Total Drama Island Fanfiction wikia! Thanks for your edit to the User:Freefalling Lilacs page.

Please leave a message on my talk page if I can help with anything! -- Sprinklemist (Talk) 05:15, April 22, 2010

Welcome to the wiki. I hope you enjoy yourself here, and I look forward to the to of your team up stories, or whatever you plan on doing. :) Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 13:57, April 22, 2010 (UTC)

Hey, welcome to the wiki. I didn't notice your account until today, so in order to get readers, I'd recommend commenting on blog posts, and nominating and/or supporting/opposing works for Featured Story, and Featured User, Image, etc. Also, to get a scope of great works we only have on this site, I'd read virtually anything by Sprinklemist (GO WIKI LEADER!), Sunshine (she's infamous!), Nalyd Renrut (He came up the wiki's famous quote, the typo "Sarah! How cold she?"), TDIwriter, and though I don't mean to toot my own horn, myself. All of us here want to welcome two great users!I love you when you dance when you're freestyling trance  So pure such an expression  02:15, June 14, 2010 (UTC)

Thank you very much. I really appreciate the compliment. :) Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 13:28, June 29, 2010 (UTC)

I also should mention that I really like your edits. They're very well done. :) Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 03:20, July 1, 2010 (UTC)

Hey, I figured I should just mention that I linked your name on the TDI: Again! page.I figured you deserved the credit! Also, did you see TDI:A! in the Newsletter? Solid Gold 08:03, July 4, 2010 (UTC)

Hi Freefalling Liliacs. :) I'm Reddude (Most people call me Reddy though.) Just wanted to say hi and that I love your pics for TDI:FYE. :D Reddy!! :) :( :D xD DX &gt;:D ;Reddy loves emotioncons. 13:28, July 19, 2010 (UTC)

I have to say, I'm quite impressed with your character models. It makes me want to do alternate outfits for my characters... I've only done a couple that pertain to their stories. Anyway, keep up the good work. Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 03:22, July 22, 2010 (UTC)

XD Yeah, I know what you mean. I wouldn't have guessed that Eric was based on Dante and Camille partially on Holly. I am glad that I could help you out without even knowing it. XD I just added a picture of Micky D. in his ducky footie pajamas. His clothes are a little baggy, so I had to give him an appropriate body shape, which is still kind of awkward. Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 13:25, July 22, 2010 (UTC)

Hey, Freefalling Lilacs! I have a request... I was wondering if after you draw another male character (I prefer drawing male ones, but if you pick a female one, that's fine), if I could draw/edit his alternate clothes for you (second outfit, swimwear, and sleepwear). I thought it'd be a fun thing to do, and our drawing styles match well enough for me to be able to do that. Let me know if you'd like me to do that. Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 17:35, July 30, 2010 (UTC)

I think Paul sounds more intriguing to draw, though I wanted to help you with a character with baggy clothes. Paul seems like the one I'd rather do, though. It's kind of hard to determine, but either is fine. I guess I could do both if you want me to. XD I'd ask for free reign, unless you need a specific garment included. Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 19:46, August 2, 2010 (UTC)

Okay then, Paul sounds pretty fun to do. Send me the pic on here or on e-mail if you'd rather. I kind of have ideas for him without even seeing his pic. XD Be sure to tell me what his body type will be, though. Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 02:55, August 3, 2010 (UTC)

That sounds good. I'd guess it could go either one of two ways. Strong chest with no abs, or abs with no strong chest. XD I'll judge that by the pic. I look forward to doing that for you, it sounds fun. Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 03:11, August 3, 2010 (UTC)

I'll give you to versions, then. XD It shouldn't take much extra effort. And I'm up for the challenge of abs and no strong chest. XD Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 03:24, August 3, 2010 (UTC)

Hi, Lilac, I just saw your Courtney one-shot on ff.net. I didn't comment there, because I don't have an account there, so I'll say here that I liked it. The narration really sounded like the world's most famous (or infamous) CIT. By the bye, my Courtney story is finished, in case you haven't been following it and have any interest in it. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 00:01, September 20, 2010 (UTC)

I still will. I'll try to get to it when I can. Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 03:14, September 20, 2010 (UTC)



I'll be honest. I got kind of lazy by not really changing the shorts and boxers other than color, but I thought they looked too good to change. XD Also, I know you said to give hi a muscle chest and no abs, but I found it hard to have nothing on the stomach, as it looked so blank. If it doesn't work for you, or if you want me to change it in some way, let me know. Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 20:38, September 20, 2010 (UTC)

That sounds cool. Can it be anything? You're welcome by the way. I'm glad you liked them. :) Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 22:41, September 20, 2010 (UTC)

Here's the alternate pic. :) Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 00:12, September 21, 2010 (UTC)

Maybe you didn't put a lot of effort into the plot of your Courtney story, but the effort you put into making the narration sound like Courtney certainly paid off. The degree of success in making the tone sound Courtneyesque is what made that story (or would have broken it, had you not been successful). Although you mostly retold canon events from a new perspective, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that I know all about putting a new spin on old events. I was, after all, the one who came up with TDI-G&amp;S.

Speaking of which, if it's not irredeemably presumptuous of me, TDI-G&S could certainly use your support on the Featured Story ballot, if you are inclined to give it. It placed 2nd last month (a month where there was no clear favorite) and is currently running 2nd this month (ditto). While it may not win this month, I have high hopes that it can win one of these days. I'm asking you for your support because it seemed to have made an impression on you. It was, after all, the reason you gave for supporting me on the Featured User ballot a couple of months ago. (For which, thanks again.) My Courtney story is also on the ballot, but that's mainly to publicize it; a noncompetition story has to be seen as something special to get more than token support in the FS voting.

On the subject of our stories, are there any plans to continue posting TDI:A! here on the wiki? I see that Solid Gold, who had been posting it here on your behalf, hasn't been on the wiki in a couple of months. As I mentioned elsewhere, I skimmed parts of it and found it intriguing, and I'm inclined to think that I will like your writing style. I was planning to read TDI:A! when I get some time, but I'm not sure I would if it is destined to remain unfinished. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 04:11, September 21, 2010 (UTC)

That's okay. I'm gladf you liked it. :D Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 03:11, October 25, 2010 (UTC)

Hey FL, I'm planning a camp (like a competition) on the TDI Camps wiki about fanart. I was wondering if I could please use FYE for an option for the contestants to use? Please? XD Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 20:03, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

Thanks a billion. 8D I'm glad I have your support here. Sprinklemist Cyan is the new green. 03:09, October 27, 2010 (UTC)

Hi, Lilac, just touching based to let you know that I put up a Halloween-themed blog post in case you missed it (since it looks like your presence on the wiki has been sporadic of late). Anyway, this post includes a couple of LTDI scenes that tie into the Halloween theme in various ways, and includes pictures from my sports photography of girls whom I think resemble the TDI girls (Halloween tie-in: TDI girls dressed as jocks). The photos include one of yours truly, in case you'd like to be able to put a face with the name. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 04:10, November 4, 2010 (UTC)

I noticed that you've started posting TDI:FYE. I may have mentioned before that I've bookmarked it, but I probably won't have a chance to read it for about a week. I have a major deadline looming for my sports photography. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 02:41, November 5, 2010 (UTC)

Hi, Lilac, I hope I haven't missed you, since you mentioned that you don't check in regularly. For New Year's weekend, I have a couple of blog posts planned that might interest you. One is my regularly scheduled LTDI preview. (As I have noted elsewhere, I intend to preview scenes every 2 months, give or take.) For the other, Sunshine and I will be making joint posts on the subject of my short story, Legacy. (If you're not familiar with it, Legacy is what put me on the map around here.) Sunshine will be posting a long-delayed fanart for the story, and I will be revealing the plot of the story's abandoned 6th chapter, which would have been set a few hours after what turned out to be the story's conclusion. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 04:38, January 1, 2011 (UTC)

Hi Lilac. I was wondering if I could use some of your characters pics for a FF I am doing, Total Drama Meltdown. Message me on my talkpage with your reply. Thanks! --One by one, they’ll all go down! Trixie for Roleplay Season 4!!! 18:36, February 19, 2011 (UTC)

I've been busy
Hi, Lilac, I wanted to let you know what I've been up to lately, since you seem to have some interest in my doings. In case you missed any or all of them, I made four blog posts in the last two week, covering various topics. First, I've posted two more LTDI previews. In addition to my regularly scheduled Valentine's Day preview, a blog discussion that turned heated led me to post an unscheduled preview with "ripped from the wiki headlines" topicality. By the by, if you don't already have LTDI on your Followed Pages list, you might want to add it because I post links to all of the previews on the story's talk page.

The third post was my plot sketch of the abandoned sixth chapter to my breakout short story, Legacy. As you may recall, I had intended to post this on New Year's weekend, as part of a special joint post with Sunshine, but she wasn't ready, so we had to push it back. We finally made our posts on Legacy's anniversary, with me posting my "lost chapter" sketch and Sunshine posting her beautiful fanart for my story. (You can also see her pic on the Featured Image ballot, hint, hint.)

The fourth post was my anniversary post. Yes, I'm now one wiki-year old.

It wouldn't surpise me--and I certainly wouldn't hold it against you--if you missed any or all of these posts, because they kind of got drowned out by active discussions on other blogs, and so fell off the Activity Feed before people really had a chance to notice them. Traffic to my anniversary blog was especially disappointing. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 06:34, February 22, 2011 (UTC)

I know I mentioned somewhere (though I don't remember where) that I am making two noteworthy tweaks to Ezekiel's personality. First, although he remains a sexist country bumpkin, he is not socially inept, because that's an aspect of the homeschooled stereotype that I consider unworthy of perpetuation, especially with this wiki having its share of homeschooled kids. (As Zeke says in his introduction, "We have Internet. It's only dial-up, but still...) The other tweak is that I interpreted the description of his parents as "freaky prairie people" (a description that appears both in LTDI and in the canon) to be code for "Bible thumpers". I won't be discussing religious doctrine in LTDI, but Zeke's faith will have some noticeable effects on his behaviour. Gideoncrawle  I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 07:00, February 22, 2011 (UTC)

Welcome back, Lilac, I noticed that you've been making edits for the first time in a couple of months. Your timing is good, because it's time for another LTDI preview, which I expect to post on the 1st. (I would have posted it today, but life got in the way.) Also, in case you know the TV Tropes website, I plan to mark my upcoming 3000th edit by listing the tropes I've identified in LTDI and my two short stories. So far, I've identified about 20 tropes in Legacy, 15 in Violin of Despair (which was March's Featured Story, in case you missed it), and about 160 in LTDI. (Admit it, that doesn't surprise you. You already knew that I am nothing if not thorough.) Once again, I'm glad to see you back. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 03:27, May 1, 2011 (UTC)

Hi!
Hey, its GossipQueen101. I was just on the site checking in on my stories page and I remember TD:FYE and I decided to come and check it out. It seems amazing and I love your drawings. I can't wait till you start it. It'll be epic from what I can see. I really happen to love Cara and Risty, those are my favorites. Although I love Donna, Sebastian, and Avery. Just know that I'm over at FF, if you need anything. Can't wait for TD:FYE to begin!

My tropes listing blog is posted. Also, in case you missed it, I posted my latest LTDI preview the week before. My tropes blog has a link to it. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 01:41, May 10, 2011 (UTC)

I keep trying to find time to read your TD:FYE chapter, but something always gets in the way. One of these days... Gideoncrawle  I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 05:29, June 1, 2011 (UTC)

I finally found time to read your TDI:FYE chapter, and I commented at some length on its talk page. By the by, if you have any interest, I've posted my Featured Story "acceptance speech" blog. If you haven't been on the wiki in the last week or two, my signature work finally won FS. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 06:45, June 7, 2011 (UTC)

Hello FreeFalling Lilacs,my Name Is Chancellor Cherry,Im Newer Here,But I Was Just saying hi!,And I Hope We Can Be Freinds,:),Check Out My User Page If You Want To Know More About Me,And I Like Your Story Td:Fye,Its really Good,And I Like Your irina,Character And The Donna One,Bye!:)

Hey! It's GossipQueen101, can you believe that the website wouldn't let me put 101. It's fine. But I just wanted to give my prediction for the top three. I sort of have an idea of who will be up there. I see it being Avery, Issac, and Risty. I don't know why, but I have a feeling it's them. Usually I have bad feelings, so here's hoping that I am right! GossipQueen 23:23, June 27, 2011 (UTC)

Since you're about on the wiki today, I thought I'd mention that the next LTDI preview is scheduled for the holiday weekend. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 23:40, June 27, 2011 (UTC)

Happy Birthday!
I hope you didn't think I forgot. I wish you an amazing day! Ah!

I wasn't aware of this tidbit, but now that I am, I'll wish you a happy birthday as well. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 02:43, July 6, 2011 (UTC)

Thank you so much <3 Love ya!

My e-mail address is ___ if you would like to e-mail me the details on the character you came up with. If you don't want to, that's fine. You can erase my a-mail address from your talk page after you see it, just so the whole world doesn't see it. :B Sprinklemist hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 22:53, July 7, 2011 (UTC)

I sent you a reply to your e-mail. Sprinklemist hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 12:58, July 8, 2011 (UTC)

So, have you heard about the Wiki-lympics? We thought you could be a good representative in the Art challenge. What do you say? Jkl9817 has a very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very long signature. 15:24, July 25, 2011 (UTC)

Hi, there. (See you're on and have a request of sorts) I was wondering if you'd like to make an alternate costume for one of my Total Drama: Best of the Best characters for their updated look? Don't feel obligated to say yes, as I understand that you may have limited time on your hands. I'd appreciate it, of course, but I'm not going to push anyone to do this. Let me know who you'd like to make one for (though Audrey II I already have an idea for), if you decide you can do this. Sprinklemist hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 03:07, August 1, 2011 (UTC)

Either or both (if you don't mind that, it's up to you). I greatly appreciate it. :) Sprinklemist hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 03:27, August 1, 2011 (UTC)

I appreciate that. No rush on them, though, really. But if you can only do one, that's still great. Sprinklemist hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 03:35, August 1, 2011 (UTC)

Hello. I'm Lulucas777. But most people call me LuLu for short. I just came to say that I LOVE your artwork and TDI:FYE. --Lulucas777 01:27, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Hi there! I LOVE your drawings, and I was wondering, would you maybe draw some characters for me? :) Owenandheatherfan 01:28, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Dude, I love your "Aria Walsh" picture... XD Nice work on it! -- Spotted at the hottest shows, interview on Charlie Rose,  they all want a piece of you!  01:30, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Yes. It's nice to meet you too! :) I've known who are for a while now. I joined just last year. As I said before I'm a HUGE fan of your art and TDI:FYE! I'm currently writing my first story TDI: Take II. If you could possibly read the preview and tell me What you think on the talkpage that'd be great! And if you have any advice can you please share it with me? I'm desperate! --Lulucas777 01:35, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Hm, a week? Alright then. I need about 8, and they're for a FF. I will give you credit for them in the trivia. Owenandheatherfan 01:36, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Oh. :( Maybe you could do 4? Or something reasonable? Owenandheatherfan 01:44, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Ok! Thank you! :) --Lulucas777 01:47, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Alright. Owenandheatherfan 01:49, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

I notice that other people have been really asking you to do pics for them. I know the feeling, so... You don't have to do what I asked of you, at all, just to free up time for you. If you do it, it's your decision. Don't feel obligated to. As for another thing, I noticed that you mentioned your dislike of photobucket. I used to store my pics there (mostly to upload from multiple computers, if needed), but then they changed that 800px above height images would be condensed to 800px. I had to stop using it. >_> Sprinklemist hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 02:21, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Trust me. When I first started drawing here, especially, I got request after request. I said yes to most of it and got little thanks (except for some, particularly my good buddy TDIwriter), and a lot of 'are you almost done?' so I finally just had to start declining. I would click the make private thing on photobucket for a lot of things, but in general it was okay. I mostly used it for showing pics to people that I needed their opinion on. As for SYTYCD, I love that one, too. Melanie, Marco, and Sasha are great (Iveta was my fave, though >_> I got so ticked off at Ryan, as I never felt she had a personality that could draw in votes, and Iveta got screwed over by the non-elimination/getting Bollywood). You should see how excited when a Stacey Tookey routine comes on. XD I love every one from her, even when Jess did one (she works miracles, I tell you). Glad to find another ANTM fan. I like most reality competition shows, especially ones with some artistic result to judge... Well, and food ones, too. <font color="Green">Sprinklemist <font color="Orange">hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 02:41, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

This looks awesome. Thank you so much! :) I'll be sure to put it on her page quickly. <font color="Green">Sprinklemist <font color="Orange">hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 04:00, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Okay, that Missy alt is CUTE! Just letting you know. Goldenshane 04:23, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

I know we've never actually talked or anything, but I just wanted to tell you that I think the alternate outfit you drew for Missy is beautiful! I really like the ribbon detail on her shirt, her sandals, and even the earrings. It really looks like something she'd wear. Great job. :) -Lalainee 16:43, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

Hey there. The Wiki-lympics art challenge is to draw scene pic of your wiki winning the wiki-lympics. You just draw what you think a wiki would look like if it were like, an actual place. You can include people in the picture as well, though it's up to you to decide if they're any specific users. It's due Friday. -- Spotted at the hottest shows, interview on Charlie Rose,  they all want a piece of you!  21:29, August 2, 2011 (UTC)

No problem. And yes, I think the people in the image have to be users. -- Spotted at the hottest shows, interview on Charlie Rose,  they all want a piece of you!  01:10, August 3, 2011 (UTC)

Personally, I'd incorporate some iconic wiki personas, such as Nalyd or Sunshine. And yeah, I think one of them has to be yourself. -- Spotted at the hottest shows, interview on Charlie Rose,  they all want a piece of you!  01:14, August 3, 2011 (UTC)

Cool. XD I can't for the life of me draw what I look like in real life, so that's why I just use the the whole Reddy alter-ego. :P -- Spotted at the hottest shows, interview on Charlie Rose,  they all want a piece of you!  01:17, August 3, 2011 (UTC)

XD Yay! I'm glad you're using me. Reddy isn't very hard to draw, imo. -- Spotted at the hottest shows, interview on Charlie Rose,  they all want a piece of you!  01:22, August 3, 2011 (UTC)

Sure, you can put a trophy in the picture. It doesn't really matter whose holding it, though. :P -- Spotted at the hottest shows, interview on Charlie Rose,  they all want a piece of you!  01:29, August 3, 2011 (UTC)

I'm not exactly sure where you'd post it, but making a blog would be completely fine. :) -- Spotted at the hottest shows, interview on Charlie Rose,  they all want a piece of you!  12:45, August 5, 2011 (UTC)

Hi Freefalling Lilacs Can u Make me A Charcter Won With Brown Hair Long but not to long brown eyes a Green Tee Gray Pants and Green Shose and make him tall User:HF650

I noticed that you have officially cancelled TDI:A! Although I never got round to reading it, partly because it appeared to be a dead fic, I did skim part of it once. As I may have told you somewhere, I happened to land on a scene (involving a brain-damaged seagull, if memory serves) that reminded me of a real-life incident I read about as a child (i.e. almost 40 years ago). Recalling that incident, I decided that it would, with minor adjustments, make a good Duncan scene for LTDI. What this means is that your story has a legacy--it contributed in a small but important way to making LTDI what it is. Just thought you'd like to know. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 05:40, August 9, 2011 (UTC)

Some things are just meant to be. It was sheer chance that led me to that particular scene, given that it was at least a couple of chapters in, if memory serves. One quirk of my mind is that I have a very associative memory, i.e. almost anything has the potential to remind me of something else. (Even as a teen, I was more of a walking encyclopedia than Harold.) The similarity between your seagull scene and the incident I read about so many years ago (involving a lynx, if memory serves) was superficial at best, but it was enough for me to dredge up the memory of something I hadn't thought about in decades. Likewise, the finals in LTDI will include a scene inspired by an incident (which I also read about as a child) from the 1923 World Series. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  01:36, August 10, 2011 (UTC)

I saw your vote on Jkl's FI candidate of Heather and the bear, and I thought I'd fill you in on a couple of things. First, they're supposed to be stuck in a pit together. Jkl's first draft of the image had blue sky visible at the top, but he removed that detail for reasons beyond my ken. Second, the image of the bear does indeed come from official content. Jkl's artistic talent lies in assembling collages from bits and pieces of pre-existing imagery. Personally, I think he does a good job, although I don't think "Heather and the Bear" is his best work.

I don't know if you happened to see the ballot last month, when he initially nominated the now-infamous "Dead Heather" image, where several campers, visible only from their (recognizable) shadows are standing around Heather after her death in a challenge accident (possibly the first time that particular fate has ever befallen a canon character). That image got a lot of support, but also drew significant opposition from people fearing that it might traumatize kids. (Personally, I don't think it would have, because it's an "informed" death scene, i.e. you wouldn't know just by looking at it that Heather was dead, as opposed to merely unconscious or even asleep. It's not like she was impaled on a bloody stake or anything.) Say what you will about "Dead Heather", however, it helped to stimulate exceptionally heavy FI voting, which has continued into this month. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  03:34, August 13, 2011 (UTC)

I highly recommend the story, Jkl's Total Drama Island, which is a Season 1 reimagining and, for my money, one of the better TDI remakes on the wiki. The first two episodes are too close to the canon for my taste, but the story picks up once it finds its own voice. Some of the phrasing is a little odd, probably because English isn't Jkl's first language. (He's Brazilian, so his first language is presumably Portugese.) Speaking of stories, I fell behind on TDI:FYE, but I finally read chapter 5 today, and I expect to get caught up either tonight or this weekend. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:03, August 13, 2011 (UTC)

I know this is a little awkward, but would you mind signing my friends list? :3 --Lulucas777 05:19, August 15, 2011 (UTC)

Yay! Amigos! And yes. I CAN gear you now. :} --Lulucas777 05:51, August 15, 2011 (UTC)

Sure. I'm fine with you doing one, and I encourage it, even. XD Lalainee did an image for her, but I feel it's slightly too formal, and not very modern (I mean, 40's style with a modern edge), but I'd put both images on her page if you do do one. I really appreciate your help with this. <font color="Green">Sprinklemist <font color="Orange">hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 20:05, August 17, 2011 (UTC)

Can I use your wiki persona as a character in my new one-shot?-- Doyce! "To be awesome,  you have to think awesome." 15:07, August 18, 2011 (UTC)

Well, I assumed your profile pic was your wiki persona.-- Doyce! "To be awesome,  you have to think awesome." 18:04, August 18, 2011 (UTC)

Oh, well. I can use that or I can try to find someone else, if you want. It's not that big of a deal.-- Doyce! "To be awesome,  you have to think awesome." 18:13, August 18, 2011 (UTC)

Okay, I'll do that. And yeah, I'm from Connecticut. I actually used to live here, but then I moved to Texas (worst state besides Alaska :P) and I just moved back here literally about a month ago. Also, is it okay if i crop your avatar out of that picture and reupload it?-- Doyce! "To be awesome,  you have to think awesome." 18:18, August 18, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, that would be awesome if you could do that. Also, Connecticut can be boring, but its relaxing, plus New York City is right next door ;)-- Doyce! "To be awesome,  you have to think awesome." 21:45, August 18, 2011 (UTC)

Thanks.-- Doyce! "To be awesome,  you have to think awesome." 01:38, August 19, 2011 (UTC)

Story schedules
Yeah, I thought TDI:FYE had missed a week. No matter, I probably won't be able to get to chapter 7 for a few days anyway. I'm making final preparations to launch LTDI, with a target date of 9/03. Look for a blog this weekend with more details. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:11, August 27, 2011 (UTC)

You've probably seen it by now; but in case you somehow missed it, my blog announcing the LTDI launch is posted. As it turned out, I also had another momentous thing to announce; but if you haven't seen it yet, I won't spoil the surprise. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  03:56, September 1, 2011 (UTC)

The First Night chapter of LTDI is up. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  01:25, September 4, 2011 (UTC)

Lilac, I have a request: would you mind if I used Gabe's picture (or possibly his audition picture) in LTDI? I propose to caption it, "Cody's self-image". I haven't decided yet whether LTDI will have character pages, so Gabe's pick might end up either on Cody's character page or on the story page. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  03:07, September 11, 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. I'll see to it that you have a full acknowledgement. As for reading, I guess we're even, because I've been busy too and so still haven't gotten to the latest TDI:FYE chapter. At this point, I'll probably just wait for the new one and take both of the Episode 4 chapters more or less together. As for your warning about a potentially unpopular elimination, I may lament, but I promise that I won't complain as long as it makes sense. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  00:51, September 12, 2011 (UTC)

Hello. I have made a contest where people read fanfictions and they're assigned to and then answer questions. Anyway, I would like Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment to be one of the fics this week. May I use it? Thank you :). <font color="Red">Jake:  Breathe, Feel, Love   Life  04:16, September 12, 2011 (UTC)

So. This is a comment. Now talk about TDA:FYE, woman. :@ Mrdaimion:   Like you,   only better.  00:06, September 14, 2011 (UTC)

... if you didn't want it to get out to enough people, you could have just asked me to go to Chat and you coulda PM'd it to me. xD And meh. If you can IM them, they're a girl, and you're not revealing who they are, clarifying it's a Wikian... the carrier of your spoilers is totally Gossip Queen. xD

As for TDA:FYE... It seems awesome. xD And yeah, I think you should so the Veterans and Newbies idea-- totally not solely for Zack related reasons... <-< Besides, I want to see how the returners interact with the newbies they know of. =P Also, the challenge idea seems awesome-- and if Allison returns for it, she's gonna kick some serious butt. xDD

And don't worry, I don't want any further spoilers-- Although I do have a nasty habit of checking a story's elim table 'fore I read it (I dunno why x-x), when I'm in the middle of a story, I hate spoilers. =P Mrdaimion:   Like you,   only better.  00:30, September 14, 2011 (UTC)

I see that your 1000th edit is coming up. Although that milestone has no practical effect, people often choose to recognize it. (There's just no getting around that cultural thing for big round numbers.) Are you planning anything special for the occasion? My 4000th is just around the corner, and in fact is part of a "milestone trifecta" (4000 edits, top 10 editor status, and elevation to adminship) that all happened/will happen within a few weeks of each other. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:07, September 16, 2011 (UTC)

Hey :D. I talked with the owner of the Gabe page and she said I could have it. However, I am giving the page to you for your character Gabe. That is all =P. <font color="Red">Jake:  Breathe, Feel, Love   Life  02:54, October 6, 2011 (UTC)

I'm sure. I want you to have it :P. <font color="Red">Jake:  Breathe, Feel, Love   Life  18:13, October 8, 2011 (UTC)

No, because the story has been cancelled. Plus I asked the user in Chatango (our chat room), and she said it was ok for me to have it, so I'm giving it to you. The story has been cancelled, and you can use it :P. <font color="Red">Jake:  Breathe, Feel, Love   Life  18:21, October 8, 2011 (UTC)

Sure. Let me do that for you. BTW, have you been watching this season of the Sing Off? <font color="Green">Sprinklemist <font color="Orange">hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 00:30, October 11, 2011 (UTC)

Delilah is my favorite, too. As for Gabe's page, you will need to fix any links to his page you might have to just Gabe. <font color="Green">Sprinklemist <font color="Orange">hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 00:38, October 11, 2011 (UTC)

I hope they do, too. I like them the most, but they do have a lot of support from the judges. That usually is what the winners have. Although there are some other teams I don't find to be as great that they're really supportive of... That worries me. <font color="Green">Sprinklemist <font color="Orange">hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 03:12, October 11, 2011 (UTC)

If you were planning to do anything for your 1000th edit, keep an eye on your edit count. You're just about there. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:30, October 18, 2011 (UTC)

Well, if you have to make a choice, this is a case where doing it well is better than doing it punctually. Besides, a fair percentage of people don't bother with these milestone edits at all. I think they're popular largely because they're a good way to draw attention to yourself and, by, extension, your stories.

Speaking of stories, I didn't want to clutter the TDI:FYE talk page with this, so I'll mention it here: due to offline crunch time, centered mainly around my job (I'm an accountant and my employer has a 30 September year end, so October is extremely busy for me), I haven't got to chapter 9 yet. Now that chapter 10 is up, I'll probably take the two Episode 5 chapters more or less together, just as I did with Episode 4. As for my own story, the plan is to post the Second Night chapter (covering the end of episode 1 and the beginning of episode 2) on Halloween weekend. I still have two or three scenes to write, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Here's a mini-teaser that I revealed on chat a few days ago. Episode 2 begins thusly:


 * The next morning, their first at Camp Wawanakwa, the campers awoke to the end of the world.

Chew on that for a while. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  02:55, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

I was about to ask Gideon a question when I saw your query. I just posted a blog, and celebrated 100 edits in it (about 3 weeks late). I listed 3 milestones for my blog post: 100 edits, being able to vote, :D, and having my very first fanfics getting a glowing review in the Newsletter! Are there any milestones you'd like to mention? Gideon mentioned a couple for his 4000th edit. JustLittleOlMe Lil   Jay JLOM   Mrs. Gideon  07:16, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

Character rankings for Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment, if you care =D Frank15 08:04, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

As you've seen, I also like to leave detailed commentary, else how will a writer improve? I think that's one reason we enjoy eac other's stories--we seem to have similar attitudes on literary matters, and we seem to have similar ideas of what constitutes a good story. Anyway, I look forward to your commentary on LTDI's First Night chapter. As you've seen if you've visited its talk page, a lot of people have said a lot of things about it, but there's always room for one more. The more the merrier, as the adage goes. If you can't get to a detailed comment before Second Night goes up, though, at least be sure to vote in the two First Night polls, if you haven't already done so. (Second Night will also have at least one poll, although it's not likely that every chapter will. On the other hand, the "all cliffhangers all the time" structure certainly lends itself to polls.)

On a peripherally related note, if memory serves, you were the one who said on one of the LTDI previews, "Oh, my god, you know what a muskellunge is and are using the name in a story!" or words to that effect. Well, here's another piscine tidbit: I'm working on a running gag of sorts that features lampreys, of all things. What can I say? I was very interested in animals as a kid, and still like to watch nature programs.

Last but not least, I see you've "met" my DW. She hasn't got to TDI:FYE yet, but I've strongly recommended it to her. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:08, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

As you may have seen by now, I've read the two Episode 5 chapters and left an excessively long comment on the talk page. As you may also have noticed, I took the liberty of fixing broken links on a couple of your character pages, reflecting the fact that Gabe's character page no longer carries the TDI:FYE suffix. Anyway, this is getting to be par for the course, but the revelation of Camille's secret is yet another parallel between TDI:FYE and LTDI. I won't disclose the details here, although you may remember them if you've read all my other stories, since one of those pages mentions it. On a related note, I have officially announced my intent to post the Second Night this Saturday (the 29th). Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  01:07, October 24, 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I figured you were a good bet to know what a lamprey is, which is why I mentioned it. About a week ago, I gave a short, impromptu Second Night preview on chat. In a scene from the orientation tour, they come to the infirmary, and Chris rattles off a litany of "everyday hazards of camp life" that the infirmary can (or in some cases, can't) treat. Among the latter are the "giant man-eating lampreys" that supposedly inhabit the lake. Speaking of our stories, wifey has started FYE. She only got as far as the theme song (i.e. the place where it says (Theme Song)) before having to set it aside and deal with various offline matters; but it's a start, and she's seen enought to be impressed. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  02:50, October 25, 2011 (UTC)

Hey there FFL! I'm with the newsletter, and I'm in charge of everything featured aside of FUs.

I see you won Featured Character. If you'd like to say anything for me to put into the newsletter, please message me back with what you'd like to say. Thanks! :) <font face="Arial"><font color="Blue">POKE. POKE. <font color="Skyblue">PINCH. PINCH. Quit poking and pinching me! &gt;_&gt;   02:58, November 6, 2011 (UTC)

You've seen how I can alliterate without effort, or with only casual effort; but if you want to see what I'm capable of if I really put my mind to it, LTDI's Second Night chapter has a scene that is essentially an alliteration duel. I'm guessing you haven't seen the chapter yet, since I posted it the day you lost power. If the chapter's length (almost as long as the First Night) is a temporary obstacle--I certainly wouldn't want you to further delay FYE on my account--I've put the first part of the scene on the Featured Quote ballot. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:40, November 7, 2011 (UTC)

Sorry for a late response. You can answer the questions in third or first person, whichever.

1. How does it feel to win featured character?

2. Have you ever won featured character before?

3. Any comments on winning?

<font face="Arial"><font color="Blue">POKE. POKE. <font color="Skyblue">PINCH. PINCH. Quit poking and pinching me! &gt;_&gt;   21:37, November 11, 2011 (UTC)

I thought you might like to know that the Featured Quote ballot has something from TDI:FYE. For Thanksgiving, I chose a "Food & Eating" theme for the current ballot (16-30 November) so I put up a passage from the "soda with waffles" scene. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  00:14, November 20, 2011 (UTC)

Strange, I did a test edit of my talk page, and the current section didn't require Source mode. One of the earlier sections does, and I suspect the culprit is somebody's fancy signature template. As for the Featured Quote page, it does require somewhat closer monitoring than the other Feature ballots, due to the semimonthly cycle. That's as may be, I was happy to get your story represented on the FQ ballot. It's good publicity, after all, even if your Quote doesn't win. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:20, November 20, 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the LTDI typo tip. I've taken the liberty of removing the "nitpicky" portion of your FQ vote commentary, not because I'm vain or anything, but because it's obsolete now that I've fixed the problem. I did recognize your tip in the Edit Summary, though, so anyone who happened to see the Activity Feed or the Page History will know of your deed. Speaking of Featured stuff, that Gilded Chris looks real nice on Elena's character page. She would undoubtedly expect that bit of hardware to be but the first of many. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:53, November 21, 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I did notice the FYE chapter; and yes, I was waiting for the next. If it's going to be up in just a couple of days, though, I'll probably go ahead and read the latest chapter this weekend if I have time. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:52, November 26, 2011 (UTC)

I have a couple of questions about FYE. Since I don't recall it being mentioned anywhere, how old are the contestants? If they're not all the same age, how old is Elena? For now, I'll keep you in suspense regarding my reason for wanting to know. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:24, December 10, 2011 (UTC)

OK, close enough. The reason why I wanted to know is that, just this morning, I thought of a way that I might put a reference to your story into mine. During the "look in on the losers" episode (titled, "The Tale of the Damned"), it could be revealed that the Playa de Losers is actually a Harks hotel rechristened with a theme name, thus making Harks a corporate sponsor of TDI. Elena might then make a cameo appearance, having tagged along when her father came to the Playa de Losers for business reasons related to the production of TDI. Having pretty much the run of the Playa whilst her father is there, Elena might interact briefly with one or two of the losers. Mr. Harks might also make a brief appearance, perhaps doing nothing more than telling Elena that it's time to go, or perhaps having a more substantial role such as talking to Chris about something.

FYE's Talent Show episode indicated that FYE is set five years after the canon TDWT, or seven years after TDI. In The Tale of the Damned, therefore, Elena would be 10 years old, give or take. If you find my idea appealing, I'd like to get your thoughts on what Elena was like at that age, as well as any thought you might have regarding her father's personality. There's no hurry, of course--the chapters covering The Tale of the Damned won't be posted for over a year yet, and probably closer to two. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:43, December 10, 2011 (UTC)

Actually, it had just slipped my mind that TDI and TDA were supposed to be back to back, so FYE would be six years after TDI. I don't think the six-month interval really works, because TDA clearly took place in warm (or at least mild) weather. Having TDI/A back to back makes sense, since the whole (in-universe) point of TDA was to be a tiebreaker for the TDDDDI challenge. TDA wasn't so much "Season 2" as "Season 1, Part 2". (There were certain references suggesting that TDWT was probably set in the following summer, but that's neither here nor there.) On the other hand, the time reference for FYE, i.e. 5 years after TDWT, came from Trent, and he could just as easily have forgotten that Season 1 and Season 2 were in the same summer, or he could simply have lost count. In any case, it doesn't matter for my purposes. I'm sure everything you said about the 10-year-old Elena would work just as well for the 11-year-old Elena.

I hadn't planned for LTDI to make any mention of the abandoned "Haute Camp-ture" story, but your description of Elliot Harks gave me an idea for working it in. One of the benefits Harks expects for reap from his sponsorship of TDI is product placement, and to that end Harks Hotels might provide a couple of the challenge rewards--including, naturally, the excursion for the team that wins the "halftime show" eating challenge.

So, here's my idea: as the show wears on, Elliot Harks decides that he's not getting enough bang for his promotional buck, and wants a higher profile for his business. More to the point, he wants to show off the prototype of a new type of luxury hotel. (New to the Harks empire, at any rate.) Smaller and more remotely located than previous Harks Hotels, but with most of the same amenities, the plan is to place this new type of hotel in summer colonies like the Muskoka district, and cater to travellers who want to get away from it all without giving up anything worthwhile. The prototype for this new concept is, of course, the Playa de Losers, and Harks suggests--eventually insists--that a TDI episode be set there. Some of the eliminated contestants, including early outs, have substantial fan bases (much like what happened with the canon episodes), so Harks doesn't have to do all that much arm twisting. Since the episode list doesn't have an open spot, something must be cut to make room for the "look in on the losers" episode, and the producers decide that the "photo shoot" challenge is the most expendable. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  03:59, December 15, 2011 (UTC)

Artwork
The TD drawing style has its charms, but it's nice to see you putting up more stuff in your own style. All the mugshots I've seen so far, with the possible exception of Donna, are plainly recognizable from their TD-style counterparts. Speaking of Donna, I'm curious to find out why she has such a terribly jaundiced skin tone when the others don't. (The story will reveal that detail, I presume.) Gideoncrawle  I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 00:45, December 22, 2011 (UTC)

I figured that Donna had paint on her, since the others did, but her unpainted skin doesn't look terribly healthy. On an unrelated note that might interest you, if you haven't bookmarked the LTDI page, I've added some character theme song videos, which you can find in Appendix B. I'll be adding more as I get ideas and can locate vids. There are a couple of campers for whom I know what I want and will probably be able to find vids, but I'm holding off on them because certain events must come to pass in the story before readers will understand why the songs fit. (Oh, and Third Night comes out on the 30th.) Gideoncrawle  I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 01:58, December 22, 2011 (UTC)

Merry Christmas! I wanted to say thank you for writing TD:FYE and making me fall in love with Sebastian. Also thank you for being a great friend and often cure often takes care of my writers block. So here's hoping you're getting everything you wanted. GossipQueen 03:16, December 25, 2011 (UTC)

I extended the date through January 2. I'm sorry for that inconvenience. That information was in my blog. Also, it wasn't a problem that you got your person here. XD -- If your undies are tight, <font color="#D2691E">it's uncomfortable.   If you're a boy and your bra is tight, I'm uncomfortable  00:48, December 29, 2011 (UTC)

She sadly was deleted, I can do the moving now if you want, I would be happy to.--<font color="Lime">Kenzen11 - <font color="Black">Talk  - <font color="SteelBlue">Blog  05:09, January 6, 2012 (UTC)

She was awesome and very fun to write for, however, I cut a character named Lucifer and with him her story fell. I had her winning like 50% of the time in my plans. So we really haven't talked much/ever. So i would like to properly say 'Hi, I am Kenzen, call me Ken, Kenny, Kenzen or whatever you perfer.' :)--<font color="Lime">Kenzen11 - <font color="Black">Talk  - <font color="SteelBlue">Blog  05:23, January 6, 2012 (UTC)

I have never expierenced that it's just i am doinf a solo run for my story Total Drama Grasslands and I want every little detail perfect, aka the reason I have been redoing characters, cutting, and making new characters. There are the few who have a solid place... I just got a breakthrough in my head xD. So I really hate just doing abriviations so, Lily, Lilac, Freefall, what do you want to be called, xD.--<font color="Lime">Kenzen11 - <font color="Black">Talk  - <font color="SteelBlue">Blog  05:35, January 6, 2012 (UTC)

Ok, Lilac. Well most people think characters out before posting unlike me, who posted a character named Ezio as I loved the name I just need to figure out what I am doing with him, I have my ideas though. I feel people just immeaditley take names after I delete characters.--<font color="Lime">Kenzen11 - <font color="Black">Talk  - <font color="SteelBlue">Blog  06:12, January 6, 2012 (UTC)

You may have already seen this; but in case you haven't, I've posted my belated 5,000th Edit special. It's another tropes listing for my stories. The LTDI list has a lot more examples than the first one did, because more of the story has been posted. (Can you spot the plug for your story?) A word of warning, though: the examples for these tropes include some major Third Night spoilers, so you'll definitely want to be current on the story before reading the tropes list. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 05:44, January 17, 2012 (UTC)

Hi! I'm Rosalina, and I had a question I wanted to ask you. So, I was reading your story TDI:FYE, and I really like that. Aside from that, I really loved your artwork for all the characters, and was wondering if it was possible for you to draw my characters. It's completely fine it you're not available, but the total count would be thirteen contestants and possibly four interns. Please message me back! Thanks ~ Rosalina2012 14:45, January 23, 2012 (UTC)

Since you noted on your User page that you only sign Friends lists by request, would you care to sign mine? It wouldn't normally matter, but I actually use my Friends List. In some situations, it can be the easiest way to get to people's Talk pages, and we do correspond a good deal. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I-- 15:51, January 23, 2012 (UTC)

No, I perfectly understand that you're not able to. I was thinking about trying to draw my own characters, but I wasn't sure about it, seeing as I'm getting used to my new tablet. But, like I said, thanks again! ☆ Rosalina2012 <font color="mediumaquamarine">Shooting through the skies!   Gliding with the stars! ☆  21:21, January 23, 2012 (UTC)

Well, it was nice hearing from you. XD <font color="Green">Sprinklemist <font color="Orange">hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 03:26, January 30, 2012 (UTC)

Hey, I know you might not get on today but I am going to email you the improved chapter of Twisted. I really hope you'll like it since it's not really a complete change but you'll see it's going to lead in a completely different direction than you knew about. GossipQueen 01:24, February 9, 2012 (UTC)

I've posted my 2nd Anniversary blog, and I included a plug for your story. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  03:59, February 9, 2012 (UTC)

A word to the wise regarding your Subscriber List: I signed your list to be notified when you post a blog, start a new project, etc. You don't need to tell me when you post a new FYE chapter because my Preferences are set up to generate an e-mail from Wikia when a page on my Followed list is edited. That'll save you a little work. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  03:04, February 16, 2012 (UTC)

Since you're not a regular on the FQ voting, I thought I'd let you know that I put up a passage from FYE on the new ballot. (Aren't I just the best publicist you've ever had?) The theme this time is "Readers' Choice", meaning that people can only nominate passages from other people's stories. Friendly reminder: you can vote for it since you didn't nominate it. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  03:18, February 17, 2012 (UTC)

MrD has also nominated a quote from FYE. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  02:00, February 22, 2012 (UTC)

I'll make a confession: the real reason I nominated that "random" Gabe/Elena quote is because the quotes I really wanted to nominate were too long. Indeed, I had to pare down the Gabe/Elena scene more than I would have liked, for the sake of meeting the length limitations. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:39, February 22, 2012 (UTC)

You like Pauly D, I see. Good to see you're alive, too. XD I didn't think otherwise, but did miss ya. <font color="Green">Sprinklemist <font color="Orange">hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 05:42, March 1, 2012 (UTC)

On Elena's character page, you included the trivia note that she is "probably" the only TDI:FYE character to win Featured Character honors. There's no "probably" about it, because FC candidates have to be nominated by their creators. I don't recall that you've ever nominated anyone but Elena. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:16, March 9, 2012 (UTC)

Hey, I wrote a rankings blog about TD:FYE! I hope you read it cause I swear this chapter was incredible and I had a bunch to write about those amazing characters. GossipQueen 22:25, April 7, 2012 (UTC)

Can I just say that I love you even more because of your icon. I was so Team Willam and then she got kicked off. Now I want to know WHAT DID WILLAM DO? Guess we have to wait for the Reunion. Oh and I saw the new Title Card and I'm speechless. It's gorgeous. I swear everytime you post a drawing, a bit of me gets more jealous of your epic drawing skills. Also I was Team Latrice but now I'm Team Sharon Needles! GossipQueen 07:23, April 24, 2012 (UTC)

More Chapter 15 comments
Since I had some time on my hands the other day, and it looked like you might need some reassurance about Chapter 15, I broke with my recent practice and read it without waiting for the episodes's second chapter. I've left some commentary on the story's talk page, but I'm making additional comments here because these comment are as much about my story as yours.

A couple of moments in Chapter 15 reminded me of things I'm planning for LTDI. (This is becoming a habit, isn't it? But I digress.) Whereas some of the similarities I've remarked on before were fairly substantial, these are pretty superficial, but were nonetheless enough for my cross-referencing brain to make the connection. First, Chris' line in the recap, "[Donna and Wes] decided to be weak and helpless together", reminded me of my plans for the finale. When the losers return, filing into the stands in what Chris calls "The Parade of Losers" (a reference to the Olympic Games' "Parade of Nations"), the jurors enter one by one as Chris remarks on the circumstances of their elimination. Chris being Chris, he manages to insult most of the losers. Second, the snake pit is similar to something in my version of the "No Pain No Game" episode, which I call, "The Tale Of the Trial By Ordeal". Whereas the canon tests were random, mine have a unifying theme: The Labors of Herakles (Hercules), with the "mess o' snakes" standing in for the Hydra.

One connection between our stories, though, is more substantial. If you haven't read Fourth Night yet, it has a scene that I think would have worked very well for one of your "romantic" vampires. The scene somewhat imitates a romance novel scene (with the bonus, if you want to call it that, of pregnancy imagery at the end) in a decidedly unromantic situation. I can just imagine what Monique woud have had to say about that. If you have read Fourth Night, then you probably know exactly which scene I'm talking about. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  07:45, March 9, 2012 (UTC)

Can I say I totally giggled when I read your subscriber note. Also thank you for updating the story since you gave me something to read on that horrible 12 hour flight. GossipQueen

Apparently Alex Pettyfer is engaged and since you love him as much as me, I thought I should let you know. Now excuse me while I eat my weight in ice cream and think about how gorgeous our kids would have been. Lol. GossipQueen 04:12, March 14, 2012 (UTC)

Just popped by to say, good luck in the Awards voting. You're up for a lot of honors, and deservedly so. Just between you and me, if there's any justice in the world, it will be between your story and mine for "Best In-progress Story", with FYE probably having the advantage because it's further along and uses OC contestants. (Fortunately, Sprink's current story somehow didn't get nominated, or it would surely have won--not because it's better, but because he has so many more readers than anyone else.) Oh, well, it's not like I'll be going home empty-handed, since LTDI is surely a lock for "Best Reimagining" and probably has a good chance in a couple of other categories as well. And for the record, in case you didn't know, it was I who nominated you for Best Artist and nominated your story for Best Spelling/Grammar. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  00:27, March 18, 2012 (UTC)

You mention on your User page that you don't read much here, so I'm not surprised that you didn't know a lot of the nominees. My own position is less extreme, but otherwise similar. I'll be content if LTDI wins one category (not counting "Best Quote", which I consider fairly trivial) in addition to the Best Reimagining fait accompli. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:04, March 18, 2012 (UTC)

Although you're not actually one of my subscribers, I thought I'd let you know that I have posted LTDI's Fifth Night chapter. Ever wondered what you'd get if you turned a simple dodgeball match into a war epic? Fifth Night has an answer. This chapter also includes a scene that parodies the iconic first torture scene from Life After Lies, which is one of this wiki's best-loved noncompetition stories. (It also appears on fanfiction.net, but is a good deal more obscure there.) Gideoncrawle  I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  21:54, April 29, 2012 (UTC)

xDD I just read your profile box for the first time!! Very creative and fun! :) By the way, thank you, Lilac, for allowing me to turn you into a cockroach for my story! :D I had a wonderful time using your humor and personality to help create your character. It really helped me to write the story, since I had a ready-made "character" already. ;) As a thanks for being part of my story, you have been granted an honorary "environmental award" for your generosity, courtesy of Gull. Thank you again for your kindness. :) <font color="mediumslateblue">JustLittleOlMe  Lil   Jay JLOM   Jay-Z  Jay-cobb   Jayneneh  Lady Gideon  23:23, May 20, 2012 (UTC)

I recently posted a milestone blog that might interest you. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  01:53, May 23, 2012 (UTC)

Glad to see you're back, not that you've ever been especially active on the social side in any case. Regrettably, I might not get to Chapter 17 for a while, because I have a deadline for my own story bearing down on me: Sixth Night is scheduled for posting on 30 June, although I'm not entirely certain that I'll be able to make that date. Speaking of which, Sixth Night (whenever I actually post it) will have a special tidbit that the wiki has never seen from me before and will probably never see from me again: a substantial original poem. It's 36 lines of blank verse and is based on the "St. Crispin's Day" speech from Henry V. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:52, June 18, 2012 (UTC)

I'm not a poet by any means, but sometimes inspiration just comes. I did have to look up the rules for blank verse (basically: unrhymed iambic pentameter, i.e. 10 syllables per line with the stress on the even-numbered syllables). The poem actually didn't take me very long to write, perhaps because (a) the rhythm of iambic pentameter comes fairly naturally to English, and (b) Sunshine tells me that my writing style is almost poetic to start with. Anyway, I'm sure people will love it both for content and context. As for the FYE scene, forewarned is forearmed. Since you're expecting to get back to updating fairly regularly, I'll probably just hold off until you post chapter 18, and then read and comment on both of the episode's chapters together, which is my usual practice. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  01:45, June 19, 2012 (UTC)

Hmm, sounds like a cliffhanger. Even if it's not, it sounds like one from your description. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:20, June 20, 2012 (UTC)

Glad to hear that the new chapter is coming. I got Sixth Night posted on schedule, so I've got some time on my hands. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:41, July 3, 2012 (UTC)

Happy Birthday! I hope you're having a great day! You definitely deserve it. GossipQueen 00:37, July 6, 2012 (UTC)

Hey, FFL. Sorry that your question was directed at Gideon, but I have been known to have PG stories with heavy subject matter. Probably the most heavy one was regarding a character that had been molested as a child, and revealing it to another. Very few details were shared, besides who it was who carried out the abuse. As for an abusive relationship, I did cover one in a different story, but I rated it PG-13, because the abuse/intended abuse was happening within the story. I think your idea seems to be along the lines of the first. As long as not much detail is given, I think it would be fine to keep the PG rating. Also, thanks for the heads up on those mean-spirited posts. <font color="Green">Sprinklemist <font color="Orange">hasn't changed his signature in a long time. 16:35, July 10, 2012 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. (Being a responsible adult who isn't independently wealthy, I have a full-time job.) I see that Sprink has answered your question about FYE, but I'll add my own thoughts. "Mature subject matter" is more often PG-13 material than not, but a lot depends on circumstances. With anything that might be pushing an envelope, the rule is that the less detail you go into, the more likely that the lower rating will be justified, or at least defensible. (I lampshade this in an upcoming chapter of LTDI, when someone who has had an, er, intimate encounter "proceeded to describe [the encounter] in a level of detail that is not consistent with a PG-13 rating". Yes, this saucy tart kisses and tells. And yes, I suppose the description could be considered a Fourth Wall breach.)

For the situation you describe--an abusive relationship where the "gory details" are largely "offscreen", the PG rating should be fine. Indeed, it seems to me that the main argument for something like that being PG-13 is not that it might shock or scar younger kids, but that it might be over their heads. You might recall that this is why I rated TDI-G&S PG-13: not for violence, sex or language, but for "high concept that may be over the heads of younger readers". In any case, a good (if imprecise) test is to ask yourself, "would the canon Total Drama do something like this if it was a drama instead of a comedy?" And since we're on the subject of FYE, I finally got a chance to start reading Episode 9 today, so I should have some feedback for you in the near future.

I can also tell you that enforcement of ratings limits is mainly on a complaint basis. Both Legacy and (especially) Life After Lies have scenes of graphic violence that may be pushing the envelope of what is acceptable in a PG-13 story, but nobody has objected to their PG-13 ratings. (Gigi did briefly bump LAL up to an R rating, but I was able to convince her that it wasn't necessary.)

By the by, belated Happy Birthday. I'll admit that I wouldn't have remembered if GQ hadn't mentioned it, because I'm at the age where one year is much like the next. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:14, July 11, 2012 (UTC)

I got sidetracked from reading Episode 9 in favor of going through the large number of changes you just made to previous chapters. While most of these were just fixing typos/grammar/punctuation, adding links and making certain passages (most notably the recaps) more concise, a couple of things stood out for me. First, you replaced "Jason Voorhees-style hockey masks" with simply "hockey masks". I think you actually need some kind of descriptor there--something like "old-school hockey masks" or "face-hugger hockey masks" if you don't like "Jason Voorhees-style"--because modern goalie masks look like a cross between a football helmet and a ski racer's helmet. Ironically, the original face-hugging design was already on the way out when the Friday the 13th franchise made it a pop culture icon.

The second item comes from the end of the paintball challenge. Originally, you said that Irina panicked and channeled her inner warrior, but now you say only that she panicked. Personally, I think it was better before, because she did "channel her inner warrior", or something to that effect; and while your description of Irina in the final showdown certainly suggests that she was terrified, it doesn't suggest actual panic. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:42, July 12, 2012 (UTC)

Now that you mention it, I think the excised hockey mask description was indeed from the recap. Speaking of descriptions, there a scene in Chapter 17 where you describe Avery as "half-naked" in bra and miniskirt. I think the phrase you want in that situation is "half-dressed", because that typically implies the presence of underwear but less than a full array of outer garments, whereas "half-naked" implies toplessness or (less commonly) bottomlessness. While we're on the subject of states of dress, your updated occupation description sounds like what TV Tropes calls a "Suspiciously Specific Denial". Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:13, July 13, 2012 (UTC)

I just wanted to let you know that your character images are brilliant and I love the celebrity parodies. Keep up the great work. --<font color="#ff0000">TDIFan13 (<font color="#4b0082">My Talk and<font color="#4b0082">My Contributions! ) 07:44, July 14, 2012 (UTC)

I was just at the Subscribers' List, and saw your List name. I've always thought of Free Falling Lilacs as beautiful, fragrant and flowery! Although, fragrant might be the wrong word to use here! xDD Maybe you can use one of these or another flowery type name for your list. :) If you want to. :P Jay JLOM <font color="Fuchsia">Any good or kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.-Author Unknown 01:27, July 19, 2012 (UTC)

Readers and feedback
Regarding our exchange on FYE's talk page, I have often warned people against assuming that few comments means few readers. Back in the days when we had visit counters for our pages, I discovered that up to 80% of people who click on a story page don't even look at the talk page, much less post to it. Both TDI-G&S and CatVoD were popular enough to win Featured Story votes, but neither got much feedback on their talk pages. (CatVoD's talk page still has only 6 comments, including my own.) Indeed, as I have said elsewhere, I never really expected CatVoD to ever win, but I left it on the ballot month after month because that's how I was getting my feedback. When it eventually did win, that was a bonus.

The thing is, unless your username is Sprinklemist, you're lucky to get more than two or three regular reviewers whom you can count on to review nearly every chapter, no matter how good your story is. Part of the problem with the declne in feedback for our stories is that most of our regular and semi-regular reviewers have become inactive or largely so, and no one has stepped up to replace them. (Frank is starting to become active again after a lengthy hiatus, and I asked him if he's been keeping up with FYE. He said that he has. As for why he hasn't seen fit to leave comments, my guess is no better than yours.)

Another problem, I suspect (and have gotten partial confirmation in chat) is that a lot of people seem to be falling behind in their reading. When that happens, I suspect that longer stories such as ours tend to go to the back of the queue. Furthermore, my experience is that when people fall behind, they rarely leave comments when they finally catch up. Part of the reason why I post so many polls on LTDI's talk page (besides the fact that the cliffhanger structure lends itself well to polls) is to offer noncommenters an easier way to make their opinions known. Speaking of which, if you don't have time to write the mega-review that you once promised me, perhaps you'll be good enough to weigh in on some of the chapter polls if you haven't already done so, since that doesn't take any appreciable time. (And some of the guessing games still have slots open, if you're into that sort of thing.) The Fifth Night polls took almost the entire two months to get a decent turnout, and the Sixth Night polls still have only three or four responses. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:13, July 20, 2012 (UTC)

Unreliable, not untrustworthy. They're two different things. Speaking of unreliability, I still haven't made any progress on my promised commentary for Chapter 18 of FYE. I've made several attempts, but was always stymied for some reason. The biggest culprit has been sleep deprivation, largely related to the fact that this is the busiest time of year for me at the office where I work. When I'm sleep-deprived, the first thing to go is my ability to concentrate. I've also been working on Seventh Night, because I don't want to be rushing to finish in the last few days the way I was with the last couple of chapters; and I also wrote a scene for a late chapter because I got an idea and wanted to write it down before I forgot. (I currently have ~80K words of story beyond what I've posted--equivalent to 8 additional chapters, give or take, based on the length of previous chapters--but it's scattered over the remaining 23 episodes. I have no finished chapters beyond what's currently posted.)

Today, I was planning to finally write the commentary I promised you, but got sidetracked composing a long blog comment on the subject of dialogue tags ("Said Bookism", to be precise), and then got caught up in a round of high drama. (You may have heard about that. If you didn't, that's probably for the best.) Anyway, the weekend has come and gone, and I'm no further along than I was before. Since you're going on vacation, though, maybe I'll have it posted by the time you get back. I certainly hope so, since with all the other demands on my time, I can't count on getting anything of consequence done whilst the Olympics are in progress.

A note regarding readership: I had occasion today to enter a private chat with TDALindsayfan1, and among other topics I asked her if she was reading our stories, since she's never commented on their talk pages although she might have commented on some of the LTDI preview blogs. Anyway, she said that she's been reading both FYE and LTDI, although she's a bit behind and hasn't read the latest chapter of either. (I haven't read the latest FYE chapter, either, but you know that's typical for me.) She said that she loves your story.

As for your blog-based extras, being less social probably may very well be hurting you, because people are perhaps less attuned to looking for your stuff; but that's what the Subscriber Lists are for. You could put out subscriber notices to help boost turnout. I'm not a particularly social person IRL, but when I joined the wiki and nobody knew me, I made a point of being social to boost my name recognition. (That's called "brand management".) It worked out far better than I could have hoped. I'm now the (mostly) beloved "wiki elder", ranked #5 on the wiki by edit count. Yet my subscriber list is only modestly longer than yours. Make of that what you will. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:20, July 23, 2012 (UTC)

I have plenty of things to say, but the hour is late so most of them will have to wait. What I will say now is that you may have taken your sweet time giving feedback on LTDI, but you made it worth the wait. I have left a comparably detailed response on the talk page. I enjoy responding to detailed reviews in kind, as such comments tend to raise points of general interest and thereby serve as a springboard for a "behind the scenes" look at my thought processes--the "method in my madness", if you will. And I feel your pain about not being at your best in real time. That's why I don't go on chat very often. I've also finished chapter 19 of FYE. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:32, August 7, 2012 (UTC)

I absolutely adore FYE, but I've paused in chapter 3 or so for now. I'm definitely going to try to catch up, but it'll have to wait until probably September. :) I also adore how you've put in a Werewolf/Vampire chapter! Something different in your story to look forward to! :D <font color="mediumslateblue">JustLittleOlMe  Lil   Jay JLOM   Jay-Z  Jay-cobb   Jayneneh  Lady Gideon  20:12, August 7, 2012 (UTC)

Very well. If you had a specific reason to say "Wonder Twins" instead of "Katie and Sadie", that's good enough for me. At present I can't guess what that reason might be, but you'll presumably reveal it at some point if it's important. (By sheer coincidence, the next LTDI chapter should also have a "Wonder Twins" reference, depending on where I end up putting the cliffhanger.) I don't recall previously hearing the reason why the entertainers talk so freely about previous seasons (or more precisely, the first run), but it certainly makes sense in light of Chris' attitude.

I'm glad to hear that you'll be posting your LTDI feedback piecemeal, because I think that will benefit us both, causing both your name and the LTDI name to appear in the Activity Feed at more diverse and sundry times. Brand management, like I noted before.

I'll put some story-specific comments on FYE's talk page when I finish Chapter 20, but I'll give you some less story-specific comments here:

I got a chuckle out of Donna’s line about the futility of relationships with celebrity standees because it reminded me of a certain LTDI scene, namely the steamy Duncshine scene that I previewed a couple of Valentines Days ago. (Perhaps you remember it.) The boom that interrupted Wes and Donna’s conversation likewise reminded me of an incident from my high school days. A friend of mine was in the school library, and it was drizzling outside. For some reason he had cause to go to the windows, possibly to get a reference book located in that area. He looked out the window onto the dreary landscape and said rhetorically, “Let there be rain.” By sheer chance, this was followed pretty much immediately by a tremendous thunderclap, and the drizzle suddenly became a cloudburst. A couple of other students who happened to be standing nearby looked at him warily and backed away.

Paul’s refusal to believe that Chris could actually kill a contestant is rather like a scene from an upcoming LTDI chapter, where a certain camper (name withheld due to spoiler potential) believes that Chris and Chef have killed a camper in cold blood. The narrative then says, “In another reality, would have been laughed out of the lodge for such a thought. Not here, though. The campers had all seen Chris’ callous disregard for human life, and <camper’s> assessment seemed disturbingly plausible.” This leads to a conversation between Chris and Chef on the subject of a ratings “blood boost”. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  07:16, August 8, 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your Second Night comments. I've posted a response on the LTDI talk page. I'm glad you liked my rendition of Courtney, because you'll be seeing a lot of her. I'm sorry to hear that you prefer Zeke to be a minor character, because you'll be seeing a lot of him, too. In fact, I don't think it's giving away too much to say that Courtney's attempt to re-educate Zeke will be an important secondary storyline. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:04, August 9, 2012 (UTC)

Nice chapter! I loved Cara's relief when the Jersey girl hopped (hoped?) off her. I read it a week ago, but I haven't signed in in nearly a month, so my memory is a tad fuzzy, but I remember it being good. I must say, Lilac, how long have you been writing? You have a quality in your wrting that no newbie ever has, so you've written before. How long, may I ask? <font color="#gold">If you're going to lie <font color="#blue">to an all-knowing admin,  <font color="#red">you should at least put some effort in it.  00:15, August 15, 2012 (UTC)

I more ment in general, and it was vague, but gave me the answer that I needed. So, in other words, for a long time (would you agree to about six or seven years?) you've been writting. Well, then that gives me motivation to keep writting, after all, you only get better by doing. Anyway, thanks for answering! <font color="#gold">If you're going to lie <font color="#blue">to an all-knowing admin,  <font color="#red">you should at least put some effort in it.  21:38, August 15, 2012 (UTC)

To the best of my knowledge, there's no way to delete multiple files at once, but don't let that stop you if you want to do as you have proposed--especially since I'd like to keep the TDI-style drawing of Gabe for the LTDI page. (We can rename that file if its current name would interfere with the naming convention of your new files.) Yes, deleting the superseded files individually would take more time, but it's not that hard. As for the additional LTDI commentary, I'm looking forward to it, but it's not like you're on a deadline. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:07, August 17, 2012 (UTC)

At your suggestion, I have renamed the file "Gabe Patterson" to "Gabe Patterson original". I left a redirect so Gabe's character page will still display it until you upload the new version, presumably over the redirect. (If you can't overwrite the redirect for some reason, let me know and I'll delete it when the time comes.) The reason I wanted the option of keeping original file was because you posted a blog way back when with some of the FYE characters drawn in your normal style, and I quite frankly thought that Gabe's features and expression made him look a little goofy. That's all very well, but it didn't really fit my purpose. There's every possibility that I may go with your updated Gabe portrait when you upload it, but what's important is that I have the option.

Speaking of FYE characters, I noticed your new avatar. I'm guessing that's the new Camille, and she certainly looks like she could be a femme fatale. She also looks a good deal older than a teen, somehow. As for the quote, which I recognized, that sounds a lot like the LTDI Courtney. Consider this Courtney quote from an undisclosed episode and situation: "Not the right thing," she replied glumly, "the thing I had to do. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the shower trying to wash my soul." Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:36, August 24, 2012 (UTC)

Once you've read Seventh Night, be sure to check out Sunshine's fanarts on the talk page. They refer to certain incidents in Seventh Night, so you'll want to read the chapter first. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  02:49, September 8, 2012 (UTC)

Hey, FFL. So, you probably already know this but I'm writing a fanfiction called Survivor: The Canadian Wilderness. I was originally going to draw the characters myself, but my desktop is broken and that's the only computer with Paint Tool SAI on it, so in other words, I can't draw them. I've been looking at your pictures, and I just have to say, you're an amazing artist. If you have enough time, could you maybe draw the cast of S:CW? I know school just started though, so you're probably really busy. If you can't do it, it's fine. <font color="OrangeRed">Drink cactus juice! <font color="Coral">It'll quench 'ya! 21:16, September 15, 2012 (UTC)

That's fine, thanks for reading, though. :) <font color="OrangeRed">Drink cactus juice! <font color="Coral">It'll quench 'ya! 02:34, September 19, 2012 (UTC)

I see that you've posted the last half of episode 11. I might not get to it soon because I'm very busy right now with my sports photography and year-end close at the office, but never fear--I will read it and comment on it. It just might be a while. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:03, October 4, 2012 (UTC)

This month's Featured Quote theme is "dark & spooky" for Halloween. If you'd like to nominate a passage, something from the "zombie apocalypse" challenge would be a natural for the "spooky" angle. If you prefer the "dark" angle, that can be things like dark moods, dark characters being themselves, or simply things that happen in the dark. I'd love to see you nominate something. Even if your passage doesn't win, it's still good publicity. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:33, October 10, 2012 (UTC)

I am finally finding some time to read the Episode 11 chapters. I'm up to the start of the challenge. I'm disappointed that nobody's seen fit to comment on your story lately, but I have verified that it's still getting good traffic. Shortly before the visit counter stopped working about 3 weeks ago--it's always been prone to outages that can last for months--TDI:FYE's official visit counter passed 5000. That ranks #21 for all pages on the wiki (including user/user talk pages, forum pages, etc.), #13 among all stories (with 11 of the top 12 being classics from the wiki's early days), and #1 by a wide margin among in-progress stories. Its average of roughly 250 views per chapter is also among the highest for in-progress stories. (LTDI is one of four or five other current stories with similar averages.) When there hasn't been a new chapter posted recently, TDI:FYE and LTDI both tend to get 3 or 4 views per day, thanks largely (I suspect) to their presence on the Current Favorites list. Just thought you'd like to know.

As for my other stories, Legacy has almost 1500 views, which by this wiki's standards is phenomenal for a story that most people can read in one sitting. I'm sure that its presence on the home page sampler is a big help there. TDI-G&S now has almost 2400 views, of which about 400 are my own support work; LTDI has a little over 2000; and CatVoD, which has always lived in the shadow of my greater works, has a little under 400--still very respectable for a short noncompetition story. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:19, October 16, 2012 (UTC)

I hope the hurricane didn't get you
It took me about five weeks, but I have finally got through the Episode 11 chapters and left you some feedback on FYE's talk page. On a related note, in case you haven't seen it, I posted Eighth Night last weekend. Nobody's commented on that yet, either. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  02:25, November 4, 2012 (UTC)

Happy New Year, Lilac. I hope the new year finds you well, and I hope that we won't have to wait overlong for the next TDI:FYE episode. Speaking of updates, I recently posted LTDI's Ninth Night, which has the most intense cliffhanger yet. As the camping challenge continues, alliances form, enemies are made, and lives hang in the balance. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  00:06, January 2, 2013 (UTC)

Glad to hear that you're still with us, Lilac, not that I had any real doubt. The older you get, the more likely it is that life will get in the way for various reasons. When you're ready to resume posting TDI:FYE and/or reviewing LTDI (in that order, I trust), I'll be here. P.S.: I finally registered with TV Tropes earlier this month and am preparing to launch works pages for my standalone stories. I'm also preparing to launch a works page for Bambi/Bambi's Children because the novels don't have a page of their own. I think they deserve their own page, and I've read both books. In fact, I've mentioned to some people before that a scene from Bambi's Children (which nowadays seems to be virtually unknown in the U.S.) is the basis for LTDI's most intense action scene. I currently have 18 tropes for Bambi, 34 tropes for Bambi's Children (which I'm currently rereading) and 15 tropes that appear in both books. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:33, January 17, 2013 (UTC)

It was a couple of days late, but I've posted my 3rd Wikiversary blog. It doesn't go on for pages and pages like most of my milestone blogs, but I nevertheless came up with something special to unveil for the occasion. (Hint: I recently launched works pages for my stories on the TV Tropes site.) Hope to hear from you soon. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:55, February 12, 2013 (UTC)

It's good to see you back, Lilac, and I'm glad to see TDI:FYE finally resume. That said, I probably won't get to it soon. Leaving aside my preference for reading both chapters of an episode together (which isn't inviolable in any case), it's getting into crunch time for both my sports photography (team banquet on the 10th, and I provide the slideshow fodder among other things) and the next LTDI chapter (due on the 2nd). My wikiversary blog, which I mentioned in my last message, includes a status update for Tenth Night. Speaking of 'versary blogs, I posted one last month for Wifey's and my 10th anniversary, in case you'd like to (sort of) know what Wifey looks like. Anyway, whenever I do get to the latest FYE chapter, rest assured that I'll give you feedback on it. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:45, February 21, 2013 (UTC)

If LTDI's tropes page has whetted your appetite for the story, then I would say that it's doing its job. I've recently added several subpages to the tropes page: YMMV, Quotes, Image links, and even Haiku (since a verse came to me from out of the blue this morning.) As for what you've missed on the wiki, the Survivor obsession is not a recent development, although the Survivor RP craze is fairly recent.

As for new users, you might want to introduce yourself to SpaceWeather, who arrived during your hiatus. He's currently in college (23 years old, if memory serves) and he's a fan of both LTDI and FYE, so you know he has impeccable taste. I suspect the reason you haven't gotten feedback from him yet is because he's only up to Chapter 8 on FYE, and people who are playing catch-up don't usually comment on old chapters. When he read LTDI, he only left a comment on the most recent chapter, although he did respond to most of the older polls, which is part of the reason why those polls are there.

P.S.: You need to fix your signature. The link to your talk page is bad because it's trying to send people to the talk page for someone called "Freefalling Lilacs...". Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  22:13, February 25, 2013 (UTC)

I hate these last-minute pushes, but I managed to get Tenth Night posted on schedule (not that anyone appears to have read it yet). Among the notable tropes introduced in the new chapter is "Precision F-Strike". Bet you won't guess who delivers it. Speaking of tropes, if you've seen LTDI's tropes page, you may have noticed that I have something like 14 entries on the main tropes listing, and I haven't gotten past the "A"s. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  19:15, March 3, 2013 (UTC)

Have you heard from GossipQueen lately? Her story, Twisted hasn't been updated in a year, so it's getting into "suspected dead fic/ candidate for deletion" territory. By the by, it may interest you to know (if you didn't already) that your recent return led off a trifecta of big name returns. TDIWriter and Rhonda returned within a week or so after you did. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:19, March 8, 2013 (UTC)

A few weeks ago, I finally got a fanfiction.net account and started porting my stories. I don't know if you use your ff.net account anymore (I left you a PM), but as a matter of principle I made you my first favorited and followed author. On a peripherally related note, Eleventh Night is now posted. As the phobia challenge gets underway, you're going to see just how cruel Chris McLean can really be. Sunshine also makes her first physical appearance (sort of). Apart from the prologue, this is the shortest chapter yet at "only" 6500 words. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  22:10, May 5, 2013 (UTC)

hey- i don't blame you for stopping writing TDI:FYE (i'll admit that even i got really lazy when it came to reading it), but what's your ff.net account? I want to keep up with any other stories you write later on.

(ps: you have good taste in TV shows- i only started watching Supernatural recently, but from what I've seen, it's really good)  For sale:  baby shoes,   never worn.  17:52, June 21, 2013 (UTC)

The Thirteenth Night chapter of The Legend of Total Drama Island is Unlucky 13: tonight someone dies. At slightly under 7000 words, this chapter is short by LTDI's standards. Speaking of long stories, I read chapter 23 of TDI:FYE a few weeks after you posted it, but I didn't comment on it at the time because I was waiting for the second episode chapter like I usually do. I wasn't expecting to be waiting 6 months or more. Lilac, I miss you and I miss your story updates. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:32, September 5, 2013 (UTC)

while i know that there isn't really a nessecarily "private" place to send messages on wiki, sending this message on a talk page instad of on the blog cause less people will probably look this way and i'm not huge on the idea of everyone looking into my private life?

but yeah point is if you want to talk about your anxiety attacks and stuff more, i'm happy to listen- although i don't know exactly how you felt as it wasn't as bad for me, i ended up having a lot of anxiety attacks last year at my school that got to the point where i had to leave early every other day until the end of year tests were over and was one of the main reason i decided to be home-schooled, so i'll probably understand what you went through better than a lot of people here! i'm glad you're feeling a lot better now at the community college though!

(also, sorry about how i kind of dropped off the radar when it came to following TDI:FYE after a while, i was in the middle of a lot of stuff and it got over-whelming so i eventually got too caught up in other stuff and stopped, sorry- i'll try and read it all when you start re-writing the earlier chapters though!)  For sale:  baby shoes,   never worn.  22:23, October 10, 2013 (UTC)

You mentioned on your return blog that you (quite understandably) haven't been keeping up with what's been going on around here. The biggest incident during your hiatus came about two months ago, when Sprink stunned the wiki by breaking a year of silence to request that his stories, character pages and associated artwork be deleted. This is a huge undertaking--it's probably about 5% of the wiki's total content--and the reason he gave for not doing it himself is that he no longer has an Internet connection at home, which suggests a major lifestyle change. His stories are still here for now, but that's mainly because his request came at a time when we had a large backlog on the Candidates for Deletion listing. I'll probably be the heavy who has to actually delete them (and in fairness, he did ask me personally via PM at fanfiction.net) because I'm still the only admin who regularly does actual work around here, although some others have bursts of activity from time to time. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  01:39, October 12, 2013 (UTC)

you're welcome! if you ever need any help, just say something like "come on chat" on my talk page so we can PM and all if it's something private you don't want everybody spying on- and nah, i am going to catch up because TDI:FYE was really good, i'm just pretty sure that was around the time i discovered my favorite thing (dangan ronpa) so i was really distracted with that, sorry

don't worry about it, i didn't, i didn't find your ff.net account until yesterday when i went looking for it haha- i don't even use ff.net anymore, now i only have an AO3 (Archive of Our Own) account (mostly because ff.net doesn't have very much dangan ronpa fanfics- also if you want to try dangan ronpa out to see why i keep talking about it, here ), so yeah, it's alright!

(also, does me talking in all lower-case annoy you? i don't mind switching to proper grammar and all, this is just how i talk with my friends so it's a little hard to get out of the habit haha)  For sale:  baby shoes,   never worn.  12:14, October 12, 2013 (UTC)

alright, good! i didnt think it did, but i was just making sure- and yeah, i don't like how AO3 shows the porn by default either? like i like looking at it sometimes (not for horny reasons, just cause it can be cute if it's about a couple i like) but most of the time i'm not in the mood to read about how big my favorite character's dingledangers are. main reason i'm on it a lot more than ff.net is that i just think that the writing on the site is a lot better in general, personally.

(and yeah supernatural fanfics are a pretty good reason too- haven't checked any of them out yet since i only watched seasons 1-5, due to how freakishly long it is and me wanting to take a break and watch anime like the weeaboo i am, but i'll probably check them out more once i finally get back to watching more of it, cause i loved the show when i did watch it, even if i think it should have ended season 5 like it was supposed to)  For sale:  baby shoes,   never worn.  01:13, October 14, 2013 (UTC)

Reading suggestions
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Unfortunately, I'm probably not the best person to ask for reading recommendations because, unlike you, I'm a very slow reader so I can't follow many long stories at a time. (Following TDI:FYE is therefore a considerable time commitment for me. I'm not going to say, "I hope you appreciate the time I put into it", because you've long since made it very clear that you do.) Since you want to ease back into reading/commenting, may I suggest that you start with this month's Featured Story candidates, so you can cast an informed vote? Like the other Features, FS has been suffering from a long-term decline in participation. There are only three stories on this month's ballot, and one of those (Gurerich's half-finished Season 5 remake) is not considered a serious contender due largely to its terrible sentence structure. More to the point, its punctuation is grossly inadequate.

That leaves two bona fide contenders: Total Drama: Paradise Beach, which Shadowgeoff (who returned to the wiki fairly recently) completed a couple of years ago; and Total Drama: Lights Camera Action, a Season 2 remake that JackyDelRey (formerly Mariaah67) just finished. Both stories are short by competition story standards, clocking in at ~30K words. I haven't read Paradise Beach yet, but I've read TD:LCA. Jacky's story has some rough edges--some of the mechanics are a bit shaky and the first few chapters aren't paragraphed properly--but I found it entertaining enough. TD:LCA is unusual in two ways that might interest you. First, it's told via first person narration, which is rare in competition stories. Second, it is very heavily illustrated, with an average of 7.5 drawings per 2000-word chapter.

I'm currently reading three other long stories besides FYE, but I'm caught up on only two. If you're looking for unusual writing styles, the story that I'm following most closely and commenting most faithfully on (apart from FYE, of course) is Total Drama What The Heck?, by "Three Wall Rhonda", as I like to call her. That should give you a clue as to what this story is best known for, although it's also known for including as many allusions to other wiki content as Rhonda can pack in. It got its first new chapter in several months whilst you were away, and now stands at 12 chapters totalling 140K words plus 5K in notes, which is pretty similar to where LTDI is right now, although TDWTH is further along its story arc than LTDI. (Speaking of which, I'm very much looking forward to your promised reviews. I'm particularly interested to hear your thoughts on things like the Homerized dodgeball match and Sadie's Ordeal.)

A word of warning: Rhonda does struggle with her mechanics, especially homophones and near-homophones. Wifey and I have cleaned up some of the early chapters for her. Sadly, one thing Rhonda's story has in common with yours is the loss of reviewers. For both stories, I'm the only reader who still comments regularly.

The other two long stories that I'm currently following are both well written, but there's nothing particularly unusual about their writing styles. Total Drama Explosion, by Bridgette dj10, is a combined-cast Season 5 story with all the canon contestants including Blainely, plus two OCs to bring the roster to an even 40. Its current word count is 87K over 25 finished chapters. (Chapter 26 is only partly done because the author posts chapters piecemeal.) I'm hoping to get back to Total Drama Alpharama by BadAsp. Its word count is currently 235K in 19 chapters (out of 26--it's one of those alphabet-themed stories). Alpharama has only seven reviews here, including three by me, although it averages 3.5/chapter on fanfiction.net. Asp is posting Alpharama to both sites more or less simultaneously, so I'm not sure which he regards as the primary. I've only read six of the 19 chapters so far. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:31, October 17, 2013 (UTC)

I have a few more reading suggestions, if you haven't already read them: Manatee's story, S.S. Total Drama, was recently added to the home page sampler, replacing the soon-to-be-deleted TD Reality. I haven't read it myself, but it's clearly well regarded, and it's also finished. The word count clocks in at about 57K, which is well within the 50K-70K range typical of our better competition stories. Another story that I have been meaning to check out but haven't been able to find the time for is JER's story, Total Drama America. I skimmed a couple of chapters once, and it seems fairly well written. Its talk page gets very little traffic, so I'm sure he would appreciate your feedback. It's currently at about 80K words in 26 chapters. Three chapters per episode is the norm for this story, so at present it's partway through Episode #9.

I've very much enjoyed TDIWriter's story, Total Drama: Pacific Island, but I'm hesitant to recommend it to you at this time because it's currently dormant. Brandon posted the most recent chapter (Chapter 6) over 7 months ago. He's no longer active here, although he is known to still lurk, and he has said that he intends to continue TD:PI, but your guess is as good as mine as to when we'll see Chapter 7. It has a nice, detailed intro chapter that is almost identical in length to LTDI's.

When you get to Rhonda's story, you'll find that I and my works (most notably TDI-G&S) have had a good deal of influence on it. Most importantly, it was my (properly credited) idea to make Chef a contestant, which idea I got when Rhonda revealed that her author avatar would replace Chef as Chris' aide. Likewise, when I suggested that Jovi (an OC submitted by Chacha) would probably get along well with Courtney because they seem to be a lot alike, Rhonda took that idea and ran with it; and sure enough, Jovi and Courtney have developed into rivals who are basically friends but who nevertheless spend a lot of time jockeying for position. And the 12 chapters posted to date include three Gilbert & Sullivan songs sung in-universe. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  05:25, October 20, 2013 (UTC)

I recently put up a blog post regarding the status of LTDI. I have (1) provided details on the rescheduling of the Fourteenth Night chapter (which probably won't concern you if you're not current); and (2) asked for ideas for portions of certain multipart challenges, as well as for challenge rewards. This is your chance to be a creative consultant for LTDI. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  01:02, November 2, 2013 (UTC)

I know you don't follow the Feature voting much, but FC has an interesting battle this month. When someone nominated the protagonist's love interest from Jacky's popular story, I figured that he would probably run away with it. But no. FC recently began allowing third-party nominations, and JER got the idea to nominate Brett's mother from LTDI. That idea would honestly have never occurred to me, and JER admitted that it was originally a bit of a joke. She is eligible, though--like previous winner Gull, she's technically a canon character but not known for any canon trait--and she's turned out to be a surprisingly strong candidate. (Surprising to me, anyway.) She and CJ (the character from Jacky's story, albeit not created by her) have been neck and neck the whole month. A good FC race with decent voter turnout (currently 8-7, with few people supporting both) has become all too rare. This is only the 3rd such race in a year. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  06:06, November 30, 2013 (UTC)

We're having another edition of the Wiki Awards, this time with SpaceWeather as the host/coordinator/MC. Nominations are being accepted through Monday, 16 December. People can nominate their own stuff, but past winners are ineligible to repeat in the same categories. A departure from last time is that stories of any vintage are eligible. Only the user-based categories are restricted to the last year. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  02:14, December 11, 2013 (UTC)

FYI, the nominating period for the Wiki Awards has been extended to Wednesday, 18 December because a few categories have been added and a few others have been rejiggered. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  07:06, December 16, 2013 (UTC)

(Belated) Happy New Year, Lilac. I hope this message finds you well. We haven't heard from you in a while, and I devoutly hope that you're not going to disappear again. (User stats show that you've recently logged in somewhere on Wikia, albeit not necessarily here, so at least I know that you're likely to get my message.) Anyway, I know you're not actually subscribed to me, but I thought you might like to know that the last week has seen the posting of three noteworthy items regarding my work: (1) the long-delayed Fourteenth Night chapter of The Legend of Total Drama Island; (2) my 10,000th Edit blog post, which includes my Featured Character “acceptance speech” (Brett's Mother from LTDI was December’s FC) and my very first ever attempt at fan fiction, dating from the late 1990s; and (3) a Featured Character interview between me and Rhonda in the January 2014 newsletter. In the latter part of that interview, I’m in character as Brett’s mother, and I toss out several teasers from future chapters of LTDI. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  07:25, January 9, 2014 (UTC)

Funny, I thought TDI:FYE already was (or should be) PG-13, since it does have some fairly mature subject matter. That's as may be, I doubt that changing FYE's rating from PG to PG-13 would have much effect on its traffic. After all, 13 is supposed to be the minimum age for having a Wikia account in the first place. The last time I checked, which was admittedly a long time ago, most of this wiki's stories were rated either PG or PG-13, more or less evenly split between the two. The actual tilt is probably a little heavier toward PG because our policy is that anything that would qualify as G or PG isn't required to display a rating in the first place. It seems to me that anyone who would be put off of a PG-13 rated TDI:FYE for its rating would probably also be put off a PG rated TDI:FYE for its length and complexity.

It's said that great minds think alike. LTDI will also have an underage drinking scene a few chapters down the road, inspired by a scene in Rhonda's story. In TDWTH, there's a scene wherein one contestant mentions that the interns drink heavily to drown their sorrows. Come to mention it, TDI-G&S notes that the canon scene where Courtney stuffs down too many sandwiches at the boot camp party, only to upchuck shortly thereafter, is a binge drinking metaphor.

Now I have a question for you. The fanfiction.net ports of my stories seem to me to be getting decent traffic, but I have no basis for comparison. You have experience on that site, so perhaps you can help me. I ported Legacy in April-May of 2013, posting new chapters weekly. The first chapter naturally has far more views (~500) than any other, and there's unsurprisingly a big drop after Chapter 2 with Gwen's graphically violent death. The later chapters each have 150-180 views, and Legacy has about 1,250 page views in toto. It has 11 favoriters, plus another former favoriter who later defavorited it. It has a few followers, but they're not relevant because the port is finished and followers didn't start to appear until the story was pretty much done. Violin of Despair (ported May-July), which has always lived in the shadow of my larger works due to the controversy surrounding anything that looks like a bash fic, has a little over 800 total page views for 8 chapters, with the late chapters averaging about 50. It has only 2 favoriters, plus one who favorited and defavorited. (The same one as with Legacy, in fact.)

I started porting LTDI in July, posting Ninth Night last week. LTDI now has over 3600 page views, although almost 600 of those come from one or two wacky Brits who, on an almost daily basis, repeatedly hit Chapter 2 (First Night). Nothing else, just that chapter. LTDI averages 2 new favoriters and 3 new followers per update. My readers there aren't any more talkative than readers here, as both LTDI and Legacy have more favoriters than total reviews. On the brighter side, LTDI's chapter stats show that most of its readers are keeping up, unlike this wiki where a large portion of its readers have fallen behind despite (or possibly because of) the slow update schedule. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  18:28, January 18, 2014 (UTC)

In your ranking blog, you mentioned how Izzy's fanfic portrayals tend to be hit or miss. I'm inclined to agree (for what reasons I've described in the blog comments) so I'm looking forward to hearing your impressions of LTDI Izzy when the time comes. To my mind, the most notable feature of how I portray our favorite psycho hosebeast is that I give her a lot of rambling "mind dump" monologues, partly because they're fun to write. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  07:27, February 1, 2014 (UTC)

As long as you're revamping FYE, there's something I meant to tell you about at the time, but never got around to. Although FYE's flaws are relatively minor in my eyes, one that I have noticed is your choice of dialogue tags. It's usually not that big a deal, partly because you don't actually use all that many tags in the first place. (Your writing style seems to favor using short action sentences to identify the speaker, which works because FYE is paragraphed properly.) The problem with your dialogue tags is that they sometimes don't appear to have quite the right meaning. In the last part of Chapter 20, there were enough of these to become distracting. I hope this helps. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  03:41, February 3, 2014 (UTC)

You don't have to be an admin to rename a page. Just click on the little arrow next to the Edit button to get the dropdown menu. One of the options should be "Rename". Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  04:08, February 3, 2014 (UTC)

Found the Portrait Photos
Where do you make those character portraits I've found in Recent Images? I'd like to look into the service. I'm on the flu diet. I lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. (Talk | Blogs | Contributions) 06:01, February 3, 2014 (UTC)

P.S. And yes, I was the one Gideon mentioned to you back in October on this talk page.

TDI:FYE Revisions
I saw your revisions to FYE's theme song. When I got to the part where Avery threw her shoes at Zack's contraption, I immediately thought of American Maid from The Tick. Gideoncrawle I have a song to sing, O!  Sing me your song, O!  A wandering minstrel, I--  07:42, February 4, 2014 (UTC)