And the answer is...

[threemonkeys]

I seem to have done it again. Agree to set another sf quiz that is. The thing about setting a quiz is that after a certain point it does not really get any easier with practice. It gets worse because you have used up all your "A" material. Particularly this time as it pretty much has to be all new material. It will be easy enough to come up with a bunch of "name the author", "name the film" questions and a few pictorial identifications (the quiz is a powerpoint presentation), but you do need to have something a bit extras. A few questions that are a bit distinctive - things that are entertaining over and above the basic fun of answering questions.

I'm looking for ideas here.

In the meantime, if you want a question from this year's NZ natcon...

Are You Watching Closely? One was Batman, one was Wolverene but when they came together for a film, their characters’ initials run together to start the word abracadabra. What movie of prestidigitation does this describe?

Comments

[capnoblivious.livejournal.com]

I know that one!

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Score one point for that man.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

That one does seem rather easy.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

It is, but I like the way it is constructed.

Any quiz needs a range of easy to hard questions - otherwise everybody gets 0 or 100%. I was very happy at the natcon because the teams were pretty much all in the 60-80% range which is where I like them to be.

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

QUOTE FROM FLATMATE:Could it please have something to do with books, er, 'dammit'.

More than identifying the pictures of authors, if this is at all possible.

50% written science fiction and/or fantasy would be nice.

Thank you.END QUOTE

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

The last quiz was just under 40% book related with only a couple of author pictures. About 30% TV, 20 % movies and 10% other stuff - comics & fandom. Experience has shown me that this is about the best mix for a NZ fandom audience for a team event. Team is important - there are fans with all kinds of interests - it is important to cater to as many expressions of fandom as possible.

When I first started doing quizzes, they were more book oriented - I got a lot of complaints and scores were too low. The problem is that there are so many books out there that any one person only reads a small proportion of them. Therefore by the nature of the medium, almost any question is only going to be answerable by a small proportion of fans. Even within the written area, it is a balancing act to get coverage of all the different bits. If you are a reader who only reads say, epic fantasy, there are only going to be a few questions for you - similarly space opera, contemporary fantasy, military sf and so on. That is why it is a team even - a good team will cover multiple disciplines.

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

The last quiz was just under 40% book related

Yeah? He said that the author's pictures was the only book question around. Maybe we're thinking of a different quiz.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Very possibly. Typical examples from my last quiz...

11) Name the author who wrote the “Fire of Heaven” fantasy series and this year had the first book of the “Husk” series published.

12) Name the Kurt Vonnegut novel in which the main character becomes a zoo exhibit on the planet Tralfamadore - although the primary focus of the novel was the firebombing of Dresden.

13) Both Christopher Priest’s “The Space Machine” and Stephen Baxter’s “The Time Ships” are based on the works of what other British author?

Q12 had a picture of Vonnegut, but it was just decoration put there because it was a visually presented quiz and it made things look more interesting than just the plain text. But it wasn't actually necessary to the question. I did that whenever I could. Actual identification of authors based entirely on their picture only happened once.