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
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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 |
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