The Fantasy Novelist's Exam

[khaosworks]

"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."

Don't necessarily agree with all of its no-nos, but amusing nonetheless.

Comments

[elorie.livejournal.com]

I try to ascribe to Lois McMaster Bujold's dictum about novels in a series...which is that they should all stand alone. The novel I have finished ends on a bit of cliff-hanger, but that's because the main question of the story HAS been resolved. It's just that part of what happens is that that in solving one problem, they discover an even bigger one. Yep. I didn't do that on purpose, though...I started the novel with just an image in my head, and *I* didn't know what was going to happen until I wrote it.