Neopian Times

The Neopian Times is the online newspaper of the virtual pet site Neopets.
Users of Neopets can submit assorted works set in Neopia, such as comics, short stories, articles and series. The Neopian Times is typically released on Fridays, but occasionally it may be released later than usual because of assorted editorial issues. In extreme cases it may not 'go live' until the following Monday due to the fact that the Neopets Team characteristically does not release content during weekends or holidays.

How it began
First Style
When The Neopian Times started out, it lacked the visual flair it currently possesses, but it was still driven by user submissions. The very first issues were composed mainly of relatively short series, short stories, and articles. Comics are noticeably absent from the earlier issues, but eventually became a standard part of the Neopian Times as time went on.

The first look of the Neopian Times was distinguished by its top banner- a picture of a man and a woman in 50's style and the text "For an easier life". Several of the front pages still exist, but the links to the stories and comics no longer work- ostensibly removed to save server space, as so few people cared to read that far back that the content would hardly be missed.

Super-Old-Dusty-And-Moldy Neopian Times

Second Style
The first major revamp of the Neopian Times changed the format from a simple page of text with an overlying banner to a set of tables that made it look more like a real newspaper. Comics were not included in the vast majority of Neopian Times issues at this point, but an official comics page was added in Issue 57 and has been included in every issue following. A Guild Spotlight was included as one of the features under this format, showcasing one of the many guilds in Neopia. The Guild Spotlight was eventually dropped from the Neopian Times, however. Around the same time, the banner was replaced by an image of a gold engraving that depicted a Jubjub reading the Neopian Times.

Very old neopian times

Third Style
The third style was simply a modified version of the second style. Several of the more significant changes include the addition of the Quote of The Week, which is a memorable quote chosen by the editor from one of the submissions; and a 'More Stories' column on the right-hand side of the page that displayed the images, summary, and links to several randomized stories from that week.

The banner with the Jubjub was changed, replacing the circulation number of 12,500,000 to display how many Neopians had actually read the Neopian Times, which at this time sits at 116,830,831.

Older Neopian Times

Note that this link leads the final issue of the Third look. The 'Show All' button included next to the issue number at the top will reveal all preceding issues.

Fourth Style
This is the current style of the Neopian Times, and currently the most popular. It was officially introduced the day that the 150th issue of the Neopian Times was released. It is similar to the third style, but it has been altered slightly to make navigation more simple and reduce clutter on the front page. It (The front page) has been organized into tables that make it much easier to read, with a special blue table for the featured stories. The navigation buttons have been replaced with plain text links, and a randomized caption is displayed under the banner on the left (some of which are related to Times in-jokes). The banner has been changed to a simple "The Neopian Times" with a blue quill on either side, and the circulation number now sits beneath it in plain text.

The entire colour scheme has been changed from the darker and more moody orange of the third style to a lighter and more upbeat combination of blue and white. The colours & background pictures change for special events.

Current Neopian Times

Editors
Mr. Shankly
"Quite Frankly, Mr. Shankly"

The first known Editor was Josh, better known as Mr. Shankly. He edited the Neopian Times up until Issue 75, when he left. His trademark was his love of dung, and many of the submissions in his last issue as editor reflected his love of dung as a farewell gift. One such story was Hippiesoul's The Dung Hero.

Snowflake
Mr. Shankly's replacement was Felicia, more commonly referred to as Snowflake. She began working in e-mail support at Neopets, and rose through the ranks to become the Neopian Times Editor, where she stayed until Issue 195. During the last few months of her role as editor, she was assigned the duties of Poetry Contest and Art Gallery as well. She also hinted a few times about her newly-hired assistant, Droplet. Droplet was apparently being taught how to run the Neopian Times and sort through submissions, though Snowflake never fully confirmed that she would be the new editor. Her trademark is her white wedding dress that she wears in her staff picture.

On June 14, 2005, she officially announced her resignation from Neopets:

"Hello everyone,
I'm just writing to let you know that issue 195 will be my last as editor of The Neopian Times, since I'm going to be moving on to some exciting new things. Darcy (Droplet) will be taking over as your new editor, and I'm confident that she'll do an excellent job. My hope is that you'll give her as warm a welcome as you did me.

Felicia"

Droplet
Darcy, also known as Droplet, was Snowflake's assistant during her last few months as editor, and took over the job of editor after Snowflake left. Her first issue was issue 196, and she is the editor of the Neopian Times to this day.

The Captions
This is a list of all the captions that appear under the banner in the top left corner of the Neopian Times (Fourth Style).

Enter the Snowflake's lair...

Invisible Paint Brushes rock! (Highlight this)

White Weewoos don't exist. *shifty eyes*

Now with 50% more useless text

Meow

Sanity is forbidden

There are ants in my Lucky Green Boots

Neopia's Fill-in-the-blank News Source

Chet Flash wuz here

A Yurble stole my cinnamon roll!

Battle Quills... ready!

the 1337est n00zpaper

Caution: Quills may be sharp

Neopian Times Inside Jokes
White Weewoo
The White Weewoo is a Petpet on Neopets that has become associated with the Neopian Times, due to the efforts of some Times authors in the creation of the color. This was started by the author Laurensama, also known as Linny, who received a Weewoo as a gift and wished to paint it white to resemble Hedwig from Harry Potter. She and a group of fellow authors hid White Weewoo references in their stories, comics and articles in hopes that The Neopets Team would pick up on it and make the White Weewoo an actual color. Eventually, their efforts paid off and the White Weewoo was created.

The White Weewoo has become one of the symbols for the NTWF (Neopian Times Writers' Forum) because of this, and was found on 23 October 2003. Snowflake gave the authors who were published on the week that the White Weewoo was released a White Petpet Paintbrush. October 28 could be seen as a Neopets holiday for writers, as the White Weewoo was officially released that day.

The first official drawing of a White Weewoo in the Neopian Times was for this story: The Weewoo of White It is now one of the symbols for the Neopian Times, and can be seen at the bottom of pages in the Neopian Times and in other official art about the Times, including shopkeepers and blogs.

Chet Flash
Chet Flash is a recurring nonexistent character in the Neopian Times who makes appearances in various places in the Times now and then. His signature phrase "Chet Flash wuz here" can be found in comics, articles, in the banner of the Times itself, and sometimes even stories. No one knows exactly what he looks like, or who he really is.

The exact date of Chet Flash's first appearance in the Times is currently unknown, but some of the planning for his appearances remain here:

List Of Publication Types
In the Neopian Times, there are 4 unique categories of user submissions: Articles, Short Stories, Series, and Comics.

Articles
Articles usually do not tell a story. Articles can be either informative or humorous, and the subject of one can range from an Interview With Sloth's Mom to a List of Tips For Creating Neopet Names. Articles can be serious or philosophical (such as In Praise of the Unpainted Pet), or teach people how to do, play, or win something in Neopian games. Fun articles are also common: recently, a trend has emerged where a large majority of Neopian Times articles are simply lists regarding a specific subject such as "50 Things To Do While Neopets Is Down" or "10 Reasons Why Neopia Needs Telephones" and so forth.

The size requirements for submitting an article are a minimum size of 1,000 words and a maximum size of 50,000 words.

Short stories
Short Stories are very different from Articles in that they are works of fiction that must tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end, within the limits of a single issue. They run for one week only, and do not have separate parts, unlike the much longer series. Short Stories range in genre from comedy to adventure to horror. Stories can be dedicated to someone you know (though they must take place in Neopia) or can be based on a book title from Neopets. For instance, there is a book called "The Magic Paw", so you can write a story based around your imagining of the plot of "The Magic Paw".

Short Stories must be 1,200 to 4,000 words in length.

Comics
Comics are different from the other submissions in that they typically use art to convey their message. However, the artwork does not need to look professional, as long as it is legible enough to view in a casual manner. Comics must be drawn by the artist rather than cut and pasted together using images from Neopets, and they usually require some sort of joke. A serious comic series can also be accepted into the Times, although if each part does not make sense on its own then the whole series should be submitted at once. In order to be accepted, comics need fairly decent art and a good, understandable joke (except in a serious comic series).

Comics must be less than 470 pixels wide, under 200kb in size, and must be in gif or jpeg format.

Series
Series are longer stories that run anywhere from two to twelve weeks in the Neopian Times, with each part constituting one week of material. These stories are usually far more complicated and epic than a short story, but often if a short story is too long it may instead be run as a series. For example, if a story is 4600 words, it's 600 words above the maximum word limit for short stories, and can be divided into 2 parts as a 2 part series.

A Series has anywhere from 2 to 12 parts, each part running 1,500 to 50,000 words. The average length of a Series is 6-8 weeks and about 9,000 to 12,000 words. The longest running series ever are 'As Told by child_dragon' and 'Dark Flame', both of which have 21 parts and were written by child_dragon. This feat can no longer be achieved again, because of the restrictions that were applied when the submission form was introduced.

Editorial
This is the only part of the Times in which the Neopets Staff provides the content rather than the users (besides custom images). In the Editorial, Donna (the co-creator of the site) and sometimes Adam (the creator) answer questions about Neopets submitted by users. These questions range from questions about gameplay and suggestions regarding the site in general to questions about merchandise and the Neopets Staff members. The Editorial used to be infamously known for frequently causing the Neopian Times to be released later then presumed. Now, if Donna doesn't have enough time to answer questions that particular week, a notice is usually displayed and a bigger Editorial is put up the following week.

Criteria For Publication

As nearly all of the content submitted to and posted in the Neopian Times is user-created, the editors must strictly control what is published, and therefore, what isn't. Over the run of the Neopian Times various authors have begun to collect a general list of criteria as to what is allowed (considered canon or age-appropriate) and what is likely to be rejected by the editor.

The list should not be taken as the final word on submission to the Neopian Times, because it is incomplete and unofficial; rather the list should be used to give a more general overview as to what will help a story be accepted and what will more likely end in rejection.

Topics/Items Forbidden
* Cars, Planes, Radios, Cell Phones, TVs, Video Games, Telephones, and other assorted 'modern' conveniences specifically based on Earth.
* Stories based on Earth or occur in time periods that do not exist in Neopia. This includes the possibility of pets discovering Earth's solar system in the reaches of space.
* Explaining humanity's origins in Neopia
* Computers (The exception being the Virtupets Space Station and Kreludor where such technology exists.)
* Hybrids (An owner that is part pet, or a pet that is also part of multiple species.)In a few accepted stories and comics, an owner drank a morphing potion and was turned into a pet temporarily.
* Two- or three-headed Neopets (the exception being creatures such as Scordrax, or Mutant Hissi whom already exist within the site.)
* Pets painted in unique styles or in a colour that has not been created yet, either for that pet or at all. (Examples include a Jelly Gnorbu, a yellow and green striped Aisha, or a Fire pet with green flames rather than the customary orange.)
* Blood, gore, and generally extreme violence; dating, open or graphic affection, and even marriages. (Neopets is frequented largely by a younger audience, and tightly restricts all content that is not considered 'age appropriate'.)
* Male Faeries (A great deal of controversy has sprung up recently regarding Male Faeries and their inclusion in Neopian canon, with many users pushing for them to be introduced. The stance of the Neopets Team thus far is unclear, but it appears that there are no current or future plans to include Male Faeries in Neopia.)
* Faeries of an element or type that has not been introduced by the Neopets Team (e.g., a Typo Faerie or a Time Faerie., Dung Faerie was introduced later and therefore is now allowed)
* Articles that explicitly discuss the rules of the Neopian Times (articles that instead discuss improving your chances of acceptance seem to be permissible, however, as these tend to focus instead on improving the piece of writing rather than specific rules.)
* Cults or organized religions (Leagues, Clans, Clubs, and Guilds are all acceptable.)
* Mentioning Neopets as a website rather than a cohesive world; that is, mentioning sponsors, links, banner ads, etc. This also includes the mention of an owner breaking Neopets rules, or the mention of punishments such as banning or freezing of accounts.
* Permanent or debilitating injuries, amputations, etc.
* Two Series by the same author simultaneously (The policy is that one author can only have one submission in an issue, though the rule is not strictly enforced; and an author may have up to three simultaneous submissions at once, assuming at least one of them is a long-running Series.)
* Pets acting as Earth pets, engaging in activities such as eating from bowls, drinking from the toilet, drinking from bowls, acting as pack mules, being walked on leashes, and such. (On Neopets, pets themselves are treated as sentient and self-aware people rather than animals. However Petpets are often shown to act more like traditional pets.)
* The phrases "DIE!", "Prepare to die!", and "Shut up!" (This rule, more so than any other on the list, is not strictly enforced. Rather, it is preferred that the phrases simply aren't used. It is not a blanket ban and there are many recent examples of the phrases being used.)
* Mentions of Jelly World (the exception being cases where the author simply reminds the reader that Jelly World doesn't exist.) This stems from the in-joke that Jelly World doesn't exist, when there are many topics that only prove its existence.
* Death (Death is not strictly frowned upon, but more than one serious storyline death is considered excessive and will more than likely result in rejection. This rule has become more strict in recent years, where before multiple stories featured the death of most of the major cast by the end.)
* Séances (that is, communication with dead pets who have not expressly chosen to return to Neopia as ghosts.)
* Neopolice (Neopets once featured a police force called The Chia Police, but eventually phased them out following their takeover by Viacom. Now superheroes and soldiers serve as protectors of justice in the event of a crime or war. Although some stories in recent times have been able to get away with such mentions--one of the Storytelling competitions even centered around a kiko and chia officer.)
* Two parents in a custody battle over a child
* Prisons/jails (Dungeons are acceptable.)

Permissible Topics/Items
* Alternate realities, time travel, and exploration of worlds or lands that do not exist. (This rule tends to depend on the extent to which the plot devices are used. As an example, creating a completely new planet is unlikely to be accepted, whereas a village or tribe of wanderers with their own culture will be more likely. The same general rule applies to the time travel and alternate realities.)
* Crushes, infatuations, and character relationships (It is preferred that this stays strictly implied rather than explicitly stated.)
* The phrase "I love you," if the context under which this is stated is a friendly or fraternal relationship.
* Telegrams, newspapers, messengers and similar 'low-tech' methods of communication.
* Technology that has been introduced by the Neopets Team, typically of Virtupets, Kreludorian, or Alien Aisha origins. (Few types of technology that do not come from the three listed locations are allowed. Among those that are include cameras, stoves, slide projectors, and medical equipment as long as their origins are not questioned or explained.)
* Human characters (typically owners of pets.)
* Anthropomorphic animals and pets (that is, animals and Neopets that share human-like characteristics. The most common is the power of speech and clothing/armor.)
* Magic and other mystical phenomena or powers.
* High-tech security systems, security guards, traps, etc. (The security systems typically apply to buildings such as Neohomes, though the possibility of them being in shops has yet to be denied specifically.)
* Pets in the hospital for injuries, disabilities, or rare diseases. (This rule causes a great deal of confusion; debilitating injuries are technically forbidden as are most serious illnesses. The rule of thumb seems to be to keep the character in a sympathetic light, and, if possible, give them hope of rehabilitation in the future.)
* Pets moving from their Neohome.
* Owners transforming into pets (That is, completely becoming a pet rather than being only part pet.)
* Talking to ghosts.
* Mind control, possession by evil forces, or a character being overtaken by dark magic.
* Character death (As mentioned above, this should be kept in severe moderation. The death of a character should be significant and should never occur without a specific reason.)
* Families of Neopets (The origins of children in the family is strictly forbidden.)
* Non-helpful or parody articles.
* Comic series/non-comedic comics.
* Series of unrelated short stories featuring the same characters.
* Kidnapping, bribery, thievery, and petty crimes
* Birthmarks, scars, clothing, hair, accessories, tattoos, and dyed fur.
* Extreme weather (e.g. tornadoes, waterspouts, earthquakes)
* Pets who wear glasses, are overweight, or insane.
* Hybrid pets that The Neopets Team has created (e.g.: Geirrod Sternhoof)
* As of Issue 291, the words 'Hell' and 'Damn' were deemed acceptable. A later issue said they are no longer acceptable.

Related Websites
The sites listed here are about The Neopian Times or Neopets in general and some of them also include writing tips.

Neopian Times Writers Forum - One of the largest forums devoted solely to the discussion of content for the Neopian Times. This site also includes a place to contact the editor of the Neopian Times, Darcy (also known as Droplet).

The NT SecretRuleBook - An unofficial list of things that will assist aspiring writers be published in the Neopian Times.

NTIndex - A large archive/database, that lists everything that has been published in the Neopian Times to date.

Sarakrindel's List of Writing Help - List of articles in the Neopian Times that concern writing.

The Times Tower - A Neopets fansite, with lots of information regarding the Neopian Times among other things. Its content covers everything from Neopian Plots to Game Guides to recommended Reading.

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See Also

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