[Fusaichi Pegasus]

The Fantasy Novelist's Exam

This ''exam'' actually makes me a little ashamed myself, because I answered ''Yes'' to two of them. (Question 3 and 68 if you must know). Actually I wholeheartedly agree with that exam, and I think that I'll have to work on question 68 in particular.

[Spinner]

Ever since J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis created the worlds of Middle Earth and Narnia, it seems like every windbag off the street thinks he can write great, original fantasy, too. The problem is that most of this "great, original fantasy" is actually poor, derivative fantasy. Frankly, we're sick of it, so we've compiled a list of rip-off tip-offs in the form of an exam. We think anybody considering writing a fantasy novel should be required to take this exam first. Answering "yes" to any one question results in failure and means that the prospective novel should be abandoned at once.

Wow, I'd actually agree with this if it a). some of the questions weren't so open and b). the last sentence of the about quote was cut. Because automatically your series being a trilogy makes it "bad fantasy." Sure, that's a trademark, but not a throw away. Anyone hear of the "NIMH" books? Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH? Thats a trilogy. The original Bourne books were a trilogy.

On the whole, this looks like a fun exam, but taking it seriously is a little stupid. Fantasy isn't made up of variables like this--and even reducing them to variables is thinking a little too narrowly. You don't become a good fantasy writer by seeing if your story passes or fails numbered questions--you make it like every other writer who writes utter crap and improves upon it.

Ben

[Buddhist]

That was an amazing exam. I loved it, especially question 58. "Does anyone in your story stab someone with a scimitar?" XD
Epic.
I failed a couple of questions. Not like they were anything major, though.

[Arthryn]

I answered no to all of them. Only issue I ran into is that I have a quasi-main supporting character with a five-syllable name, but I really don't think details like that deeply effect the integrity of your book.. as long as not all of the characters have ridiculously long names. I'm mentally going through my cast and can't find a character with a name longer than 3 syllables. I'm not sure why this one character ended up with a longer name.

But in general, the questions offer up some very good points. If you're answering yes to anything more than just technicalities, like the preplanned trilogy, then you should probably sit down and think about that aspect of your story. Especially about the conventional fantasy races, descriptions for characters in your story and such. Though it's no cause for alarm if you actually handle these aspects well and are reinventing them yourself instead of just copying Tolkien elves or whatever.

I almost said yes to the quintet question, because with the way my story's panning out, it would seem to be that it will take up about five books, though not necessarily long, just each with a self-contained arc. I hate filler books with no real story arc (BRISIGNNRNNR I'M LOOKING AT YOU). But then when I set out to write it, I had no idea how the hell long it would be or how many books it would take up, other than that it would take up more than one book.

[Regitnui]

That was cool. 28 - planned trilogy, and 50. I said yes too. This is plainly not intended to be advice for people who are serious writers who are aware of things like the cliched "XXX of Doom".

What was interesting though was how light the medieval weapons actually were. Maximum 2kg. Means I could wield one with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

And i do have half-men. The name is a little hypocritical, considering that the people who gave them the name were half-animal...

---,-'-@

[Ultima Valenhart]

For Shadow's Lair I answered no to everything. Glad to know I'm at least a little bit individual.

[Spinner]

Didn't embody any of them either, save for possibly the quintet one. At the moment, I'm imagining Evercoil as a quintet, but I don't know if thats how many parts I'll need to tell the story. I've always found trilogies to be a bit too straight forward for the story I want to tell.

Ben

[Malus Rune]

I agree with what Ben said. I definately wouldn't give up on a novel just because I answered yes to a few of those. Maybe rethink it, but not trash what could otherwise be a solid concept.

Anyway, I tested it on my IF story and got all of them as No. So yay!

[Pikachu]

4. Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy?

So...what?

Is writing a coming-of-age story such a horrible sin that any novel containing the notion should be trashed at once?

Nonsense.



The test was mostly spot-on (especially #33), but a few of the questions are so broad that 99-something percent of fantasy would instantly fail (not to mention Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Sabriel, Earthsea, and every other YA fantasy on shelves today).

[Tati]

The Fantasy Novelist's Exam

This ''exam'' actually makes me a little ashamed myself, because I answered ''Yes'' to two of them. (Question 3 and 68 if you must know). Actually I wholeheartedly agree with that exam, and I think that I'll have to work on question 68 in particular.

that was a good test , but i said yes to the minor questions. my book is very far off from the lord of the rings.

[witch168]

I loved it.

# Do you ever use the term "mana" in your novel?
# Do you ever use the term "plate mail" in your novel?
# Heaven help you, do you ever use the term "hit points" in your novel?

The only one i didn't like was #33, because he/she insulted one of my favorite authors.

[Arthryn]

Actually, #33 was probably my favorite question in the entire thing. I like Robert Jordan until about Book 4, and then I started resenting him more and more as his bloated series dragged on, and then by the infamous Book 10, I wanted to break his nose.

People like who they like, and it's not a crime (I'll pretend for now it's not a crime) to like Robert Jordan's writing, but I beg of everyone here to not try to emulate him in your own writing. Being that horribly verbose is NOT a good thing. Also, authors do need to exercise restraint in the scope of their story line and character cast so that it remains feasible to write in under 2 million words or so.

[Invisible Ink]

I'll admit that I answered yes to a few of them, but they were the really broad questions like the coming of age thing. Though I did learn that medieval weapons weren't that heavy. That was pretty interesting. I think my favorite question was 71. XD

This post has been edited by DracoInkBlood: 31 July 2009 - 04:23 AM

[eragon nerd]

Do you think you know how feudalism worked but really don't?

This is a really important question that pisses me off whenever I read fantasy from younger people who haven't taken a decent history course. Without a decent understanding of politics and power constrained to medieval tech, it all feels so fake, so set up for your "awesome" adventure, and makes me want to cry.

Seriously, if you write a story based on a specific time period do the effing research!
[/end rant]

Only one I failed besides the really broad ones is 35. Does your novel contain characters transported from the real world to a fantasy realm?

Although the fantasy realm is actually a private planet set in the modern world sustained through advanced technology. The people "transported" there are actually investigators needing to check a license proving the dude actually owns the place and isn't some random space hobo occupying a vacant planet.

So I would say it is sufficiently inverted.

Thinking about it, this is a basically a condensed version of TvTropes for fantasy in a yes/no format.

This post has been edited by eragon nerd: 03 August 2009 - 02:50 PM

[Ayaka Dirutia]

I got no to most of them (when applied to my current writing project), although I had to answer yes and no to the coming of age, prophecy, and one country/one religion one.

After this I've decided I enjoy Mary-sue tests better

This post has been edited by Ayaka Dirutia: 03 August 2009 - 03:15 PM