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

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Mm. I don't think I'll click through. Anything whose stated purpose is to block someone's creativity, however poor that creativity may appear to be in someone else's eyes, kind of turns me off.

[cheshyre]

Have you read The Tough Guide to Fantasy Land?
Sounds like you would enjoy it.

[elorie.livejournal.com]

I did pretty well, except the prequel/trilogy bit. Which basically is a way of saying, "are you going to go to all the trouble of creating a world and complex societies, just so you can write one and only one 90,000 word novel? If not, you are Not a Good Writer." To which I say, yeah, right.

I think I do have one instance of Unrealistic Cooking Time, but that's easily fixed.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

I was fine up 'till they said that all novels containing elves or orcs should be abandoned.

Man what?

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

I laughed out loud when I got to 33 and I must confess, I've never even READ Jordan's work. I'm tempted to print it out as a "sanity check" the next time I decide to try to write a fantasy novel.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Looks like a checklist! I bet you could repackage the list as a checklist for budding fantasy writers and sell it for $19.95 a pop.

(Also, noting your mention of Pratchett, it looks like a checklist he might use.)

[kampongchicken.livejournal.com]

I'm more a fan of Robert Silverberg's Majipoor stories, which are scattered amongst novels and short stories.

[lonemagpie.livejournal.com]

Amazingly, the only yes I get for The Light Of Heaven is question 28 ("do you want it to be a trilogy")