There must be one of these quizzes for sci fi. Is your asteroid belt a dangerous destruction derby track? Spoiler In reality if asteroids were that close together in the asteroid belt, we'd see it as a big ring in the sky. In reality it is rare to see any asteroids if you are on one looking around.
Taking a break from my fantasy project at the moment but that`s run this through shall we? 4.Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy? He comes of age throughout the story, but he doesn`t really gain great power and there`s no real supreme bad guy. 19.Would "a fearless warrioress more comfortable with a sword than a frying pan" aptly describe any of your female characters? Change warrioress to witch and sword to a spell and ..ya. 20.Is any character in your novel best described as "a dour dwarf"? Ya I suppose the dwarve in my story could be summed up as a dour pragmatist. 21.How about "a half-elf torn between his human and elven heritage"? There is a half-elf but he never really knew his elven heritage to start with. Not that he was raised in normal human society either growing up in mercenary camps most of his life. 39. Does your novel contain orcs, elves, dwarves, or halflings? We`ve established that. 68.Does your story involve a number of different races, each of which has exactly one country, one ruler, and one religion? The dwarves live in separate city-states, while the humans are split up into kingdoms and such. The elves have there own lands in some part but those are more reservations than anything.
What is with all the Christian hate on this forum? And I'm not talking just about this one post, I'm talking about the many, many posts I've read that mock and hate on us and no other religion or affiliation. If I were to say the same, shall we say, words, about homosexuals or Muslims, I'd have everyone screaming "Hate crime!" Can't you guys invent your own religion to hate on, for once? Please?
I think I can answer this one even though I'm not taking part in any religion bashing... You have the dubious honour of adhering to the religion that is seen as constituting the majority (31.5% in the world according to Wikipedia). If you are also male, you're in the majority there, too which means they get to bash on you for that, too. If you're also white, you're also considered to be in the majority race-wise even though you're actually not. If you're also Protestant, well... I feel for you, brother. You're in the absolute majority in every way and there will be no surcease as you are bashed from all sides. Let's hope you at least have a job because if you don't, you're on your own in finding one.
Let's not sidetrack the thread here. I kinda like the test, there's a few questions that I think are too one dimensional, but thats kinda the point of all this.
No. I thought of coming up with some goofy fantasy religion with a dark twist, until I read about the crusades when I was a teen. Cannibalizing, town burning, illiterate Christians in plate armor just waltzing into your country by accident and murdering people because they look like the people the Christians want to murder, then setting little pocket kingdoms.
@Shattered Shields I apologize for the little sidetrack, but I was enjoying this thread until I read Zoupskim’s post. This is a growing issue that I feel needs to be addressed because I want to enjoy this forum as much as you do. @Sack-a-Doo! You may be right. Unfortunately, society seems to think it’s OK to attack “majorities,” that they’re (we’re) some sort of demon that should be viciously put down. I am not a majority; I am a person, an individual with dreams and nightmares, thoughts and emotions, love and hate. If one cuts me, I bleed. If one attacks me with words, I cry or become angry. When it becomes the social “thing to do” to hate a certain people, it becomes easy to overlook us as living, breathing humans who have a right and a need to protect ourselves from being physically and emotionally murdered (just to clarify, I'm not saying my fellow forum members are emotionally murdering me, just that society as a whole thinks if OK if they did). @zoupskim I’ll try to address this issue quickly so you can see the other side of the coin about the Crusades, which is possibly the most misunderstood war(s) in history (because despite the name, it was a war). - It was fought by Catholics, not Christians. Christians aren’t Catholic any more than we are Jewish. - Over the course of roughly 465 years, before the first European Crusade started, Muslim Crusaders had already forcefully taken (read: through unprovoked war and violence) about two-thirds of the Catholics’ land, including Palestine, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Spain, and modern Turkey. - Under Muslim rule, people of other faiths were heavily persecuted. - The Muslims were still Crusading when the first European army started against them. - The notion that the Crusaders started out to get rich is incorrect. In fact, the Crusades were costly in both lives and finances. - While there were terrible acts of violence done by individual groups of Crusaders, they were not sanctioned by the popes, who did their best to stop the violence. - Until recently, the Muslims looked at the Crusades as unimportant. They even considered them a helpful buffer between the Muslims and their other enemies. As for the cannibalism accusation, the information on it is very contradictive and speculative; however, according to my research, if cannibalism did take place, it was done out of starvation and/or it was faked as a kind of psychological warfare against the enemy during sieges. I’m not saying it was accepted behavior, only that it’s not as uncommon as you may think, and it certainly wasn’t unique to the Crusaders. I have no idea where you get this idea. According to the logic you show, every single people in the world should be hated. The Crusades not only happened nearly a thousand years ago, but also followed war practices that were common of the day or that have been practiced by other people as well. If someone helps to spread hatred of a certain people because of an evil their ancestors did (or supposedly did, as in many cases history has been distorted), that someone is helping history to repeat itself in the worse possible way. Hatred of an evil act is good; that’s what keeps society from crumbling into a mess of brutal murderers; hatred allowed to run unchecked of an individual, or worse, a group of individuals, can easily blow up into acts of terrorist and holocaustic proportions. It’s easy to say a person isn’t being mistreated when one is not on the receiving end of that mistreatment.
Some of these questions work for sci-fi as well. Is the evil supreme badguy secretly the father of your main character? Is this the first book in a planned trilogy? Do any of your main characters have apostrophes or dashes in their names? Do any of your main characters have names longer than three syllables? Does your story involve a number of different races, each of which has exactly one country, one ruler, and one religion?
Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme bad guy? My character is the incarnation of the Norse god Loki, which he learns in the first novel. He does come of age. He will either save or destroy the world. Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world? How about one that will destroy it? Does your story revolve around an ancient prophecy about "The One" who will save the world and everybody and all the forces of good? It is about a historical (non-magical) artifact, a wooden shield recently discovered in a dig outside of Oslo, Norway, which details a prophecy. That prophecy reveals certain information which may enable the antagonist to destroy the world. Does your novel contain a character that is really a god in disguise? Several of them, in fact. Is any character in your novel best described as "a dour dwarf"? Kinda. He's a "fixer" with ties throughout the criminal underworld and knows who to turn to to get stuff illegally or get a crime done. How about a quintet or a decalogue? A quintet. Does your novel contain characters transported from the real world to a fantasy realm? The story takes place in the real world and it is revealed that the real world has a secret, fantastic history. Does your novel contain orcs, elves, dwarves, or halflings? Dwarves/elves, though of a Scandinavian rather than Tolkien flavor. Do your characters spend an inordinate amount of time journeying from place to place? Several early drafts did play around with the idea of making this a road story taking place along I-70. Current drafts don't do that, but I may return to that idea. Do you not realize how much gold actually weighs? I have considered using this as a gag where a character, perhaps one who plays RPGs, grossly underestimates the weight of real gold. Does anybody in your novel fight for two hours straight in full plate armor, then ride a horse for four hours, then delicately make love to a willing barmaid all in the same day? Several of my characters could do this because they are Aesir, but none are currently planned to do so. Does your main character have a magic axe, hammer, spear, or other weapon that returns to him when he throws it? Donny (i.e. Donner) could, but is not currently planned to have one. Does anybody in your novel stab anybody straight through plate armor? Again, several of my characters could, but are not currently planned to do so. Do you think swords weigh ten pounds or more? Some, yes, but they are used by supernatural beings. Does your hero fall in love with an unattainable woman, whom he later attains? One of the guys falls in love with an unattainable male hero. This is not done for laughs and the guy who falls in love is gay, but not stereotypically so. Is your hero able to withstand multiple blows from the fantasy equivalent of a ten pound sledge but is still threatened by a small woman with a dagger? Again, Aesir. Is the best organized and most numerous group of people in your world the thieves' guild? Actually, yes.
Brace yourselves! It's time to write a novel which answers YES to everything! And guess what? It'd be full of clichés but still in some way unique and interesting. Plus the plot line is completely left open here. And in a decalogue you'd have plenty of time to explore everything! Especially when each volume is as thick as the phone book of New York (however thick that might be, if you remember what a phone book looks like, give me a call). Just be careful that you don't make the mistake of looking up "hay baler" because you might have to concede one of your precious "yes" answers. Oh boy! This'll be my greatest story yet! Thanks for the tips, fantasy writing exam!
Actually a parodying type work making fun of the genre by exaggerating and playing off these clichés could be interesting. Could even have a whole chapter on how long it took them to make stew.
Plus they'd leave their enchanted weapons in some tomb, because all the gold they found there was just too damn heavy. And the weapons were all 10 pounds or more! After all, what'cha need swords for if you can just buy yourself into the dark lord's inner circle?
It was fun reading everyone's replies to these questions! had a go at it myself. Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world? How about Destroy it? My world has artifacts which are capable of changing the direction of history. Saving or destroying the world are perceptions of the actions of those using these artifacts. Also questing for mystical artifacts is a big part of the story, but not any one specific artifact. Is that a yes, still, maybe? Does your story revolve around an ancient prophecy about "The One" who will save the world and everybody and all the forces of good? Yes, their are prophets who tell prophecies, but the prophecies don't center around the story and absolutely no to the rest of the question. Does that really describe anybody's story? Does "a forgetful wizard" describe any of the characters in your novel? The first time I wrote a few proto-chapters, before I did much world building, one of the first characters my MC met was a wizard who had a curse on him which shot his short term memory, turning him into a single-minded slave of sorts. I decided to change the beginning of my novel drastically since then, but I've kept the cursed wizard. Lifting the curse will make him no longer forgetful, so another half yes. How about "a wise, mystical sage who refuses to give away plot details for his own personal, mysterious reasons"? I love mysterious characters with hidden motivations, and they always get juicy plot details up their sleeve, otherwise their is no fun to the mystery they pose. Although I don't think they are usually that wise or mystical, or sages. I feel like I keep getting a break on these questions because of some technicality. Have I already failed the test miserably? Does your novel contain characters transported from the real world to a fantasy realm? Yep, no way I'm getting around this one. That is 100% accurate, and I am using that trope a little shamelessly. Do your characters spend an inordinate amount of time journeying from place to place? It's not really a focus, but that is the case and it makes the book seem episodic. Their is an over arching plot, but it's really subtle at first. Is the countryside in your novel littered with tombs and gravesites filled with ancient magical loot that nobody thought to steal centuries before? I wouldn't say littered, but my story is basically Indiana Jones re-imagined as a biochemist, trapped in a fantasy world that is many times more dangerous than anything Indy faced. I'd say their is a pretty good reason no one has disturbed those ancient sites filled with valuable magical loot. If they are ever found, which is really unlikely as wandering outside the established roads/cities is usually suicide via nature.
That is being done as we speak. An anime finished airing last season called, kono subarashii sekai ni shukufuku wo about an average japanese kid dying of shock, and getting the option to reincarnate into another world with his memories and a special ability or weapon/item of his choice. In the world he is reincarnated to, the ultimate goal is to defeat the Evil Demon King. They have mana, skill points, levels, hit points, and quest for their lodging and food expenses. But I guess even it doesn't fit all of the questions. But maybe that will change once they introduce the second season. It's a hilarious anime though.
4) Kind of? He's a little past what fantasy novels classically set "of age" as, and he doesn't actually defeat the supreme bad guy, but he helps a lot. 5) Again -- kind of. The MC's motivation is to find his brother, but the location of his brother coincides w the location of an ancient magical artifact that other characters are looking for. 7) Still, kind of. "The One" is a goddess who hid the aforementioned artifact, and there isn't an ancient prophecy, but there are dreams sent by Fate that tell of past, present, and future. 9) Spot-on, but he isn't aware that he is actually a god in disguise. There are Rules, you know. 19) yeahhhhhh. 49) not "break the plot" but it would certainly speed things up a bit. 61) Not a woman, and he doesn't know the guy is unattainable until later on, but they still get to be together in the end. 67) I did, but from what I've learned here in this thread, I can now incorporate mead into my story. I like tropes. I sue them sometimes.
Here's where I fail 5. Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world? 6. How about one that will destroy it? kinda both depending on who finds it. 20. Is any character in your novel best described as "a dour dwarf"? dour is the wring word. Grumpy is more appropriate 32. Are you writing prequels to your as-yet-unfinished series of books? Yes but initially as backstories for the characters which just developed into fully fledged stories 37. Do any of your main characters have names longer than three syllables? Yes. only one - Veridienne - if you're talking first names but all of them if you're talking full names 39. Does your novel contain orcs, elves, dwarves, or halflings? Yes and they each have their token representative in the main story So does that mean mine is only 10% cliché? I could probably live with that. Question is though is everyone else ok with it?
Does nothing happen in the first fifty pages? Quite a bit happens. An awkward rescue, torture, and an assault on Pluto. Is your main character a young farmhand with mysterious parentage? Captain Graxis was grew up on a farm, but his parents aren't mysterious. Is your main character the heir to the throne but doesn't know it? No, but there is an 8ft tall, four armed, dark blue Empress. Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy? No my MC's are too old to be coming of age. Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world? Zlada "Red Wolf" Volkov gets a legendary Martian Colonial sniper rifle custom made by a machinist that became famous and feared for wielding the long range weapon that fires tungsten slugs. How about one that will destroy it? Nope just evil people with a shitload of hardware. Does your story revolve around an ancient prophecy about "The One" who will save the world and everybody and all the forces of good? It's a team and joint effort. Does your novel contain a character whose sole purpose is to show up at random plot points and dispense information? Information is shared as it is needed between parties. Does your novel contain a character that is really a god in disguise? No just just an old bio-engineered genius. Is the evil supreme badguy secretly the father of your main character? Not sure, but leaning towards probably not. Is the king of your world a kindly king duped by an evil magician? No, he kinda did it of his own volition. Does "a forgetful wizard" describe any of the characters in your novel? N/A How about "a powerful but slow and kind-hearted warrior"? Nah. How about "a wise, mystical sage who refuses to give away plot details for his own personal, mysterious reasons"? Kionxxia can be a bit cryptic at times. Do the female characters in your novel spend a lot of time worrying about how they look, especially when the male main character is around? They have better things to do. Do any of your female characters exist solely to be captured and rescued? No, they are kinda bad ass, but things happen that don't go according to plan. Do any of your female characters exist solely to embody feminist ideals? They are equals, cause living to fight another day is more important than isms. Would "a clumsy cooking wench more comfortable with a frying pan than a sword" aptly describe any of your female characters? KP is not exactly dangerous. Would "a fearless warrioress more comfortable with a sword than a frying pan" aptly describe any of your female characters? Hasn't come up. Is any character in your novel best described as "a dour dwarf"? Nope How about "a half-elf torn between his human and elven heritage"? How about a bio-engineered female that struggles with her sadistic tendencies? Did you make the elves and the dwarves great friends, just to be different? The Uldivarions and the Centuria are close allies. Does everybody under four feet tall exist solely for comic relief? No, they are just quirky. Do you think that the only two uses for ships are fishing and piracy? No, I don't think space faring vessels would sail a sea all that well. Nor are there any fish in a vacuum. Do you not know when the hay baler was invented? Why would anyone know that except those who bale hay? Did you draw a map for your novel which includes places named things like "The Blasted Lands" or "The Forest of Fear" or "The Desert of Desolation" or absolutely anything "of Doom"? No that would make the whole story somehow comical. Does your novel contain a prologue that is impossible to understand until you've read the entire book, if even then? No, it just starts off. Is this the first book in a planned trilogy? I hope there isn't going to be a third. How about a quintet or a decalogue? Is your novel thicker than a New York City phone book? No I don't think so. Did absolutely nothing happen in the previous book you wrote, yet you figure you're still many sequels away from finishing your "story"? Quiet a bit happened in the first book. Are you writing prequels to your as-yet-unfinished series of books? Why would this need to be a thing? Is your name Robert Jordan and you lied like a dog to get this far? Who?! Is your novel based on the adventures of your role-playing group? No Does your novel contain characters transported from the real world to a fantasy realm? Space, planets, moons, sub moons, what is not fantastic about that? Do any of your main characters have apostrophes or dashes in their names? No, some secondary characters do though Do any of your main characters have names longer than three syllables? No Do you see nothing wrong with having two characters from the same small isolated village being named "Tim Umber" and "Belthusalanthalus al'Grinsok"? Not at all. Does your novel contain orcs, elves, dwarves, or halflings? The Uldivarions are kinda like elves. The Centuria are kinda like orcs. And the Greys are kinda like pussified dwarves. How about "orken" or "dwerrows"? What is dwerrows? Do you have a race prefixed by "half-"? Only if they have been cut, torn, or blown into two pieces. At any point in your novel, do the main characters take a shortcut through ancient dwarven mines? I don't think traversing the Martian mines would shorten their travel time to Terra in the slightest. In fact they don't even stick around long enough to even go on a tour. Do you write your battle scenes by playing them out in your favorite RPG? The dice do not decide the outcome of battles. Have you done up game statistics for all of your main characters in your favorite RPG? No that is just silly. Are you writing a work-for-hire for Wizards of the Coast? Huh? Do inns in your book exist solely so your main characters can have brawls? Installations, bases, deserts, jungles, cities and the like are the preferred fields of combat. Do you think you know how feudalism worked but really don't? A little but it is not relevant to the story. Do your characters spend an inordinate amount of time journeying from place to place? That would be boring to have to cover every inch in the millions and billions of kilometers that are traveled, also the scenery between stops is kinda empty space and an asteroid field. Could one of your main characters tell the other characters something that would really help them in their quest but refuses to do so just so it won't break the plot? Not really cause the whole war thing was kind of a split decision based on evidence that turned out to be true. So nobody really has any foresight of things in future events. Do any of the magic users in your novel cast spells easily identifiable as "fireball" or "lightning bolt"? Man portable flamethrowers are the best I can do in this instance. Do you ever use the term "mana" in your novel? There is alien ales and liquors, but they just get one drunk. And sometimes even a hangover if they are unlucky the next morning. Do you ever use the term "plate mail" in your novel? There is armor plating. Heaven help you, do you ever use the term "hit points" in your novel? Armor war-frames have armor integrity info on the HUD. Do you not realize how much gold actually weighs? Yes, but it does not show up in the story. Do you think horses can gallop all day long without rest? No, of course they cannot. Does anybody in your novel fight for two hours straight in full plate armor, then ride a horse for four hours, then delicately make love to a willing barmaid all in the same day? With lighter alloys and more conventional body armor two hours is a drop in the bucket. Troop transport generally doesn't take four hours. And nobody has had the time for sexual congress with all the constant conflict they are in. Does your main character have a magic axe, hammer, spear, or other weapon that returns to him when he throws it? Bullets, grenades, mortar shells, missiles, and the like are not exactly something that should have a return to sender feature. Swords and melee weapons work in the physics that once thrown stay whereever they land. Does anybody in your novel ever stab anybody with a scimitar? One was used to disembowel, but that was a bit more than a stab. Does anybody in your novel stab anybody straight through plate armor? No they go for the joints in the plating. And it would be both dumb and useless to attack an Armor frame, as it would like scratch the paint and the person doing the stabbing would likely be torn limb from limb. Exception is if it is close quarters frame to frame, then it is possible to pierce the armor with a combat knife designed for the purpose of fighting hand to hand in frame vs. frame combat. Do you think swords weigh ten pounds or more? [info] Most swords are about a kilo or two. Does your hero fall in love with an unattainable woman, whom he later attains? No they just kinda have a thing with out all the unnecessary B.S. Does a large portion of the humor in your novel consist of puns? No that would be corny. Is your hero able to withstand multiple blows from the fantasy equivalent of a ten pound sledge but is still threatened by a small woman with a dagger? Only if either were close enough to actually engage with a melee weapon. But my characters could not withstand too many blows from a 10lb sledge and walk away. And and Armor frame, good bloody luck at using either. More likely to have the pilot die laughing at how dumb you are. Do you really think it frequently takes more than one arrow in the chest to kill a man? No, but if the archer is that bad an aim, then I would believe it. Do you not realize it takes hours to make a good stew, making it a poor choice for an "on the road" meal? They don't make stew in the messhall. Do you have nomadic barbarians living on the tundra and consuming barrels and barrels of mead? Aliens drinking in the cantina is the best I got. Do you think that "mead" is just a fancy name for "beer"? Honey based wine, plays hell once you sober up. Does your story involve a number of different races, each of which has exactly one country, one ruler, and one religion? Ha, ha, ha, No. Things are a bit more complicated than that. Is the best organized and most numerous group of people in your world the thieves' guild? 5 Armies that would make a mockery of a thieves guild. That includes a less disciplined Merc army. Also there isn't a thieves guild. Does your main villain punish insignificant mistakes with death? No, too busy hiding out in an undisclosed location saving his own ass. Is your story about a crack team of warriors that take along a bard who is useless in a fight, though he plays a mean lute? No if you are not useful to your assignment then you are not fit for service. Is "common" the official language of your world? No common is not the official language, considering how many Alien races there are, common would be kinda tricky. Is the countryside in your novel littered with tombs and gravesites filled with ancient magical loot that nobody thought to steal centuries before? No, but there is plenty of enemy bases/installations to scavenge along the way. Is your book basically a rip-off of The Lord of the Rings? Sure if that means it has absolutely nothing to do with LOTR in the slightest. Read that question again and answer truthfully. I did. There is no ring of power that has to take an absurd amount of time to pitch into a volcano. Besides it would have been a hell of a lot shorter if they had taken Gandalf's advice "Fly you fools." But it would have been the logical choice to ride the eagles to Mount Doom, just not as epic as walking and narrowly escaping death every five feet.
