FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about One Book Wonders  Second Time Flops
Quiz about One Book Wonders  Second Time Flops

One Book Wonders & Second Time Flops Quiz


Nearly anybody can write one novel, or so reckoned D.H. Lawrence. A second novel, he opined, was "a step farther". These questions are about those who never wrote a second novel, or whose second novels were flops.

A multiple-choice quiz by darksplash. Estimated time: 4 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Literature Trivia
  6. »
  7. Authors and their Works
  8. »
  9. Less Familiar Works

Author
darksplash
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
306,987
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
1284
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: DeepHistory (7/10), Guest 209 (9/10), Guest 194 (7/10).
Question 1 of 10
1. Frankly my dear, perhaps you did not try hard enough. Which author wrote a novel that defined a particular time and place in American history, then died before writing a second? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Perhaps those cold Yorkshire winters got too much for the author of a memorable tale of love in the dales. Which writer died the year after publishing a novel that has since been immortalised in song and on the silver screen? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Which American author wrote a novel that challenged racial stereotypes and the taboos of its time, and then never produced another during the 20th century? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Sometimes writers just need a gee-up. Which author started her one and only novel at the age of 51, took six years to write it, and then died within months of publication?
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. He may have declared his genius, but the critics found his first novel a little too racy. Who confined himself to plays, poems and short stories ever afterwards? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. You must be mad to write a novel, but if you are mad, could you write one? Which author wrote a blockbuster then had his next work cruelly rejected by the reading public? Sometimes these things happen. Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. It's hard to get motivated again when your first book is a monster hit. Which author could not scare up more than a few polite reviews for her second? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Picture the scene. You write a massive big seller and get an $8m dollar advance for a second, which flops. Which novel proved unlucky for Charles Frazier after his hit with "Cold Mountain"?
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Some booksellers might have been tempted to file this author's first smash-hit in the 'railway hobbies' section when in fact it should have been in 'recreational drugs'. Which author found that the drugs don't work when he tried a similar follow-up?
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Her tale of love, devotion and triumph over adversity gets readers of a certain type misty eyed even yet. But of whose second novel was the best that could be said was that at least it was a gender bender? Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Most Recent Scores
Mar 26 2024 : DeepHistory: 7/10
Mar 15 2024 : Guest 209: 9/10
Mar 15 2024 : Guest 194: 7/10
Mar 15 2024 : Guest 96: 9/10
Mar 15 2024 : Guest 86: 8/10
Mar 15 2024 : Guest 198: 6/10
Mar 15 2024 : workisboring: 5/10
Mar 15 2024 : Guest 90: 9/10
Mar 15 2024 : Guest 2: 9/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Frankly my dear, perhaps you did not try hard enough. Which author wrote a novel that defined a particular time and place in American history, then died before writing a second?

Answer: Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell was the author of "Gone With The Wind", the tale of southern dynasties facing the trauma of the American Civil War. It was made into a movie that has featured regularly in lists of the 'best' pictures ever made. Ironically, Mitchell was knocked down and killed by a car in 1949 on her way to the cinema. "Gone With The Wind" won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937.
Pedants' note: The manuscript of a novella called "Lost Laysen" was uncovered in the 1990s and was published in 1996. It was written by the 15-year-old Mitchell in 1916. (GWTW was published in 1936).
2. Perhaps those cold Yorkshire winters got too much for the author of a memorable tale of love in the dales. Which writer died the year after publishing a novel that has since been immortalised in song and on the silver screen?

Answer: Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte saw 'Wuthering Heights' published in 1847, then died of TB the following year.
3. Which American author wrote a novel that challenged racial stereotypes and the taboos of its time, and then never produced another during the 20th century?

Answer: Harper Lee

"To Kill A Mockingbird" in both its movie and literary incarnations remains on many people's lists of 'best-evers'. Published in 1960, the story of racial injustice in the American south won a Pulitzer Prize. The 1962 movie adaptation won three Oscars.
4. Sometimes writers just need a gee-up. Which author started her one and only novel at the age of 51, took six years to write it, and then died within months of publication?

Answer: Anna Sewell

Anna Sewell wrote "Black Beauty" to promote a more humane treatment of horses. She died in 1878, five months after it was published.
5. He may have declared his genius, but the critics found his first novel a little too racy. Who confined himself to plays, poems and short stories ever afterwards?

Answer: Oscar Wilde

Wilde based some of the characters in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" on himself. When first published in 1890, the critics hated it, but his other body of work led to a reassessment and it later became better regarded.
6. You must be mad to write a novel, but if you are mad, could you write one? Which author wrote a blockbuster then had his next work cruelly rejected by the reading public? Sometimes these things happen.

Answer: Joseph Heller

Published in 1961, "Catch-22", Joseph Heller's WW2 satire, was based on the experiences of US pilots and was well received. However, 13 years later 'Something Happened' crash landed.
7. It's hard to get motivated again when your first book is a monster hit. Which author could not scare up more than a few polite reviews for her second?

Answer: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Shelley was aged just 18 when she wrote her smash hit "Frankenstein". It was published in 1818. Her next, "Valperga or The Life and Adventures of Castruccio Prince of Lucca", did not catch the imagination. It was never republished in her lifetime.
8. Picture the scene. You write a massive big seller and get an $8m dollar advance for a second, which flops. Which novel proved unlucky for Charles Frazier after his hit with "Cold Mountain"?

Answer: Thirteen Moons

"Cold Mountain" (1997) sold a huge number of copies for Frazier and expectations were high - $8million high - for his follow-up, "Thirteen Moons" (2006). Sadly for the publishers, it failed to sell.
9. Some booksellers might have been tempted to file this author's first smash-hit in the 'railway hobbies' section when in fact it should have been in 'recreational drugs'. Which author found that the drugs don't work when he tried a similar follow-up?

Answer: Irvine Welsh

Welsh's "Trainspotting" (1993) was a big hit and became a stage play and a movie. However, the critics deemed that "Marabou Stork Nightmares" (1995) was just too much more of the same, only not nearly so good.
10. Her tale of love, devotion and triumph over adversity gets readers of a certain type misty eyed even yet. But of whose second novel was the best that could be said was that at least it was a gender bender?

Answer: Charlotte Bronte

"Jane Eyre" (1847) was Charlotte Bronte's bodice-ripper of a masterpiece. Two years later she published "Shirley", with little success. However, it had a lasting effect in that while Shirley had been a male name beforehand, the Shirley of Bronte's novel was female, and now it is regarded as a typically female name.
All these questions have featured a successful first novel. The remarkable thing was that eight of the first novels went on to enter mainstream culture on TV and the silver screen and most continue to sell well in book form.
Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
3/29/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us