Nano begun

[altivo]

Under the full moon, which is brilliant tonight...

Off to a rough start last night, the first chunk of text, though probably usable, needs heavy editing and isn't a suitable opening. Met today's quota with a better opening chapter. I'll post it tomorrow morning, probably and start publishing the link here for those who are curious enough to look.

Current word count: 2682
Target count would be: 3334

As always, I strive for quality, not just quantity. ;p Better a little slow now than floundering later, and I'm off work next week to make this thing move along.

Also pulled together my contributions for the Authors and their Novels staff party on Sunday. You may remember I was to create a multiple choice quiz on the topic.

Here are the questions:

1. Which of the following successful novelists was NOT a woman?

a. George Eliot
b. James Tiptree, Jr.
c. Samuel Richardson
d. George Sand


2. Which of these “trilogies” really does have exactly three books?

a. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
b. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
c. Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
d. The Wolves of Time by William Horwood


3. Who was the original author of the unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood?

a. James Fenimore Cooper
b. Edgar Allan Poe
c. Agatha Christie
d. Charles Dickens


4. Which of the following authors continues to appear as a byline on new work, despite being quite dead and buried?

a. Isaac Asimov
b. V. C. Andrews
c. Frank Herbert
d. All of the above


5. Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) is often credited as the “father of the modern novel.” His epistolary novel, Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded was parodied as An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews, later credited to which well-known novelist?

a. Mark Twain
b. Daniel Defoe
c. Henry Fielding
d. George Sand


6. The Brontë sisters, Emily, Charlotte, and Anne, are easily confused by most of us. Though Charlotte was the most prolific of the three, she did NOT write which of the following novels?

a. Wuthering Heights
b. Jane Eyre
c. Villette
d. High Life in Verdopolis


7. A number of 20th Century American novelists have won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Which of the following did NOT win this award?

a. Saul Bellow
b. Willa Cather
c. John Steinbeck
d. Pearl Buck


8. Which of the following authors is generally believed to have been the first to submit a typewritten book manuscript to his publisher?

a. Henry James
b. Bret Harte
c. Francis Parkman
d. Mark Twain


9. The Science Fiction Writers of America awarded its first Grand Master title to Robert A. Heinlein in 1977. As of 2008, 25 authors have received this award, and only three of them were women. Two are very well-known authors today, Anne McCaffrey and Ursula K. LeGuin. Who was the third?

a. Andre Norton
b. Marion Zimmer Bradley
c. Kate Wilhelm
d. Elizabeth A. Lynn


10. Which of the following mystery writers is most often acknowledged as the first woman to succeed in the field?

a. Agatha Christie
b. Dorothy L. Sayers
c. Mary Roberts Rinehart
d. Amanda Cross


Answers:

(c) Samuel Richardson was male. The others were all female.

(c) Only Kristin Lavransdatter is a “real” trilogy. Tolkien's masterpiece was actually six books published in three volumes. Douglas Adams wrote five books, and left a sixth unfinished all as part of his “trilogy.” William Horwood intended to write a trilogy but a squabble with his publisher forced him to finish the story in just two volumes.

(d) Charles Dickens left only the first few chapters, but it has since been made into a musical and published with various endings.

(d) All of these authors continue to “write” and publish as if still living.

(c) Henry Fielding is usually credited with authorship of Shamela, though some scholars dispute it.

(a) Emily wrote Wuthering Heights.

(b) Willa Cather never received a Nobel Prize.

(d) Mark Twain claimed in his autobiography to have been the first ever to submit a typewritten novel manuscript to the publisher. He said it was for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in 1874. It is true that Twain purchased and used a Remington typewriter starting about that time, and quite probably did submit the first typewritten novel, but experts today think it more likely that the actual book was Life on the Mississippi, in 1883. In either case, Twain didn't type his own work. He said the typewriter made him curse and swear and want to throw it out the window, something he also said about numerous fountain pens over the years.

(a) Mary Alice Norton (1912-2005,) who wrote as Andre Norton, was the first woman to be awarded the title of Grand Master by SFWA, in 1983. She also received the title of Gandalf Grand Master from the World Science Fiction Society in 1977.

(c) Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958) is probably most often acknowledged as the first woman to succeed in the field of mystery writing.

Comments

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Tricky questions, I think I scored about 0.25 points from that. But then again, it's aimed for a bit more hardcore audience... =)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep. That's what they get for asking me to make up the questions. I wanted to make it harder than this, but managed to control my inclinations. This is mostly professional level, but not doctoral thesis material. ;p Readers of the classics in English and American literature should get at least half. I suspect you could get a few of them by guessing or elimination at least. For instance, Mark Twain is much too late to have been a critic of Samuel Richardson, and that's why I gave Richardson's dates. ;D

Also, all the professionals who will answer the quiz are women, so I pushed women authors and related issues harder than normal.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Then it's probably enough for me that I've have even heard about half the authors listed. Read, just Tolkien, Adams, Asimov, and Bradley. And not enough from them either. =)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh,yes. Since you are neither from the US, Canada, or the UK, you really wouldn't necessarily know much of this unless you did a college degree in American or English literature. Getting any of it would be a plus. XD

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

This is why I always struggled with English and Literature classes. I don't think there was a single question on the list that I knew the answer to. :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I was deliberately heavy on classics, but about half of these can be answered by process of elimination, or just by being someone who regularly browses the shelves in the bookstore. None of them require that you actually have read the books, just looked at the covers a lot. ;p

[kakoukorakos.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised Cather didn't win a Nobel and those others did. I can't even remember the last thing I read of Pearl Buck's, Steinbeck's stuff is very activist and moralistic but I just don't think it was that great from a literature standpoint, and I can't say I've even heard of the 4th author you mentioned.

I loathe the "westward expansion" fiction genre for the most part. A teacher I had in high school pushed me to read Death Comes for the Archbishop because I was just not getting any new vocabulary words to write on flash cards out of what I had been reading, and expansion of vocabulary was one of the goals of the reading part of class. While I had serious doubts at first, it turned out that I rather enjoyed the book. It wasn't so much the subject matter as Cather's command of the language and her ability to really flesh-out her characters. So few authors truly excel at that. It takes ability to make a mundane personality interesting. I'm generally not a fan of authors who have to resort to making their characters so much larger than life to be interesting. Doing so akin to excessive world-building, which is just another one of those things I see as being a poor substitute for talent.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The Nobel is a pretty capricious prize to begin with. You have only to look at this year's awards to see that.

However, I think the reason that Cather was never a winner is fairly obvious. Her work never received international acclaim and in fact she wasn't well known until the end of her career. I agree that she was a superb writer, but most of her subjects were very American and very tied to US history.

Steinbeck is also extremely American, but he reached a wider audience earlier in his career. At a guess, that was precisely because of his activism and reformist tendencies. I like Steinbeck pretty well myself, better than either Hemingway or Faulkner, though both of them also received the Nobel.

Pearl S. Buck is best known for The Good Earth and really, if you never read that, you should. Her knowledge of and ability to describe Chinese culture without imposing personal judgement on it is pretty amazing in my opinion. I appreciate the unhurried, detailed narrative, too (which is probably why I loved Tolkien for all the reasons that so many people hate him.)

The only book by Saul Bellow that I ever read was Henderson the Rain King, which was a school assignment that made little impression on me. However, he was another author whose works had an international impact at the time, and is more recent than the others I listed. Herzog, Humboldt's Gift, and The Adventures of Augie March are probably his best-known works.

Obviously, it's necessary to consider the date of the award in comparing these authors. Literary styles and popular interest come and go. Bellow was the winner in 1976, Steinbeck in 1962, and Buck in 1938, all very different periods in both world history and in literature.

[merik.livejournal.com]

4. Which of the following authors continues to appear as a byline on new work, despite being quite dead and buried?

Well, that brings a new meaning to the term "ghostwriter" ;-) I did know the answer to this one, and if anyone could find a way to keep writing beyond the grave, it would be Asimov *chuckle*.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think of using the term "ghostwriter." I'll see if I can slip it in when we print the final copies. Thanks. ;D

The new snow leopard I mentioned a couple of weeks ago arrived today and of course I let him out of the box immediately. He's very cute and cuddly (unlike the real thing, probably) and just lap sized if he lets his tail dangle. The only identifying information is on the sewn in tag: Made in China for K&M Toys. I'll get a photo of him this evening if I can. He needs a name.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Name found and applied. Henceforth this guy is named Neige Paw. Photos snapped, more in the next post but for your curiosity, here's a portrait:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1928856&l=f58be42083&id=1577055232

[merik.livejournal.com]

Very nice! That's a very cute portrait of him, although he is going to find his perch to be an interesting place at times *chuckle*. His name is rather intriguing, too...

Since he's made by K&M, he is a snuggly Wild Republic Cuddlekins snow leopard, as Wild Republic is a K&M brand. He's of a different sub-species than my guys of this size, though, as mine were made in India. Probably means that Neige Paw is of a newer generation than my Trinan and his brothers, who have been here with me for a few years.

I'm happy to learn that another one of these guys has found a nice, happy home to live in :-)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for confirming the maker identity. I'm pleased with this guy. He's the first Wild Republic type I've had, and I'll be looking for some more.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to imagine you as a quiz master but I can't quite see you with the bleached teeth. :D

Ohh you've got some trick questions in there you horrid horsie.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The best scores on this last night were six of ten. Several people got six right.