Neopian Times

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	Dates and sources of changes needed, and condensing/rewriting sections

The Neopian Times is the weekly Neopets newspaper, first released on January 25, 2000. Originally featured only some articles, but has become a large weekly project filled with comics, short stories, and continued or new series. It also features an editorial written by site administrator and Neopets co-creator Donna Williams. It is an extremely popular feature on the site. Dubbed as fan fiction, as none of the stories/comics take place in actual Neopets History.

Contents

With the Neopian Times, there are 4 categories of submissions: Articles, Short Stories, Series, and Comics. Each is unique in their own way.

Articles

Articles usually do not tell a story. Articles are informative, and the subject of one can range from an Interview With Sloth's Mom to a list of Tips For Creating Neopet Names. Articles inform or teach people how to do, play, or win something. Not all the articles have to be informative. There can be fun articles, like lists of Are you addicted too... and 100 things to do with....

Short Stories

Short Stories are very different from Articles. Short Stories have a beginning, middle, and end all in 1200 to 4000 words. They are not separated into any parts. Short Stories can be a comedy, an adventure or horror. You can write a story dedicated to someone you know, although it has to be in Neopia, or you can write about a book item on Neopets. Like, the Magic Paw, you can write the story of the Magic Paw how you think it goes.

Comics

Comics are different then the other two. The comic is made out of pictures (drawn by yourself) and need to have a joke. A serious comic series can also be made and submitted, although you do need to send atleast 2 comic parts at a time. Comics need decent art and a good, understandable joke.

Series

Series are long stories that have around the 1500 words for each part. The longest a series can be is 12 parts. These are stories with a plot that is too long for a short story. For example, it turns out to be 4600 words, it's 600 higher than the maximum limit for short stories. You can then divide it in 2 parts for a 2 part series. Check out the Neopian times Submission form for more!

Editorial

If you are lucky, you can submit a question and get it answered in The Neopian Times. These are on the 'editorial' page in the Neopian Times, and they go from gameplay questions, to suggestions to questions about the merchandise.

Appearance

Over the years the Neopian Times has gone through many appearance changes. The first few issues appearance had a banner of a man and a woman in 80's style with the text "For an easier life". Users could send in short stories, series and comics (comics section didn't appear until a later date). Pages still exist, but the links to the stories and comics don't work anymore.

The second version was released at an unknown time and was made out of tables. While continuing to showcase stories, an official comics section was introduced in issue 57. This version also had a Guild Spotlight, showcasing certain guilds on Neopets, but was stopped in issue ?, around the same time the banner was replaced with a gold engraving of a Jubjub reading the Neopian Times. The link to these issues do not go to the old issues, but redirect to the newest version of the Neopian times.

The third look was a bigger version of the second look. A Quote of The Week was added, which quoted a line of text out of a story in that issue, along with a sidebar on the right which contained direct links to stories/comics, saving the user time by not having to search for individual stories in their own sections. Also, if a user was reading an article with a certain character in it that was in another one that issue, a direct link to it would appear on the sidebar as well. the buttons used to navigate the sections were made smaller, and the banner with the Jubjub was now changed to how many Neopians had read the Neopian Times instead of just saying 12,500,000.

The most recent version is similar to the third design, but it is easier to navigate (The featured stories on the front page are in a blue table for example). The navigation buttons were replaced with text and a random caption was posted on the left under the banner. The banner read The Neopian Times with a blue quill on each side.

Editors

The first editor of the Neopian times was Josh, or better known as Mr. Shankly. His trademark was his love of dung and most of the submissions in his last issue, issue 75, contained dung as a farewell gift, such a hippiesoul's short story The Dung Hero. The Editor who replaced him was Felicia, better known as Ms. Snowflake. She worked at Neopets in various roles (such as Email Support) and rose the ranks to become the Neopian Times Editor until she left on issue 195 to become an accountant. Droplet, Snowflake's assistant, continued as editor and has been they editor of the times up November 2006.

Inside References

Over the years as the Neopian Times community grew, the writers began to have an influence over the content of the Times, the White Weewoo being the most prominent example. The author laurensama, also known as Linny, wanted a White Weewoo to resemble Hedwig from Harry Potter so much, fellow authors hid White Weewoo references in their stories, comics and articles, and even made it one of the symbols for the Neopian Times Writer's Forum. An official drawing of a White Weewoo was finally seen in the story The Weewoo of White, and an official item image was found on October 23, 2003. Snowflake gave the authors who were published in that week's issue a White Petpet Paintbrush, and the White Weewoo was released on October 28 (or 26/27), and could be seen as an Neopets holiday for writers.

There is also Chet Flash, a fictional and non-existant character in the Neopian Times, who is seen pretty much everywhere in comics, articles, and even stories. The exact date of Chet Flash's first appearance in the Times is currently unknown but the idea of such began at the character began in a NTWF forum thread.

Neopian Times List of Do's and Don'ts'

No-No's

• hybrids (Neopets or humans mixed with different species)
• anything too bloody
• dating, kissing
• referring to time periods that occurred on Earth and not Neopia, stories that take place on Earth, Neopets discovering our solar system and Earth, or anything specifically from Earth
• explaining human's origins in Neopia
• articles discussing the new NT rules
• hybrid pets (two Neopets species combined into one)
• cults (but 'leagues' and 'clans' are okay!)
• buses
• sponsor stuff
• two story series by the same author going on at same time
• Neopets drinking from the toilet
• the phrase "Shut up"
• Neopets eating out of dog bowls and acting like Earth pets
• faeries of a type not mentioned on the site
• killing off most of the characters
• a made up, non-human, non-Faerie, non-neopet monster that was never mentioned on Neopets before
• seances
• Neopolice (Instead, we have superheroes in spandex.)
• writing about a pet painted a colour that doesn't exist yet (such as an Asparagus Kacheek)
• two parents in a custody battle over a child
• uniquely coloured pets (ie: Fire pet with green flames)

Allowed

• Exploring a totally new made up world either in Neopia or on a different planet
• Alternate realities (depends)
• character crushes and infatuations
• telegrams, newspapers, messengers
• humans, as long as they are owners or characters on the site that are human-like
• anthropormorphic animals
• anthro Neopets
• magic
• high-tech security systems (because it's in NeoHomes)
• technology that came specifically from the Space Station
• time travel
• speakers
• security guards
• pets in the hospital
• journal style stories
• pets moving from their Neohome
• the phrase "I love you" only if its a fraternal/friendly relationship
• inventing new creatures, just as long as they aren't the main characters
• owners transforming into pets
• dedicating your story to someone
• cameras
• talking to ghosts
• rare diseases that don't exist anywhere else
• pets with disabilities
• mind control
• pets dying
• LCD screens, ray guns, space ships, radar, and other things sold in the Space Station
• marriages
• families of Neopets (as long as you don't mention where the babies came from.)
• non-helpful or parody articles
• characters being consumed by dark magic
• holographic pets
• comic series
• non comical comics
• wagons
• slide projectors, as long as they're antiquated
• series of unrelated short stories featuring the same characters
• petpets can die, but only if they're eaten by Turmaculus, or a Skeith or Grarrl
• stoves (as long as it's not mentioned that they're powered by electricity or gas)
• kidnapping
• bribery
• birthmarks, scars, clothing, hair, accessories, tattoos
• dyed fur
• extreme weather (ie: tornadoes, waterspouts, earthquakes)
• pets wearing glasses
• overweight pets
• insane pets
• hybrid pets that The Neopets Team has created (ie: Geirrod Sternhoof)

Debatable

The following are items that are debatable in if they will be accepted in the Times or not, as data within the Neopets website shows it's okay to talk about.

• cars
• computers
• jail/prisons
• Jelly World (Unless you're saying something like "It doesn't exist.")
• male faeries (Debatable, as Jacob wrote 4 stories with such a character)
• permanent injuries, amputations, etc.
• phones
• planes
• radios
• the phrase "DIE!" or "Prepare to die!"
• TVs
• two/three headed Neopets unless they're already on the site
• videogames

Trivia

• The issue count (week 1, week 2, etc.) was reset in the third version of the Neopian Times.

External Links

• Latest Issue: The Neopian Times
• Help File: How do I get my story or article in the Neopian Times?, Where can I see the old issues of the Neopian Times?, How do I get a subscription for the Neopian Times?, How do I submit a comic strip to the Neopian Times?, Tips for getting your submission in the Neopian Times, I was looking at someone's record and it said they had a Neopian Times trophy. How do you get those?
• Editorial:
• Selected Fansite: Neopian Times Writer's Forum