Xema asked me to post this: An Exam for Aspiring Fantasy Novelists

[LeftyMom]

The Fantasy Novelist's Exam

By David J. Parker

Additional Material By Samuel Stoddard

Ever since J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis created the worlds of Middle Earth and Narnia, it seems like every windbag off the street thinks he can write great, original fantasy, too. The problem is that most of this "great, original fantasy" is actually poor, derivative fantasy. Frankly, we're sick of it, so we've compiled a list of rip-off tip-offs in the form of an exam. We think anybody considering writing a fantasy novel should be required to take this exam first. Answering "yes" to any one question results in failure and means that the prospective novel should be abandoned at once.
RinkWorks
The Exam

1. Does nothing happen in the first fifty pages?
2. Is your main character a young farmhand with mysterious parentage?
3. Is your main character the heir to the throne but doesn't know it?
4. Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy?
5. Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world?

Continues at http://rinkworks.com/fnovel/

[Orrex]

1. Too funny!

I love "fatal flaw" lists like this. The online s/f publication Strange Horizons offers a similar, though seriously intended, list of too-common s/f/f plots that are to be avoided. The inherent snark in such a list is always worth a few laughs.

Thanks for posting!

[leslieann]

2. Oh how sad!!

Many would-be heroic fantasy novelists will be crushed after reading this list! I'm proud to say I managed to avoid 99% of the list in my first published novel, and that 1% I did include were not the worst ones! :P

Leslie Ann Moore
author of 'Griffin's Daughter'
http://www.leslieannmoore.com