Wot th' Weasel Said

[Tooley Bostay]

Feel free t' ask yer questions o' th' scatterbrained woozle, mates! Don' worry, I'll be sure t' chew some 'oles in me 'at ter remem'er 'em.

[Vera Silvertooth]

Were there any scenes that you wanted to write for Tooley that didn't fit in the story?

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

[Matra Hammer]

1- Is there anything you wanted in the story (plot direction, inter-character scene, etc) that did not make the cut? If no, why you lying?

2- What is the origin of Tooley's dent? Birth defect? Bludgeoning?

3- Where would Tooley go if he (and his daddy) survived all of this? What would Tooley do if he wasn't a pirate...if he never took up piracy in the first place?

4- Who do you want to win AND who do you predict will win this competition? If unwilling to answer: which non-cast app should've made the cast? If unwilling to answer: What is a movie/show you can recommend wholeheartedly?

5- When was your last Redwall contest? If this is your first (or answer anyways if you'd like): did you have fun / what part did you enjoy the most? The least?

6- If you could change one thing about the contest (and I mean ANYTHING from how it's run, to a specific character / story element, to even the color of Blade's sashes) then what would you change?

[Matra Hammer]

And a general, followup question for everybeast...

Why don't mice ever make the cut? Three MOs and I haven't seen one mouse in the main cast. Can't really remember a mouse app either besides an engineer from MOII. Massive apologies if I overlooked anybeast.

[Airan]

Why don't mice ever make the cut? Three MOs and I haven't seen one mouse in the main cast. Can't really remember a mouse app either besides an engineer from MOII. Massive apologies if I overlooked anybeast.

I actually tried to enter MO1 with a mouse named Alder Flint if you remember him. But anyways, I can answer this pretty well, I think, due to my 7 years of experience among this community. I wouldn't necessarily say that mice don't ever make the cut, but rather that they usually just don't have the popularity to have very many applications written for the species. The books, at least the early ones, tend to portray them as pure good and completely flawless creatures which leads to many writers simply shying away to write more interesting creatures, though when I tried to write Alder those years ago, I was thinking it would be fun to try my hand at writing a flawed mouse who was going to try and redeem himself. Also, I would also say that they're also challenging to think with in terms of their attributes. Mice are small and weak compared to the likes of the ever-popular otters and mustelids, and so that has to be accounted for when thinking of how the character will act and be treated around others, and what physical feats are possible and realistic for them. Also, they don't have any particular talents that come included with their species, such as squirrels being able to climb well and being agile or an otter being a fast swimmer. Having none of those perks, makes them fairly neutral ground that is actually hard to get into, and makes giving them certain talents less realistic. It's like choosing to play a human in DnD. As an example, warrior characters in these almost always tend to fall into badger, otter, hare, or mustelid as the author doesn't have to explain how their character can overpower an opponent or be intimidating.

TLDR: Mice don't have superpowers, so they're not the first species one thinks of when making a character.

Alright, with that answered, here's some questions for Tooley:

1. ) Tooley's character was presented a little bit differently in his application as compared to how he ended up in the story, being described as having 'drunken sea ditties that went too far' and 'insulting Stitchtail's mother,' but becoming more sympathetic, ignorant, and just once he made it into the competition. What made you make this change? Adding on to this, if Tooley had instead been written as a villain, or I guess should say a canon vermin, how do you think his character would have gone, and how do you think the story would have changed?

2.) When I was judging apps for this contest, I remember getting applications and just getting genuinely excited whenever I saw what sort of ideas for characters people came up with and marveling at the creativity behind some people's characters. Oftentimes, I wondered to myself "where did they come up with that?" So, with that said, I have a pretty simple question in regards to Tooley. Where did you come up with the idea of him chewing his hat to remember things?

I might think of more later on down the road, but for now those are some things I've been wondering since the contest started. I await you answers eagerly :)

[Tooley Bostay]

Were there any scenes that you wanted to write for Tooley that didn't fit in the story?

Hmm... not really. Pretty early on, I figured out the broad sweeps of Tooley's storyarc, so most of what I wanted to do with him was done. Though I do wish that the Chak vengeance thing had played out a bit differently. Given the nature of the contest, I wasn't quite sure how to handle a blood-vendetta against a fellow player, so I may have dropped it a bit early. There was an original plan somewhere around Round 2 that if Crue was with the slaves, Tooley would bust her and the others out, and end up running into Chak during this. I woulda liked to write that scene, as it probably would have been a full-on confrontation between them.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Ireland. I love seeing scenes of nature, and from what I can tell, nothing really beats the natural beauty of Ireland. It's a gorgeous land.

[Tooley Bostay]

1- Is there anything you wanted in the story (plot direction, inter-character scene, etc) that did not make the cut? If no, why you lying?

It was bantered about briefly that Hylan may be a fox, and Vera could have a romantic arc built up with him. I really liked that concept, though marten-Hylan is pretty awesome too, and I enjoy reading about their friendship.
On a larger scale, my votes for the corsairs were to have this bumbling group of losers out on the sea for treasure, despite being the most incapable of hands. (Skiz, Mari, Wilson, Vasily, Tooley).
The snake/mongoose rivalry had to be dropped due to lack of time to properly build it up, but part of me wishes that had been given more time.
Rindclaw was originally a commander in Blade's forces, and I do wish I had gone with that route. Insomnia was an incredibly difficult post to write (and is titled that for a reason), and I had to make a lot of concessions just to get it done and out.

2- What is the origin of Tooley's dent? Birth defect? Bludgeoning?

Rindclaw caused it in a fit of drunken rage when Tooley was an infant, accidentally striking the weasel's skull with a hammer. His wife took Tooley (Delner), and left, leaving Rindclaw to pick up the pieces on his own. He's been haunted by the event, and with the hindsight of his mistakes, has taken pity on a lot of the younger vermin that find themselves recruited into Blade's ranks.

3- Where would Tooley go if he (and his daddy) survived all of this? What would Tooley do if he wasn't a pirate...if he never took up piracy in the first place?

I'm gonna take a rain check on this first question, because I'm planning on writing out the rest of Tooley's story as a "what-if?" May not post it publically, but since I had a full storyarc planned, and we're so close to the end, I figured I should go ahead and finish it.
As for the second question, I think Tooley was always destined a bit for servitude. He'd probably stumble his way into some horde, at best maybe a handyman for some goodbeast/vermin establishment. It's only the combined pressure of losing the Silver Maiden, Daggle dying, and Ciera betraying him that forces him into a role of independence. So, in a way, piracy was sort of good for him, since it led him to the place where he actually could stand up to Shuga and act like the Fire God.

4- Who do you want to win AND who do you predict will win this competition? If unwilling to answer: which non-cast app should've made the cast? If unwilling to answer: What is a movie/show you can recommend wholeheartedly?

Ooh. All good questions. I'll answer 'em all.
- Chak, on both counts. I will flip if Chak doesn't make top 3. He's amazing.
- The cast and I were talking about this, actually. Just how different the story would be if some of the other top 30 peeps got in. If I had to give you three (and these are not saying that I don't like the people who did get in, I'll note), I'd say Skiz, Dusker, and Brother Bogdan. The first two would have had really interesting interactions with the cast, methinks, and I would have loved to see Bogdan among the mongooses and Fire God's and whatnot.
- Movie? Wind in the Willows, the 1995 made-for-TV version. Absolute best adaptation of the source material, from the beautiful animation and art direction, to the superb voice acting (Rik Mayall's Toad is unparalleled).
TV show? Human Target, Season One only. Fantastic example of character-based storytelling, with stellar pacing and production values. Sadly, it cost a lot to make, so the budgeted second season was made by an entirely new set of creators that had no idea what they were doing.

5- When was your last Redwall contest? If this is your first (or answer anyways if you'd like): did you have fun / what part did you enjoy the most? The least?

This is my first contest (I registered as "Eil" on the forum), and I had a total blast. This was sort of a way for me to kickstart myself back into writing, and boy did it ever. I learned so much, and have made some wonderful friends! As for what I enjoyed the most, I think it was definitely the reader feedback. Both the really in-depth stuff from Zevka and you, Matra, and then also the off-the-cuff comments from Kingsdotr and others. Both were incredibly encouraging and enjoyable to read, and the type of stuff I think every author needs (analysis from someone to see if what they're doing is working, and encouragement from excited readers to confirm that what they're doing is worthwhile).
Least enjoyed? Uhh... hrm... the escalating amount of details to keep track of, I think. Got a bit ridiculous, since we had so many moving parts going at once. Eventually I got to the point where I could care less about if the timeline was in-keeping with reality or not--I just wanted to tell a good story. =P

6- If you could change one thing about the contest (and I mean ANYTHING from how it's run, to a specific character / story element, to even the color of Blade's sashes) then what would you change?

Hmm. Realistically? I wish there was more interaction among the cast within the story. Now, I'm one of the voices who was all for splitting the cast up on the island (and think it was the right call), but I do think that even now the comments about the story being somewhat splintered have a point. If I join another contest, I'd definitely like to see it encourage cast-interaction more.
Unrealistically? No way to mandate it, but I'd have reasons for votes be necessary. Two of the votes I received didn't have reasons attached, and while I'm not really disappointed at getting voted off among brilliantly talented authors, part of me is frustrated at not knowing why I was voted off. Was it a problem on my end? Did they just not like the character? Etc. A blank vote tells the author absolutely nothing and leads them down no path of improvement, so if you vote, please attach reasons to 'em.

Why don't mice ever make the cut? Three MOs and I haven't seen one mouse in the main cast. Can't really remember a mouse app either besides an engineer from MOII. Massive apologies if I overlooked anybeast.

Funny story: Tooley was my only app, but I did have this idea for a mousemaid that I woulda loved to write. Unfortunately, I only had enough time to write Tooley's. If I ever apply for another contest, then I've made it a goal to write some of the more "boring" species. Mice, voles, shrews, etc.

[Tooley Bostay]

1. ) Tooley's character was presented a little bit differently in his application as compared to how he ended up in the story, being described as having 'drunken sea ditties that went too far' and 'insulting Stitchtail's mother,' but becoming more sympathetic, ignorant, and just once he made it into the competition. What made you make this change? Adding on to this, if Tooley had instead been written as a villain, or I guess should say a canon vermin, how do you think his character would have gone, and how do you think the story would have changed?

Tooley was a last-minute app, and a lot of the details in it probably don't reflect the character he became (more on that, later). When I actually made it into the contest, I had to start thinking about storyarcs and whatnot, and when I went with the sort of "broken mind" approach, the more verminy aspects seemed a bit distracting. He sorta came out as a Blaggut-type character, though I honestly do wish I'd had explored more of that "rawr, Imma pirate!" aspect of his character, though. Like, him trying to "befriend" Crue by telling nasty jokes or slapping her shoulder and whatnot. If I had a chance to do it over again, I think I would have added a bit more of those in, as they would have shown his exposure to piracy, and the awkwardness of it would have alluded to him not quite fitting into piracy.
If he was a canon vermin, then I don't think I would have played up the memory issues as much, and he'd probably be more mischievous. Stealing from Crue, for example. Probably more blindly-assertive, too. Attacking Chak with all the gusto of a noodle-armed weasel, and whatnot. He probably would have looked for ways to subvert Blade, too, since his loyalty would have remained with Ciera through and through.

2.) When I was judging apps for this contest, I remember getting applications and just getting genuinely excited whenever I saw what sort of ideas for characters people came up with and marveling at the creativity behind some people's characters. Oftentimes, I wondered to myself "where did they come up with that?" So, with that said, I have a pretty simple question in regards to Tooley. Where did you come up with the idea of him chewing his hat to remember things?

Funnily enough, him chewing on his hat to remember things wasn't anything special in his app. I wanted to add in a little detail to show that Tooley was an animal, and not a human (ala Zevka's "Funny Animals" pet peeve), and so him chewing holes in his hat to count the days felt reasonably appropriate and also a smooth way to get some exposition down. I had no intention of it being anything more than that at the time, since Tooley's character then was just "he's a pirate who gets into trouble a lot."
After I got in, I started thinking about where to go with Tooley's character, and how to give him some depth, and opted to develop further the hat token, partly because it was well-received by the audience at the time.

Thanks for the questions, all! Had fun answerin' 'em. Feel t' ask any more that come t' mind. =D

[Chak Ku'rill]

Thankee, Tooles. That be a grand compleement!

[Vizon]

Now that I've drawn your character Daggle, I am wondering about him. Obviously he was very important to Tooley, yet I can't help but think that there was a lot to him that Tooley just didn't see. Tooley obviously didn't remember things well, and Daggle the rat jus doesn't strike me as a beast that wouldn't take advantage of that!

So...was Daggle as good of a friend as Tooley thought?

[Matra Hammer]

I wondered about Daggle as well. Tooley is a bit addled, so he might not've seen what a clod Daggle was, but I'm sure there were some genuine moments.

Alder Flint! I remember the app now that you mention the name. Your reasoning - mice don't have "powers" - makes perfect sense. It's exactly why I made a shrew for MOII. Maybe next contest we'll have an influx of boring species. All hail the 10 mouse crew.

[Vizon]

Your reasoning - mice don't have "powers" - makes perfect sense. It's exactly why I made a shrew for MOII.

I could argue that Sal had super powers...

[Tooley Bostay]

Now that I've drawn your character Daggle, I am wondering about him. Obviously he was very important to Tooley, yet I can't help but think that there was a lot to him that Tooley just didn't see. Tooley obviously didn't remember things well, and Daggle the rat jus doesn't strike me as a beast that wouldn't take advantage of that!

So...was Daggle as good of a friend as Tooley thought?

Yayyy~ Daggle questions. Was hoping for these.

Short answer? No. Daggle's relationship to Tooley was very selfish, and Tooley can't remember all the times where he was taken advantage of by Daggle. Tooley wasn't so much a friend as he was a, well, tool (potentially one reason why he ended up in the brig so many times. Little bit of retcon magic, there. ;) ).

One thing no one seemed to catch in my first post is that it's hinted that Daggle was working with Ginson to take down Ciera (his questioning of what Ciera said, his nervousness, his hostility towards Ciera, and his entire plan to ditch the Maiden now that the assassination has failed). However, Ciera's plan to root out any co-conspirators backfired a bit. I do see that Daggle does honestly care for Tooley, in a sense, at least enough to not want to go to the brig and kill the weasel. However, this is also the reason why he elected to retrieve Tooley from the brig, as he certainly wasn't going to let an addle-brained weasel ruin his life.

The guilt of nearly getting Tooley into some rather serious trouble is the catalyst for why he bothered telling Tooley about his escape plan, and why he gave him his sword. I don't think Daggle was a kind soul, in any stretch of the word, but I do think Tooley's comparative innocence had an effect on his conscience.

So, Daggle was probably one of the better "friends" Tooley could have had on a pirate ship, but still not a real friendship, as say, he might have had with Crue.

[Matra Hammer]

I could argue that Sal had super powers...

Think Airan was talking about natural, species-born traits, but I get what you're getting at. Sure, Sal was prison ripped and carried a questionably large amount of endurance. He was also a luddite, socially inept, and incapable of telling a decent joke though he tried. Not that striving for balance mattered. Near nobody read the second half save you, Vizon.

"I don't think Daggle was a kind soul, in any stretch of the word, but I do think Tooley's comparative innocence had an effect on his conscience."

That's what I assumed of Daggle as well. Kinda like the thief who sees an old lady as an easy mark, but thinks twice before snatching her purse. He's gonna steal and loot anyways, but the pigeons give him more than booty to think about.

[Airan]

Your reasoning - mice don't have "powers" - makes perfect sense. It's exactly why I made a shrew for MOII.

Well, I would argue that, while not necessarily having powers like otters and squirrels, shrews do have natural adeptness when it comes to boats, navigation, and waterways. They're an excellent species to choose if you're thinking of writing a character with those traits, such as say Dusker in this contest, but still most people might choose an otter anyway, as they have pretty much all the same talents with the added strength and size to make physical feats more believable for the readers.

I really would enjoy people writing some other species occasionally. While mice, voles, and shrews don't really have too much interesting going for them, their sheer size makes writing for them a fun challenge and gives you potentially even more you can do with the character. Alder for instance is probably my favorite application I've ever written, and a character I still think about, and one I'll likely do something with later on down the road. But yeah, they just simply don't pop out instantly, so most people ignore them.