The Fantasy Novelist's Exam

I thought this was very funny - and also quite useful. It is a list of questions you should ask of your fantasy novel/plot to determine the extent to which it is built on cliche. It is also generally amusing.

Some choice examples of questions include:

# Do you think that the only two uses for ships are fishing and piracy?
# Do you not realize it takes hours to make a good stew, making it a poor choice for an "on the road" meal?
# Do you have nomadic barbarians living on the tundra and consuming barrels and barrels of mead?
# Do you think that "mead" is just a fancy name for "beer"?
# Is the best organized and most numerous group of people in your world the thieves' guild?

Here is the link to the rest!
http://www.rinkworks.com/fnovel/

Some of the questions are legitimate (like the ones about research), but others are kinda... mean. Now, if you're tripping questions left and right, maybe the story should be left in your mind. But cliches are not inherently bad. Pretty much anything can be made into a good story.

"25. Do you not know when the hay baler was invented?"
I don't know. Guess I'd better never write again, even though hay has never played a role in any story of mine.

"28. Is this the first book in a planned trilogy?
29.How about a quintet or a decalogue?"
Crap Author: No and no! It's 35 books! And nothing happens during books 9-17 and 24-31!

"47. Do you think you know how feudalism worked but really don't?"
But... what if feudalism never plays a role in the story?

Yeah I actually agree, I think there are certain questions which are quite essential for example but I am pretty sure you can get away with a fair few of them. In fact I think these days its almost imperative for your book to be part of a trilogy if you want a chance at publication.

I am a bit of a sucker for accuracy in terms of technology, but have never felt it has ever detracted from a novel for people to be charging around with broad swords in world that has no means of producing steel. Its fantasy, I think people are usually happy to roll with it.

But this was pretty funny, you must admit.

I've seen that before, and it can actually be pretty helpful. Obviously all of the questions can't be perfect for every story, because some elements aren't in every story.

A lot of it is great though, some stuff I never thought about. Plus, knowing stew should never be convenient to make on the road (or some such similar information) really prevents you from looking stupid when your characters can whip up a nice stew in no time at all.

But then again, I'm way big on realism. Even in fantasy.

I love this list, having known about it for a few years.

Granted, some of the questions are to poke fun, but some of them are legitimate. And even the ones that aren't serious call for enough thought that you can sort of see what the author of the list is getting at in terms of cliches and whatnot.

Oh, that's very useful and quite funny. Most of the questions are pretty relavent, though I do think a few of them are not very relavent if you didn't answer yes to too many of the others. Thanks.

My story racks up bout 2 yeses, and 3 maybes.

These two questions were interesting to me.
"Would "a clumsy cooking wench more comfortable with a frying pan than a sword" aptly describe any of your female characters?
Would "a fearless warrioress more comfortable with a sword than a frying pan" aptly describe any of your female characters?"
I think it means that a kick-your-butt-with-no-effort-and-one-hand-tied-behind-her-back female character can be just as bad as one who faints at the sight of a mouse and trips every 5 seconds, something I wholeheartedly agree with. A female character can still be good even if she's not strong or a fighter. She could be intelligent, or resourceful, or logical, or skilled at something else besides cooking and killing?

I personally like a female character who could cook you dinner or fix a hole in your pants, and then kick your butt or solve a mind-bending problem.