My first quiz went online 3 days ago (yay!) - but now I have all kinds of questions, hoping folks here can help...

1. I started a quiz in multiple choice format then decided it would work better as a match quiz, is there any way to change the format mid-stream to a match quiz?

2. I tried to delete a quiz I had started (unfinished, never submitted), but wasn't allowed to, message read something like 'please work with an editor to get your quiz online' - if I keep authoring, will I eventually be able to delete my mistakes?

3. Currently I'm limited to working on 10 quizzes at a time - does that number keep growing as (if!) I get more quizzes online? Is there an upper limit?

4. Currently I'm also only allowed to submit one quiz to the editors at a time. Does that limit increase? What are the benchmarks?

5. What are the benchmarks necessary to be able to create a photo quiz?

Whew, I think that's all of them for now. Apologies if the answers are lurking somewhere, I pored over the guidelines, forums, etc, but no luck, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

1. No, once a template format is set up, it remains thatway. You can simply erase what is in the template, and keep it for future use, then set up a new one in the format you want.

2. Although you may be able to do so, it is inadvisable. Rather than deleting the template, just make it blank and use it again for another quiz. NB - do not do this after you have submitted a quiz and an editor has started working with you on it unless you have first discussed it with the editor, and they have agreed that the first idea was unworkable for some reason.

3. It grows as you establish yourself as having mastered the basics of quiz writing, and are producing well-written quizzes that require little editorial assistance to go online. (I don't know exactly how the automated system calculates this, but it does happen. the capacity can also disappear if you later produce quizzes that require many resubmissions, or delete an edited quiz, etc.) While you are only allowed a certain number of templates, you can always use a word processor to write more, and then copy and paste them into a template when you are ready to submit.

4. Same as #3.

5. You must complete the Adventures in Authoring to a certain stage, when you are awarded the License to Shoot badge, and can start using photo templates.

You will find the answers to many questions about authoring quizzes, as well as inspiration for writing using ideas that you might not think of on your own, in the Quiz Author Lounge: http://www.funtrivia.com/bb.cfm?boardid=2222222

Thanks so much for the help looney_tunes. One more? After a quiz is online, if I go in and say edit a typo, does it have to go back through the submission/approval process?

No, not if it's something very small like this.

If you want to make a more substantive change, send a message to an editor - usually the editor who put the quiz online is your best choice - and discuss it. If your change is in response to a correction note, the editor will see it, and you can send a note about the change in the box provided.

If you change the category, the quiz will be bumped offline automatically, and you'll have to resubmit. There are a few other changes that will also bump the quiz off, so it's always a good idea to double check after you have done anything to an online quiz, just to make sure it's still on.

After the quiz has been online for a while, it becomes archived, and then all changes must go through an editor. Just drop a line to an editor in the category. We are very approachable. It's usually easier for us to make changes to a quiz if you send a CN to your own quiz, just so we can find it. That's not such a problem when you only a few quizzes, but if you have a couple hundred......



(edited because I really can spell...)

Thanks so much, agony. I was too chicken to just hit the Edit button and find out for myself .

Just want to add that it is always OK to contact the editor of your quiz with any questions. It's what we're here for

Thanks again, agony. So far both editors who've reviewed my quizzes have been great and I wouldn't hesitate to contact them.

However, I really really really did try to find those answers on my own, so I asked here thinking maybe other new authors might find the answers helpful.

You're right - a lot of the very granular ins and outs of quiz writing aren't really written up anywhere.

We started doing the Editors Discussing Quizzes series over in the Lounge for just that reason, so we could go on in depth about various aspects of the process, to an extent that any sane person who is not a quiz author would think is crazy.

I did see and read through that series. Great stuff and very helpful. Besides, sanity is overrated.

In reference to seekernym's questions 3 and 4 above in the 1st post; what is the maximum number of quiz templates that we can work on at a time and the maximum number of quiz submissions to the editors in one go for us normal people?
I am sure you can give out this number.

There isn't a single number, because there is no such thing as "normal people". Very new authors can only submit one at a time, and I think only have one template in the works at a time. This only lasts for a few quizzes - once you have a few online, you can have more open templates. I think it is something like ten, but am not sure (editors don't see all the backstage structure of the site). You can submit one at a time until you have submitted enough so that the system detects you as having demonstrated that you have mastered the basic technique - this means your quizzes are not being regularly sent back for more work (and certainly not being sent back multiple times) after you submit them. When it does let you submit multiple quizzes at the same time, you should remember that the guideline is no more than one quiz at a time to a specific category.

The limitations in the early stages are built in so that writers can focus on one quiz at a time, and learn about the things they didn't understand or get right. This makes it easier for them in the long run to set up new templates with confidence that they will be able to write their planned quiz and get it online. If you are seriously interested in writing lots of quizzes, you will soon get the ability to do so, as long as you take the time to generalise the messages you get in early quizzes about what needs to be changed. If you only make the changes when they are spelled out in detail, and then make the same mistakes on subsequent quizzes so that they also need to be sent back, it will take longer. There isn't a fixed number of quizzes involved, so we cannot say how many you have to write to get multiple templates and/or multiple submissions.

As an author (not an editor), I feel the desire to say a few words too, from my own experience. Editors will correct me if I have misunderstood something.

A very limited number of quiz challenges demand you work on one single quiz of this kind, even if you're allowed to wrok on several projects at the same time.

TRIC demands you stay on the chosen TRIC page until your quiz goes on line (so you can't work on a TRIC X and a TRIC Y quiz at the same time).

Player Author's Challenge titles have to go on line before you can pick another title.

But if you're allowed to have several templates open at the same time, you could for instance work on a TRIC quiz, on a Player Author's Challenge title and on one or more other quizzes.

For the GP of it - I've just submitted my 7th quiz. I went up from 1 template at a time to being able to work on 10 templates early on - I think it was even after my first quiz went online.

However, I'm still only allowed to submit one quiz at a time.

I haven't had any of them returned to me yet (I'm sure I just jinxed myself).

Not complaining, just trying to put tangible numbers to my question.

Maybe a more prolific author would be willing to share their numbers (simultaneous templates/submissions allowed)?

Hi Seeker... I have just checked my quiz list and currently have eight templates that are in various stages of completion. In addition to these eight I have also had three or four go on-line recently that were open at the same time, so it looks as if I can have twelve or so on the go at any one time. I don't know if this is my maximum or not though; it may be more but I don't start a new template unless I have had an idea for one.

I also recently had two quizzes submitted to the same category at the same time, so I am pretty sure that the system does allow this.

** Update - I now have a total of fifteen open templates **

Thank you so much sisterseagull! Did you happen to check in Author Central? That's where I see my 'stats' for what I'm allowed:

Your Status

You have 6 quizzes online. You may have *up to 10 outstanding quiz projects at a time*.

Awaiting Editor Approval

The following quizzes have been submitted to the editors and are awaiting approval. *Max: 1.* It may be a few days before it is reviewed.

While the system will allow you to submit two quizzes to the same category at one time (once you are allowed multiple submissions), you will find that the editors will let one of them sit for a while. We have found that it is detrimental to the ratings of the quizzes to get too many from the same author online in the same category at once - that is the reason you are asked to submit no more than one at a time to any category.

This is more of an unwritten rule. Editors rarely put more than one quiz by the same author online in the same category at one time, particularly those which are part of a series. So if you do submit more than one quiz to a single category at the same time, be prepared for a delay even though the system allows it.

Edit to add that my fellow editor was quicker off the mark with similar information, so beat me to it.

Yes... The second quiz took a lot longer to go live :-)

Sometimes what I do if an author submits more than one or immediately submits one after I put it online is edit the new quiz so it's either ready to go online or send it back for corrections. If it's ready to go online, I'll put a note on it not to put it online until X date, but it's really ready to go so all I have to do is tick the box to place it online.

Of course, this supposes there aren't other quizzes waiting in the queue