Friday, September 28, 2007

Writing Exercise Results

First a warning to those who read this blog on an outside feed that shows everything in black and white: The answers to the quiz below appear right after the questions. On the Evil Editor site they are the same color as the background, rendering them invisible, until highlighted with your cursor. If you don't want to see the answers, you'll have to come to Evileditor.blogspot.com.


Second, my apologies if I didn't use any of yours. You weren't alone. The main problems were that descriptions were either so vague no one could guess them, or so specific no one familiar with the works could fail to guess them. Some described works I deemed not familiar to a high enough percentage of readers. The good news is, the fewer of yours I used, the more fun you can have guessing the ones I did use.


Guess the Title

Below are descriptions of numerous well-known films and works of literature. The descriptions were provided by EE's minions (actually, with few exceptions, they were provided by blogless_troll), who have a bad habit of being general when they should be specific, and of failing to see the forest for the trees.

If you can get half of them you're doing well. To help you get started, the first three titles have two clues each, though you may be able to get them from just one.



1a. Fantastical events, epic battles and sex, sex, sex in a 28-book series. (EE)

1b. A multi-generational epic, chronicling the paranormal encounters of a select group of nomadic exiles. (blogless_troll) The Old Testament


2a. Betraying her nation, a woman falls in love with the enemy; becoming homeless, she swears to a life of gluttony. (WitchEmber)

2b. She loves the man she can’t have and doesn’t love the one she’s got . . . or is it the other way around? Anyway, this isn’t a good day to think about it. (Bunnygirl) Gone with the Wind


3a. Not content to possess the stolen goods, a courier and his bodyguards decide they must kill the victim of the theft as well. (Khazar-khum)

3b. An interracial party of escorts figure out and accomplish the most illogical way of transporting their client and his most cherished possession from one place to another. (SzélsőFa) Lord of the Rings


4. Though mutilated bodies have been turning up at the edge of a small town, the police chief leaves to go fishing . . . only to come face to face with the killer. (Dave Kuzminski) Jaws


5. A young boy leaves home for the first time, joins a gang of criminals, and destroys government property. (blogless_troll) Star Wars


6. After an attempt on her life, an heiress shacks up with a group of male laborers. (blogless_troll) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs


7. A dysfunctional family escapes their hometown to avoid punishment for their destructiveness, only to repent and ultimately save the city. (Bill Highsmith) The Simpsons Movie


8. When a weapon more powerful than a nuclear bomb falls into the wrong hands, the only person who can save the world is a professor with ophidiophobia. (blogless_troll) Raiders of the Lost Ark


9. Siblings on a simple errand encounter treacherous terrain, resulting in a medical emergency. (blogless_troll) "Jack and Jill"


10. Girl abuses boy, loves boy, mourns boy, abandons boy, hates boy, wounds boy, endangers boy, saves boy, cuckolds boy, marries boy. (WitchEmber) The Princess Bride


11. A criminal adopts socialist principles in order to impress a woman. (blogless_troll) Robin Hood


12. A criminal talks his way out of captivity through the use of a coffee cup, a bulletin board, and his remarkable powers of observation. (EE) The Usual Suspects


13. Two drunken humans and a dog become the most frequent crossword puzzle clues ever by solving a mystery. (Bill Highsmith) The Thin Man


14. A bookish professor gets all worked up upon learning that deities sometimes fuck. (blogless_troll) The Da Vinci Code


15. Hired to arrange a real estate deal, a man discovers that his client has an abnormal drinking problem. (EE) Dracula


16. The fate of an abused woman depends solely upon designer shoes. (blogless_troll) Cinderella


17. A new guy in town tries to make friends by giving them water, showing them carnival tricks, inviting them to church, and eating them before they eat him. (Bill Highsmith) Stranger in a Strange Land


18. After much debate, a frustrated loner caves in to peer pressure, consumes an unusual delicacy, and gains acceptance within the community. (blogless_troll) Green Eggs and Ham

23 comments:

Robin S. said...

These were all good, you guys. My favorites were 4, 11, 14, and 15.

Robin S. said...

Forgot to say, EE - that was a good 'Max Perkins' you slipped in there, about 'failing to see the forest for the trees.' It made me smile.

GutterBall said...

Ha! Those were awesome! 9 and 10 slayed me, but they were all hella good fun.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

These were great! ABsolutely awesome. The Princess Bride one was my favorite next to the Old Testament two. But boy Blogless Troll was on a roll!

Ali said...

My favorite was 18 (and I didn't come close to guessing it, though I did guess several of Blogless_troll's). Nice job, guys!

Chris Eldin said...

These were fun to read. I couldn't think of a single one, so I applaud the efforts of all who tried!

Sandra Cormier said...

Oh, those were fun. I don't think I could have managed such cleverness. Thanks, everyone!

McKoala said...

I was clueless, had to check all the answers, but they were so funny!

Anonymous said...

Good job troll!! That exercise exhausted me. I went out on a limb, failed to make the cut and now, now I'll just leaf.

GutterBall said...

Here's a late entry, mostly because I'm watching it right now.

A man lies to his child his whole life until, on Dad's deathbed, the formerly alienated son turns into an accomplished liar, just like his dad.

God, why do I watch this movie!?

SzélsőFa said...

Dear Evil Editor, I'm sory for having asked you about where my entry had disappeared.
I see it now. I also see that it has been adjusted, perhaps, to fit the criteria of the contest better. My selection of words perhaps was not the most suitable one.
Thank you.

SzélsőFa said...

I've read them through all - and I guessed #14 right :)
Unfortunately, many of the titles, though, were unfamiliar to me:(

Evil Editor said...

I'm guessing if we did the same exercise with the best-known Hungarian films and books, you'd have had no problem. Here's one from Bunnygirl that you should be able to get:

Two people with mutancy in their gene pool settle in the South American jungle where they and their descendants have lots of sex but manage to die out anyway.

Bernita said...

I didn't try to guess - just enjoyed.

SzélsőFa said...

I agree, EE.
As for Bunnygirl's riddle...?
I have no idea...
Help!
:)

Evil Editor said...

I thought you'd get it, as it's on your list of favorite books: 100 Years of Solitude

AmyB said...

These were fun! I guessed "Jaws" and "Star Wars." I think I might have gotten more if I'd approached this in reverse--that is, thought up the names of popular movies and looked for descriptions that matched.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

Hey EE,
I love the movie writing prompts you do. They are really creative and interesting. I wanted to enter but the only thing I could think of (cause I was a bit brain dead) was three straight men get a baby. Ain't that pathetic? Hey I have an idea for next writing exercise, what about song lyrics of popular tunes matched to the plot of a popular movie?

Shannon Ryan said...

"A new guy in town tries to make friends by giving them water, showing them carnival tricks, inviting them to church, and eating them before they eat him."

That was easy, I'm re-reading that right now.

Phoenix Sullivan said...

Oh man, I got the first 4 right, so I thought this was gonna be a breeze. Then I only got one more right after that. No excuses either, because I'm familiar with all but 2 of the titles. Excellently done all! This was fun!

Um, blogless, do you, like, not have a real job? Or a family? Or a social life? Or other hobbies? Lucky for us you apparently don't! :o)

SzélsőFa said...

You truly got me there, EE. I should have known - that book is really one of my favourites.
Oh, my.
*self-ashamed, shakes head*.

And the summary was great.*waves a friendly hello to Bunnygirl*

Blogless Troll said...

Yeah, phoenix, I've got all of those, but it really didn't take me that long. It's not like I sat down and wrote my own version of The Raven.

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

SzelsoFa, LOL! I didn't get Green Eggs and Ham, and I must've read every Dr Seuss book in existence when I was a kid.

This was a fun exercise. I only wish I'd had more time to work on entries. Pesky ol' life interfering, as always...