NTMI: Hello everyone! I'm here this morning with ticketytock2kay, whose short stories have brought a sense of whimsical fun to the Times for several months now. Welcome, ticketytock2kay!

ticketytock2kay: Thanks! I'm glad to be here :-)

NTMI: Whew, that's a mouthful... is there something shorter I could use?

ticketytock2kay: Anything's fine with me.

NTMI: Ok, we'll use Kay?

ticketytock2kay: Yupper :D

NTMI: Thank you! For our first question, I need to ask you how you got started on Neopets.

ticketytock2kay: Well, my brother started playing first. His friend from school had a Grarrl and printed it out..
ticketytock2kay: My brother joined as a referral for him, and later I joined to refer my brother.
ticketytock2kay: That is, I didn't really feel like joining, but in the end I did...

NTMI: You just did it as a favor to him, you mean?

ticketytock2kay: Yes... he wanted referrals for the prizes.. the codestones in particular.
ticketytock2kay: He's stopped playing Neopets, though... :(

NTMI: And left you stuck with the addiction, I take it.

ticketytock2kay: Heh. Yes.

NTMI: Par for the course... so when you got on Neopets, how did you decide upon the name "ticketytock2kay" ?

ticketytock2kay: I happened to have been watching the show "All That" on Nickelodeon that day.. (re-runs).
ticketytock2kay: The actor Kel Mitchell was acting as a "Dr. K" to answer questions about kids from worried parents.
ticketytock2kay: The "punchline" was "Hey, hey, talk to Dr. K!"
ticketytock2kay: I can't remember, but I thought tick tock was cool, but that was taken...
ticketytock2kay: So, I settled on ticketytock2kay.

NTMI: In other words, tickety "talk to K"

ticketytock2kay: Yes! Exactly... many people ask me about my username...

NTMI: Once you were playing on the site, what have you finally settled as your favorite thing(s) about Neopets?

ticketytock2kay: The Games from the Gameroom...

NTMI: Any particular favorites among them?

ticketytock2kay: They're so fun, especially Meerca Chase, the old "Bullseye"!
ticketytock2kay: But the new version is pretty cool.
ticketytock2kay: I like Usuki Frenzy, too.
ticketytock2kay: Here's a list of the games I would have to say I like the most, that I play every day on Neopets:
ticketytock2kay: Meerca Chase, Ice Cream Factory, Usuki Frenzy, the Carnival of Terror and the newest craze: Cheeseroller!

NTMI: I had someone write me, wanting to know how you got your cheese to begin rolling, but I had no clue... so how DO you do it?

ticketytock2kay: You need to buy the cheese first... by typing in the name of the Cheese in the box.
ticketytock2kay: The cheapest is "Spicy Juppie", only 150 NP

NTMI: In other words, know your cheeses before you start playing!

ticketytock2kay: Yes, you could put it that way ;) Then, you choose which pet you want to push the Cheese.
ticketytock2kay: Then, you can choose from a variety of options, such as "Dive Left", "Push Cheese Faster" and "Hold Cheese Steady"..
ticketytock2kay: You need to have a fast Internet connection, though...

NTMI: what happens if you win? and if you lose?

ticketytock2kay: You can't exactly win. If your timing is good (70 seconds is Moldy), you can win more Neopoints.
ticketytock2kay: If your timing is bad, (over 75 seconds, I believe), you lose your Neopoints.

NTMI: Do you get to keep the cheese? lol

ticketytock2kay: You don't win the Cheese in the end. It only exists in the game... so far.

NTMI: Aw too bad. Ok, so what else is in your daily routine besides games, then?

ticketytock2kay: Feeding my pet, posting messages on the guild board and doing Useless Polls on the Help Chat Board.
ticketytock2kay: Oh, I love to Neomail my Neofriends, too, of course... and delete annoying beggar mail...
ticketytock2kay: As well as my ongoing quest for more Neopets trophies. I have my eye on the Petpet spotlight...
ticketytock2kay: Beggar mail = People begging me to do up a petpage / Give them items :(

NTMI: Do you get a lot of that?

ticketytock2kay: About 3 per day?
ticketytock2kay: I have no idea why they choose me :( You know, I have over 30 people on my block list...

NTMI: Nothing that doesn't strain your finger deleting, then! But on to the Times itself... how did you find it and what got you started contributing?

ticketytock2kay: Actually, I used to never read the News Features page... or the main page "highlights"...
ticketytock2kay: I stumbled upon the Times from the google.com search engine. It's funny, really.

NTMI: After you'd started playing Neopets?

ticketytock2kay: About 6 months after I started playing.
ticketytock2kay: I typed in "Neopian", and it came up with many, many stories and articles from the Times.
ticketytock2kay: Anyway, I clicked on one of the comics, by radiopup.

NTMI: Yes it would do that, I've done similar searches! Once you found it, what gave you the idea to send in your first short story?

ticketytock2kay: At first, I tried sending in a comic...
ticketytock2kay: Like the one I saw. I didn't read the short stories or articles, let alone the Editorial...
ticketytock2kay: But, it didn't get in. I was very miserable. :(
ticketytock2kay: I tried sending in another, but that didn't work out... I ended up not reading the Times for a few weeks after that.
ticketytock2kay: My first short story was Ghost Sleepwalker. It's very badly written!!!

NTMI: So you have improved since then.

ticketytock2kay: O.o I try to avoid looking at it. I sent it in and thought it wouldn't get in.
ticketytock2kay: Oh happy day, it got in, but boy, it was despicable! *dives under table*

NTMI: Actually, I read it and thought it rather intriguing... although it was a bit short, it seemed to hint at more than it covered.

ticketytock2kay: *gives a weak smile*

NTMI: Did you get any sort of feedback on it at the time?

ticketytock2kay: No... only from a Newbie, who asked me how I managed to access the Neopets server and put my story on the website. @_x Really...

NTMI: Oh my, that was a newbie... I'd hope anyway.
NTMI: So how did the Chocolate Sprouts sneak into the very next issue?

ticketytock2kay: Well, I kept on thinking about a story with a Shoyru rushing into the house, screaming, "We've got a gig!"
ticketytock2kay: That Shoyru ended up being a Uni, since Shoyrus weren't available in brown, then...
ticketytock2kay: I don't know how I came up with the idea, really. I just sat down and starting typing about the Shoyru rushing into the house, and everything continued on it's own after that.
ticketytock2kay: When I was editing, I changed the Shoyru to Beeyootiful, the Uni.

NTMI: You set the characters in motion and they took on a life of their own.

ticketytock2kay: Yes! I even *mumbles* dreamt of them.

NTMI: I heard that a famous author had a nightmare once and he turned it into a classic tale....

ticketytock2kay: That must have been Edgar Allan Poe :P He's a poet, though...

NTMI: "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
NTMI: But back to your writing.. what do you like writing best?

ticketytock2kay: Short stories. I once wrote a book, when I was 7, but when I read through it a few years back it was all "She said, he said, she said, he said...". Short stories are like a short trip on a magic carpet...

NTMI: A little gem to brighten the day, huh?

ticketytock2kay: :-) Kind of... I like Roald Dahl's books... they're a really exhilarating magic carpet ride :)

NTMI: Besides having one particular scene or phrase haunt you, how do you get ideas for stories?

ticketytock2kay: Oh dear! Everyone asks me that... I told my Dad that. My Dad said that a professor of his from Yale (when he was studying) was asked that question, and he always used to say:
ticketytock2kay: You just go out and get them! Seize the day..

NTMI: or idea, as the case may be?

ticketytock2kay: Yeah. :P

NTMI: Hehe, so once your idea has been seized, how long does it take to turn it into a story?

ticketytock2kay: A week. I type out a really, really short draft, and then I eventually turn the "scribbles" into paragraphs. I usually print out one copy, because you see your mistakes more clearly when they're on paper, rather than on your screen.

NTMI: Right, good point. So after you get the mistakes corrected, what happens next?

ticketytock2kay: I type the story in again... and usually I get my Dad to look through it. Sometimes he doesn't understand what I'm writing about, though, because they're Neopetish.
ticketytock2kay: He suggests extra bits..

NTMI: And then it goes to the NT and Josh puts it in for everyone else to read!

ticketytock2kay: O.O Some of the stories that I sent in weren't really satisfactory, and I'm surprised they got in.
ticketytock2kay: Some of the ideas were good, but the story was not well-developed, is what I mean...
ticketytock2kay: I noticed, though, you get more response from the "public" when you write an article, rather than a short story.

NTMI: Why is that, do you think?

ticketytock2kay: Probably because the articles give you information. For example, my article "Do the Robo Pet", was on how to get a robot pet...
ticketytock2kay: ..And people Neomailed me with extra questions, like, "Can you choose which pet to zap"...

NTMI: How about extra information, like "hey, you missed pointing out that such and such..."

ticketytock2kay: ^_^ I haven't gotten any Neomail like that... I usually get mail from Newbies.

NTMI: What about advice for anyone else wanting to get stuff into the Times?

ticketytock2kay: If you don't get into the Times, don't abandon the thought completely, like I did. And don't think that you're a loser...
ticketytock2kay: I thought I was a loser for not getting in... -_-

NTMI: But you followed it up with a couple of dozen successes!

ticketytock2kay: Yay! That's true. I really want to get a comic in...

NTMI: What sort of feedback do you normally get from a piece in the Times?

ticketytock2kay: Mainly positive...
ticketytock2kay: Usually it's the same person that Neomails me...

NTMI: You have a fan club?

ticketytock2kay: I have around 5 people who usually always Neomail me after I get a piece in. They've been asking me what's wrong o.O

NTMI: Wondering where you've been for the past month or so?

ticketytock2kay: Yeah.

NTMI: What do you tell them?

ticketytock2kay: I told them I was out of ideas.
ticketytock2kay: And I've been concentrating on school. -_-

NTMI: Summer School?

ticketytock2kay: No. Self-home-school... i.e. self-studying (I like to be top)

NTMI: Ahh, got you! Well can we expect to see more work from you sometime soon?

ticketytock2kay: Hopefully. I've been working on a story of a Quiggle that wants to catch Dr. Sloth.

NTMI: The Quiggle of Doom haunts Dr. Sloth .... (no offense, Lupina!)

ticketytock2kay: A Quiggle and a Gelert...

NTMI: Sounds like they've got their work cut out for them ;)

ticketytock2kay: They're after Dr. Sloth to find out his secret recipe for his Transmogrification Potion, y'see...
ticketytock2kay: And they find it out and make an Ixi Transmogrification Potion, but it turns out to turn everyone in Neopia into mutant Ixis :(
ticketytock2kay: Why everyone was dosed with the potion... you'll have to wait till it comes out..

NTMI: Well duh, hehehe.... sounds like an entertaining read to me.

ticketytock2kay: I'm almost done editing.

NTMI: tease, tease!

ticketytock2kay: O.O I just adore the comics that get into the Neopian Times!
ticketytock2kay: They're so professionally drawn, and have such great punchlines... :(

NTMI: Speaking of reading the Times, what faults or problems do you usually notice with the stuff that they print?

ticketytock2kay: Plagiarism. I've noticed some people rip off the punchlines from Baby Blues or Garfield and just switch the people to Neopets.
ticketytock2kay: It's not as funny. When I read it, I'm like, "Oh, yeah.... right..."

NTMI: Yes, I've noticed the same problem.
NTMI: If you could change one thing about how the Neopian Times is organized, what would it be?

ticketytock2kay: **thinks very hard*
ticketytock2kay: *snaps fingers*
ticketytock2kay: I would have it so that you can click on the author's name and see all the stories that that particular author has written.
ticketytock2kay: Many people want links to my previous stories, so I eventually made up a petpage with everything.

NTMI: I see, good point, that's why I started this index site. So in your writing for the Times, what's been the best thing that happened?

ticketytock2kay: Oh, that's got to be the story that was published after I won the Site Spotlight. I had much more Neomails then ;)) hee hee

NTMI: What about the worst thing?

ticketytock2kay: Someone ripped off my story idea and sent it in. Luckily though, it wasn't chosen to be published.
ticketytock2kay: It was the story "The Best Day of My Life"

NTMI: What else have you gotten published outside of the Neopian Times?

ticketytock2kay: Some stories printed in my school newsletter, which is basically it.
ticketytock2kay: I even wrote a column about Neopets, once!

NTMI: Turn your entertainment into profit, can't beat that... so what other sites out there on the web have your work posted on them?

ticketytock2kay: None, to be honest. I used to have some short stories on a website, but it was shut down. That was before I joined Neopets.
ticketytock2kay: The stories were mainly about the life of a girl named Shirley.

NTMI: What plans or goals do you have for your writing in general?

ticketytock2kay: This sounds far-fetched but I want to publish my book that I've been working on since I was ten.
ticketytock2kay: It's called "the Cave of Wonders"!
ticketytock2kay: It's around 100 Chapters long. I'm trying to chop some chapters off.

NTMI: Whoa, that has been a long-term project.

ticketytock2kay: 3 years. I've stopped working on it, kind of, ever since I joined Neopets. o.O

NTMI: Well I think that covers everything I had to ask. Was there anything else you wanted to add?

ticketytock2kay: Yes. Adopt a Kacheek! Kacheeks rule!
ticketytock2kay: Sorry, I really love Kacheeks.

NTMI: We'll make a note of it! Thanks for stopping by, Kay, I really appreciate your taking the time to talk with me.

ticketytock2kay: No problem :) It's been fun.... much more fun than watching re-runs on TV! :)

NTMI: Lol, well enjoy the rest of your day, and we'll keep an eye out for your new stuff in the NT :)

ticketytock2kay: *waves an Adopt the Kacheek! flag*
ticketytock2kay: See ya!

Would you like to read all of ticketytock2kay's work? Just click here to check her out in our database!