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If you want to write about anything in the Warriors universe, here’s the place to be! A Warriors article (also called a fan article) is a post on the blog that can be about anything related to Warriors, whether that’s your review of a certain book or an analysis of a certain character.
A very important distinction about articles is that they aren’t comments. Once you’ve written something you might want to send in as an article, ask yourself this: “is what I’ve written an article or a comment?” If your article is just a list of questions you’ve asked yourself about Warriors, you’ve written a comment and not an article.
So, what are the requirements for an article to be published?
- It must be AT LEAST 350 words long. This is for regular articles, song articles, and picture articles (aka all types of articles). Song article length will be judged based on the article length WITHOUT the song lyrics included.
- It CANNOT be fanfiction. This includes clear storytelling of events/characters that do not exist in the Warriors canon, skits (dialogue between characters that did not occur in the books), and descriptions of “What if?”. If the article editors think that an article resembles fanfiction, it will not be published.
- It must be engaging content for the blog. Because we want to encourage articles that are well-thought and well-researched (to elevate them beyond a regular comment), the article editors will only publish articles they think will be engaging for readers of the blog.
- It must be suitable for all ages, including children. While we want to be as flexible as we can on what we allow to be published, there are some topics that we’d like to avoid as much as possible, just to make sure that BlogClan remains safe and respectful on all fronts. For example, a topic that would not be published is defending/encouraging the relationship between Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf in the latter’s novella. If the article editors feel that an article is not suitable for the blog, it will not be published.
ARTICLE TYPES
You may be wondering what a song article or a picture article is, and here’s the answer! Click on the boxes below to read the descriptions and find some examples of each type of article. If an article doesn’t fit either of these categories, then it’s a general fan article.
A song article, as the name suggests, is an article that focuses on one or more songs. Typically, they relate a song’s lyrics to characters, scenes, or events in the Warriors series.
Song articles will only be accepted as valid content if they are transformative from the original song (i.e., the lyrics are noticeably changed (more than one or two lines are changed to better suit the theme/vision of the article writer)) OR if the article writer analyses why the song suits the theme(s)/character(s) mentioned by the article writer (more than one or two sentences). In addition, the word content outside of the lyrics must be 350 words or more.
A song article could also be sharing different songs, animations, or multi-animator projects (MAPs), and links to them. These songs must be child-friendly, and the word minimum applies as well.
Here’s an example of a song article that wouldn’t be published (16 words long, lyrics copied word-for-word, no analysis):
This song is by Marianas Trench and describes Crowfeather after he and Leafpool stopped being mates!
Itโs the third of October
You should come over
Best laid plans are not sober
Maybe not the way we thought weโd planned
But both of us will take this hand
For a couple of days
Then weโll disappear
We donโt have to talk
Of where we go from here
Oh, my dearly departed
My dearly departedOne final shoulder
Here before weโre none
And then there were none
This last call could be all we can do for each other
Embrace for a dear old friend
Bring wine to bed
Weโll toast what could have been
My dearly departed
To my dearly departedI donโt know how to mend it
But this chapter ended
When all of my plans have depended on you
But at least tonight we still pretend
Hold each other close like itโs not the end
And you can send me balloons
And we can laugh at the doom
We both thought of that
Doesnโt it say something too
Oh, my dearly departed
My dearly departedOne final shoulder
Here before weโre none
Until all are none
This last call could be all we can do for each other
Embrace for a dear old friend
Bring wine to bed
Weโll toast what could have been
My dearly departed
To my dearly departedEvery masterpiece Iโd write again
Youโll always be my porcelain
I crossed my heart
But I stuttered too
So truth or dare
Was I good to you
Havenโt had enough of you all to myself
Still right beside you
In sickness and health
For ever after
You will be my home
And thereโs no place like homeWe never sent the cards
Theyโre all still on the table
Wanna throw them out
But Iโm just not able
My dearly departed
My dearly departedToast what could, what could have been
Toast what could, what could have been
Dear old friend
Toast what could, what could have been
Dear old friend
Toast what could, what could have been
My dearly departed
My dearly departed
My dearly departed
What could have been
My dearly departed
My dear old friend
Picture articles are articles primarily focusing around pictures/images that are inserted into the article. They make direct references to the pictures, either to demonstrate cat appearances or to show off art that the author has done. Some examples are Briarpaw’s “Comparing and Contrasting Different Depictions of Warrior Cats (part 2) and Shadowfate’s Complete Firestar Family.
REQUESTED EDITS
If you’re not so confident about your spelling and would like someone to read it over and make some minor edits, you can do so by putting “Request Edit” (request edit / REQUEST EDIT are also acceptable) in the title. For example, “How Tigerstar Changed the Clans (Request edit)” and “How Tigerstar Changed the Clans – REQUEST EDIT” are both valid titles that will make sure that the article editors edit your article.
Please note: the article editors will only correct GRAMMATICAL errors and will not change your article drastically, such as changing sentence structure or formatting.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
This page has a comment section where you can ask the article editors (Emberdawn and Birchfoot) questions relating to articles. Before you scroll down, though, please open the box below and see if your question is one of our frequently asked questions!
How do I write an article? Do you have any tips?
Check out this amazing guide by Osprey!
When will my article be posted?
Short answer: we don’t know.
Long answer: Because we get a lot of articles, it’s hard to estimate when exactly articles will come out and our estimates are by no means accurate. Unless your article has already been scheduled for an exact day or does not meet our requirements, we will not give you a concrete answer as to when your article will come out.
Did you get my article?
Chances are, yes. There’s no harm in asking this below, since it is fairly common for articles to get lost between the (attempted) submission and our pending articles folder, but please include the TITLE of your article, just so we can easily find whether or not it was submitted properly.
How do I put an image in my article?
Post the image link (URL) at the end of your article! This line will be deleted when your article is scheduled and does not count towards your final word count.
I forgot an image link when I submitted my article. How do I send it in?
Post a comment below with the link to the image you’d like to be used in the article. We will keep it in moderation (aka it will not be modded) until we get to scheduling your article, just so we remember!
If I don’t put an image link, what happens?
We, the article moderators, will choose an image for you.
How do I put bold/italic/underline/block quote in my article?
As far as we can tell, you just have to write the code in like you would in a normal comment! If it doesn’t work, we will manually put it in wherever your code appears.
How many articles have I written/submitted?
Short answer: we don’t know.
Long answer: There is no reliable way for us to search through articles by author, especially because the name box in the submission section records and logs the author by their current nickname if they are signed in. Thus, we can’t give an accurate number.
Can I co-write an article with someone?
Of course! This is the only exception to the “no skits” rule since some authors would like to distinguish who is writing what, but it does walk a fine line.
How many articles can I submit?
In general, you can submit as many as you like! For scheduling purposes, though, we would greatly prefer if you only submitย 2 articles per week. This is to help us make sure that there aren’t days whereย only your articles are coming out ๐
SUBMISSIONS
[image description: a cartoon grey-and-white tabby cat with black pupils presses a key on a keyboard]
STOP!ย Is your article 350 words long? If you’re unsure, here’s a handy-dandy word counter to make sure. Click here. A reminder that your article WILL NOT be published if it is under 350 words.
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Hello! About a month ago I posted an article called “Did Spottedleaf Only Haunt Her Family?” Have you gotten it yet? Thank you!
We got it, but it didn’t meet the minimum word requirement of 350 words, so it will not be published.
Thats strange, I swear i checked it…
The word count says 358 words…
Aaah how strange
(No, I’ not a moderator, just a wandering warrior fan, replying to comments)
*repost*
hello, i was wondering if any of my articleโs got published?
If it hasn’t come out yet, then it hasn’t been published yet. Simple as that!
oki!
Hey so I accidentally submitted a article named โWarriors The Lake Territoryโ can you just delete it please? I did not mean to submit it. Please and Thanks!
I don’t think we received it in the first place, so… done ๐
Thanks for letting me know Emberdawn!!!!!!!
Yay, In a little bit Iโm gonna submit my first article that will be called โWhat I Think of Warriors: The New Prophecy, and The Lake Territoryโ!!!!!!!
Cool! I can’t wait to read it! ๐
Hi! I submitted an article titled something like 4 Best Things about TPB (and 3 worst). Did you get it and does it have a publish date yet?
We got it and not yet!
i have posted a 550 word long article. Can it still be published
I don’t see why not
If a topic of Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf’s relationship defense is not allowed, why are things like ‘Defending Scourge’ allowed? Because sometimes in those, the article’s author defends Scourge’s murders, which isn’t very encouraging.
Scourge is undoubtedly the villain from the first moment that he’s introduced in the series, so for the more abstract concept of his murders, children are probably going to go “Y’know, murder is still bad. I’m not going to commit murder” even if they read a defence article of his actions. They may be labelled as defence articles, but when you pick them apart, it’s less so that they’re listing reasons for why he should have committed murder and more that they’re listing the traumatic and violent circumstances in his early life that led him to be in positions where he chose to commit murder. I could ask you right now “Would you kill someone?” and you’d (hopefully) say “No, I wouldn’t” because you’re following your moral compass which says that murder is bad. Scourge was taught by his experiences that yeah, murder is bad, but murder also got him what he wanted and made him feel powerful when he hadn’t for the entirety of his life so far, so he willingly puts aside his morals in order to satisfy his greed, ego, and ambitions.
Thistleclaw’s grooming of Spottedpaw, however, is a concept that could hit a lot closer to home for children. I would imagine that a lot of children wouldn’t even know what relationship grooming is when they first read Spottedleaf’s Heart and might even make it through the book without realizing that it is relationship grooming and that it’s bad. Thistleclaw praised Spottedpaw and showered her in affection, something that could be innocuous on its own and in the eyes of the victim, but to outsiders (like well-versed or older readers), we can tell that something is not right with this. A child, though, might not recognize this and just assume “Hey, this older person just keeps saying nice things about me! I’m going to stick around them for a while!” and fall into a trap of becoming dependent on a predator for that reassurance that they’re still liked by at least someone.
This is made worse by the fact that Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf’s relationship deteriorated because of him training in the Dark Forest, not because of how he treated/groomed her. That in itself broadcasts a message of “it’s not okay if an adult is violent, but it is okay if they groom and harass you!”, which is obviously not a good message to send to children.
We’re taught from a young age that violence isn’t good and murder is not okay and that we should stay away from strangers, but society very rarely drills in the importance of being a little cautious for people close to you as well. You can trust your parents and your family, but that neighbor down the street? The upperclassman that won’t leave you alone? We’re not taught when we’re really young to recognize when interactions with people become more sinister in nature, and that’s why everyone puts so much importance on the age of consent. By the time you’re 16, you generally have an idea of what is or isn’t okay and you know “Well, I can always talk to someone if I think something’s up,” like a teacher, a manager, or the authorities, and you’re considered an adult when you turn 18.
That’s really the reason why defending Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf’s relationship is a hard no from BlogTeam. Thistleclaw was already a warrior when Spottedleaf was a kit, which is roughly equivalent to him being a grown adult man when she’s not even a teenager. He already started complimenting and praising her prior to her becoming an apprentice and continued to do so and get close to her during her apprenticeship. Spottedpaw did not know enough to properly give consent when Thistleclaw started seeding in the ideas of them having a future together as mates, which is a very bad example to set for children. It’s essentially tells a child that if there’s an adult who likes them and says the two of them should get married when the child grows up, the child should totally support that, and that’s very bad message to tell! That’s a message that BlogClan does not want to encourage and that’s why supporting or defending Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf’s relationship is essentially banned from being published as a fan article.
I hope this answered your question ^^
Thank you for the long explanation!
That sounds like a little bit of a backhanded compliment Ria XD
Wow! This is a really good explanation! Very clever! ๐
This is awesome. I’m not 16 yet but as soon as I read Spottedleaf’s Heart I was disgusted and horrified. Thistleclaw was harassing her and she didn’t even know it. If a adult who is clearly older and you don’t know their backstory very well, asks you to NOT tell anyone and meet him at dark, your response, without a doubt should be no, and you should tell a trusted adult, even if you like this person.
I’m glad someone was able to explain this. In the cat way of speaking, not the person, I don’t think its a extremely big deal if cats of different ages become mates or start “going out together”. Its a bigger deal if its humans, but its cats. Beside there is Ferncloud and Dustpelt who truly loved each other and they had a pretty big age gap. Even Goldenflower and Tigerstar weren’t the same age. Goldenflower was quite a bit older than he was, and no matter what anyone else says, Tigerstar and Goldenflower did have a relationship together, they even had kits. Its more of the fact that Goldenflower and Tigerstar never met at dark and there age gap wasn’t as far, Goldenflower and Tigerstar were both probably teens about that time, so I’m going to use Dustpelt and Ferncloud as an example because their ages are a lot closer to Spottedpaw and Thistleclaw.
Ferncloud and Dustpelt never met at dark in the middle of the forest, and even if they did, Dustpelt didn’t take her to the Dark Forest and I doubt he even took her out of camp. In fact the only real times they met was probably while training with Ashfur and Darkstripe. The only real times they went outside in the forest together before they were mates is when they went hunting. The love between Ferncloud and Dustpelt is real, and he isn’t harassing her or anything like that. Spottedpaw was often getting complements from Thistleclaw even when it wasn’t the time to complement. He was obvousliy buttering her up to the Dark Forest. Spottedpaw was blind to his evilness and that was not a good thing.
When you think about it, Thistleclaw never really gave Spottedpaw a challenge. He didn’t let her fight Tigerpaw (who honestly has a problem with slipping. Redtail’s Debt, fighting against RiverClan, when he was fighting Firestar in Bluestar’s cave, and now, against Whitepaw ๐ ). I’m glad you were able to speak about this Emberdawn because this was a problem and it deserves to be mentioned.
Be careful in the world ~Ember
I will point out that it’s not really the age gap that’s the main problem in Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf’s relationship. As you say, Dustpelt and Ferncloud had a similar situation when it came to their ages, but their relationship is far, far less creepy because Dustpelt (as far as was shown in the books) never made deliberate advances towards her during her apprenticeship. Thistleclaw was deliberately grooming Spottedleaf to be in a relationship with him with promises that they “could have a future together”, whereas Dustpelt didn’t do that with Ferncloud and, as such, the latter’s relationship feels much more natural to readers.
While yes, it would be a much bigger deal if this had happened in a series with humans, Warriors is very humanized in how it depicts its characters. If you took away the Clan structure, the unique way of naming, and all the little quirks in the writing that specifically calls out cat-like aspects, you could very easily transition the interactions and personalities of Warriors characters into human analogues. This is part of why it’s such a big deal that Spottedleaf’s Heart is so problematic, because despite the fact that yes, in the end, it is just about fictional cats, the scenario that Spottedpaw finds herself in the novella is something that could very easily occur in real life with real human beings.
Yes, it’s a little weird that there’s such a large age gap between Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf and yes it is immoral that he was trying to, in your words, “butter her up to the Dark Forest”, but the truly evil aspect to their relationship was the fact that Thistleclaw was grooming her and that the novella essentially brushed it aside to focus on Thistleclaw’s activity in the Dark Forest rather than his blatant manipulation of Spottedleaf.
This is really good. I had not planned on writing a “defending thistleclaw and spottedleaf’s relationship” article, but I am never going to write a singe word of it if it pops up.
do my articles have a release date yet? They are titled Things That I Wish Never Happened and Why Medicine Cats and Female Leaders Canโt Have Mates and Kits. Does it have release date yet? Just wondering becuz they my first articles ever so I’m anticipating them.
For both, not yet.
Hi, I published a article 3 months ago…my top 10 favorite warrior cats. When is it going to be published? Thanks~Dawncloud
Sometime this month!
Hello! I was wondering if you could help me out! ๐
When you get to reading my article, “Who will cats chose in StarClan” I stated that A Shadow in RiverClan ends at the beginning of Green-leaf, when it ends at the start of New-leaf. Also, I’m pretty sure I misspelled “Chose” in the title of the article! ๐ If you could fix that, I’d be grateful, but if not, then that’s ok too, I’ll just write my mistake in the comments when it appears! Thank you! ๐
Yes, we’ll be able to change it (if we… remember ๐ ) and no, you didn’t misspell the title!
Thank you! ๐
Hello, sorry for asking but do my articles have a date?
Please tell us the titles of the articles you’re asking about!
Oh yes, of course! The ones are:
Breezepelt- to love or to loathe?
Rating RC leaders
Not yet for both!
oh ok any idea when?
Not yet!
Hello have you gotten my article Warrior cats as Survivor dogs? did i attach the picture of Lucky with Firestar?
Yes and yes
okay ty!
Iโm not sure if I submitted this article, but if I did itโs called โmy top 10 favorite catsโ. Did you get it?
If you submitted it recently, no. Try submitting again?