Subject: EDQ #7 - Your Imprint
Posted by: kyleisalive
Date: Jun 01 13
The past six EDQ topics have all revolved around getting your quiz written, sent in, corrected, and polished. Working within the expectations of your category (and the site as a whole) is a very important part of quiz-writing; our standards are high, but our quality is top-notch. You'd be hard-pressed to find quizzes like these anywhere else on the internet.
But that's not why I'm here this week.
The other element of your quiz is you, and if the 'you' factor wasn't a part of the equation, FunTrivia would probably be a fair bit less fun. People are what infuse this place with life, and it can be quite surprising to see your quality of work improve when you not only enjoy yourself, but put some personality into your submissions. This EDQ is about you.
Don't get me wrong-- putting yourself into the quiz isn't the easiest part (and I don't mean literally putting yourself into the quiz). In fact, if you're just starting to write quizzes, I wholeheartedly believe that writing about what you know and getting the basics down is the first step. Once you get past that and get comfortable with writing, it adds a new dimension and flavour. My very first quiz, for instance, back in 2004, was a very basic quiz about a video game-- just questions and answers. It wasn't necessarily the type of quiz which needed much more but there's always more than one way to approach a quiz.
As I started writing more and more quizzes a fine line started to emerge-- there was a difference between my typical, formulaic quizzes about TV show episodes, video game stages, and the like, and the more popular mixed quizzes I was writing. The more I stepped away from the formulaic, watch-the-episode-and-take-notes approach, the more I saw the difference in my writing, and the more I saw the difference in quiz reception both in my mailbox and the ratings.
What does this mean though? What did I do? I simply broke the mold.
When you start to look at a topic from a different angle, you have the chance of opening new possibilities for yourself and the player. My first General quiz was written three years after I'd started making quizzes here. It was about six to seven hundred quizzes into my career here (I'm serious). What did I do? I took something I knew-- Video Games-- and flipped it on its head to create a General quiz which, while not entirely about Video Games, was actually completely about Video Games if you looked past the surface. That was my first Editor's Choice quiz. While such an idea won't work for everybody, I bring this up because it's the first step out of the box that sparks the fire. The first step is always the hardest one but soon enough you'll be falling headlong down the rabbit hole of creativity.
'Flipping a topic' worked for me once. It's never a guarantee; it's just an idea. One of the reasons I started working in the Author's Lounge was to facilitate these ideas (with others). A single element of a quiz or the seed of any idea can blow up into a full submission provided you look at it the right way. If someone looks at the title 'Polish the Silverware!' they can think it's a good idea for a quiz about knives and forks. Someone else could think it's a quiz about a dinner party in Poland. Another could write a quiz about etiquette... or place settings... or Sterling silver...or homonyms... you get the point.
Let's say you're writing about knives and forks. Inspiration doesn't stop there. You can look at the title 'Polish the Silverware!' in a different light; who's yelling that? Why are they yelling? There's a lot to be said for tone and atmosphere, even in a quiz-- why not write the quiz like a homeowner scolding their hired help? Or a parent punishing their child? Or someone spontaneously planning a fancy nine-course meal?
If you go that far, why not set the quiz in Poland?
Well, maybe not.
The point I'm trying to make here is that a quiz doesn't start and end with a few words or a few facts about dinnerware. Anyone can write a quiz with facts one through ten about forks and knives, but someone who injects style and flair into the quiz creates something more enjoyable for the players. The facts are still in there, by all means, but you're adding spices to the dish.
There is a fine line though-- something like this can go waaaay too far (and we've seen it). When you start thinking about the quiz more as a story than a quiz, for instance, it becomes an issue. When the quiz is about rutabagas eaten by dictators in Southeast Asia, you've taken a vantage point we'd probably be fine avoiding. There are ways to overseason a dish. We're not looking for anything crazy-- we're looking for something fresh and vibrant.
Quizzes are still quizzes, and you're still writing for an audience; how much they want to/need to read in a quiz is a gauge to be toyed with and it comes with a bit of trial and error.
But the only way to toy with it is by trying something new.
Posted by: kyleisalive
Date: Jun 01 13
The past six EDQ topics have all revolved around getting your quiz written, sent in, corrected, and polished. Working within the expectations of your category (and the site as a whole) is a very important part of quiz-writing; our standards are high, but our quality is top-notch. You'd be hard-pressed to find quizzes like these anywhere else on the internet.
But that's not why I'm here this week.
The other element of your quiz is you, and if the 'you' factor wasn't a part of the equation, FunTrivia would probably be a fair bit less fun. People are what infuse this place with life, and it can be quite surprising to see your quality of work improve when you not only enjoy yourself, but put some personality into your submissions. This EDQ is about you.
Don't get me wrong-- putting yourself into the quiz isn't the easiest part (and I don't mean literally putting yourself into the quiz). In fact, if you're just starting to write quizzes, I wholeheartedly believe that writing about what you know and getting the basics down is the first step. Once you get past that and get comfortable with writing, it adds a new dimension and flavour. My very first quiz, for instance, back in 2004, was a very basic quiz about a video game-- just questions and answers. It wasn't necessarily the type of quiz which needed much more but there's always more than one way to approach a quiz.
As I started writing more and more quizzes a fine line started to emerge-- there was a difference between my typical, formulaic quizzes about TV show episodes, video game stages, and the like, and the more popular mixed quizzes I was writing. The more I stepped away from the formulaic, watch-the-episode-and-take-notes approach, the more I saw the difference in my writing, and the more I saw the difference in quiz reception both in my mailbox and the ratings.
What does this mean though? What did I do? I simply broke the mold.
When you start to look at a topic from a different angle, you have the chance of opening new possibilities for yourself and the player. My first General quiz was written three years after I'd started making quizzes here. It was about six to seven hundred quizzes into my career here (I'm serious). What did I do? I took something I knew-- Video Games-- and flipped it on its head to create a General quiz which, while not entirely about Video Games, was actually completely about Video Games if you looked past the surface. That was my first Editor's Choice quiz. While such an idea won't work for everybody, I bring this up because it's the first step out of the box that sparks the fire. The first step is always the hardest one but soon enough you'll be falling headlong down the rabbit hole of creativity.
'Flipping a topic' worked for me once. It's never a guarantee; it's just an idea. One of the reasons I started working in the Author's Lounge was to facilitate these ideas (with others). A single element of a quiz or the seed of any idea can blow up into a full submission provided you look at it the right way. If someone looks at the title 'Polish the Silverware!' they can think it's a good idea for a quiz about knives and forks. Someone else could think it's a quiz about a dinner party in Poland. Another could write a quiz about etiquette... or place settings... or Sterling silver...or homonyms... you get the point.
Let's say you're writing about knives and forks. Inspiration doesn't stop there. You can look at the title 'Polish the Silverware!' in a different light; who's yelling that? Why are they yelling? There's a lot to be said for tone and atmosphere, even in a quiz-- why not write the quiz like a homeowner scolding their hired help? Or a parent punishing their child? Or someone spontaneously planning a fancy nine-course meal?
If you go that far, why not set the quiz in Poland?
Well, maybe not.
The point I'm trying to make here is that a quiz doesn't start and end with a few words or a few facts about dinnerware. Anyone can write a quiz with facts one through ten about forks and knives, but someone who injects style and flair into the quiz creates something more enjoyable for the players. The facts are still in there, by all means, but you're adding spices to the dish.
There is a fine line though-- something like this can go waaaay too far (and we've seen it). When you start thinking about the quiz more as a story than a quiz, for instance, it becomes an issue. When the quiz is about rutabagas eaten by dictators in Southeast Asia, you've taken a vantage point we'd probably be fine avoiding. There are ways to overseason a dish. We're not looking for anything crazy-- we're looking for something fresh and vibrant.
Quizzes are still quizzes, and you're still writing for an audience; how much they want to/need to read in a quiz is a gauge to be toyed with and it comes with a bit of trial and error.
But the only way to toy with it is by trying something new.
7 replies. On page 1 of 1 pages. 1
guitargoddess
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Great advice, Kyle. Especially for challenge titles when you might otherwise not know what to do with them and go for the most obvious direction which is not always very exciting. And there's nothing wrong with doing the obvious thing with a title, but adding flair to it is nice. I just wanted to comment to authors, especially those less experienced - don't think you need to do this kind of thing with EVERY quiz, if you don't want to. If you enjoy writing more straight forward, un-flipped around quizzes, go for it. Personally I like creating straightforward name-this-song lyrics quizzes from time to time. There's nothing new and exciting about them, but it's the kind of quiz I've enjoyed as a player and I know others like that type of quiz too. I have fun choosing what songs to use, and then which specific lines from the song to include. I don't expect these types of quizzes to get amazing reviews, because they're nothing special, but that doesn't stop me from writing them. But of course I do still try to make them well written, vary the way I ask questions, include multiple interesting (to me, anyway) facts, etc. - all that stuff we went over in the previous EDQs. Reply #1. Jun 01 13, 10:36 AM |
JanIQ 
|
I enjoy myself writing quizzes that try and combine two or three main categories. For instance, I've written several quizzes on historical events mentioned in classical music. Of course, this type of quizzes is not the easiest to research. Whenever I try and combine two main categories, one of these is a category I feel fine in. Otherwise things would soon get out of control. Reply #2. Jun 01 13, 12:13 PM |
looney_tunes
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My personal opinion: In every quiz, you should try to let your personal enthusiasm about the subject be apparent. After all, if you don't think it's interesting, why are you writing the quiz? This doesn't mean saying how much you love the book or the song or whatever, it means sharing with players information about the subject of the quiz that will help them appreciate it for themselves. A strong story in your quiz can sometimes be a good way of making it express your creativity. What is important is that the questions must still be an integral part of the story you are weaving, not just an intrusion to answer along the way. There are a number of excellent quizzes on this site that show how meaningful questions about a subject can be integrated into a storyline. One of my personal favourites is uglybird's "Life Cycle of a Little Red Balloon". In the Authors Lounge you will find a challenge that Kyle set called "Style Your Quiz", in which authors were challenged to use a given style for their quiz. Some are more successful than others, but you can see how making a conscious effort to create a style and not just ask a bunch of questions can be an interesting approach. And even if you are not doing anything spectacularly creative, take the time to think about the order of your questions. Good organisation can make the quiz seem like a coherent production rather than ten random questions. (If it is ten random questions, and I have written some of them, consider placing the most accessible questions at the beginning and end, so that you first get players happy to continue, and then leave them feeling accomplished as they head off to rate your quiz.) Reply #3. Jun 03 13, 3:50 AM |
agony
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It's not unusual for new authors to use only opinion and enthusiasm for their interesting info sections. Now, we can't accept that, but often when they come back with a factual info section, they will have erased ALL the opinion, too. This really is not necessary - opinions don't count as facts, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for them. A good info section will have both, hopefully both presented in an interesting way. Reply #4. Jun 03 13, 6:07 PM |
nannywoo
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It's neat to begin recognizing individual styles and "voices" in the quizzes. I was taking a Quiz of the Hour just for the points and didn't look to see who the author was, but I started thinking as I read the Interesting Information that it sounded like having a chat with someone over tea and it must be Creedy. I live half a world away from Creedy and we've never shared a cup of tea, but I was right. Reply #5. Jun 04 13, 12:27 AM |
MyGirl2000
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One might need to be more descriptive in writing if one is looking from the English composition point of view. Otherwise, maybe a little bit of personal interest in the topic could go a long way in conveying facts to ones audience in a quiz format? Reply #6. Jul 11 13, 6:25 AM |
kyleisalive
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While we do insist on the guidelines and proper grammar/formatting, we don't need not want all quizzes to be written in a strictly formal way. There's a lot to be said for writing with a bit of style and flair, however it may be evoked. Reply #7. Jul 11 13, 8:23 AM |
7 replies. On page 1 of 1 pages. 1
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