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Plot Killers Trivia Quiz

A wonderful thing about fiction is that the author can "create" reality. In real reality, things can get in the way of a good story (really!). For each of the following plot killers, choose the story so killed. ("Story" can be prose, poem, play, etc.)

A multiple-choice quiz by Tchochkekop. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
Tchochkekop

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
319,724

Updated
May 10 23

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Easy

Avg Score
9 / 10

Plays
1800

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Carlnn9 (7/10), elon78 (10/10), OkieMike (10/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. If the following appeared, which story would go no further?

"I don't care if you have one thing, two things, or a thousand things under your hat! Sally told you that our Mom's away and no one can come in!" "Slam," went the door!
Hint

The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins

Put on Your High Hat

The Hat that I Saw on Mulberry Street

The Cat in the Hat

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Only a single changed word, but what famous poem would have been prematurely ended by the following?

"Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately parrot of the saintly days of yore."
Hint

Blackbird Down

Polly Wanna Cracker

The Crow Sang at Midnight

The Raven

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. This non-standard opening would kill which story?

"Hi, you've reached Ishmael; thanks for calling. I'm on vacation in Mexico, having a whale of a time, and can't go fishing right now, so please leave a message and I'll call you when I return. Beeeep."
Hint

Moby Dick

A Fish Called Wanda

The Compleat Angler

Down by the Old Mill Stream

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. If the following had been the opening sentence, which story would have stopped then and there?

"It was the best of times; it was the age of wisdom; it was the epoch of belief; it was the season of Light; it was the spring of hope; we had everything before us; we were all going directly to Heaven."
Hint

The Importance of Being Earnest

Macbeth

A Tale of Two Cities

The Bible

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. If the second sentence was the following, the story of which song would go no further?

"Take the 101 south past Sunnyvale, and go south on 87, Guadalupe Parkway."
Hint

Where, oh Where, has my Little Dog Gone?

I Left my Heart in San Francisco?

Where Can I Find my Own True Love?

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. If the title character of a certain play interrupted as follows, which play would be over way too soon?

Horatio: "Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
In the dead vast and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe,
Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,"

Title character interrupts: "Be off with you, and ne'er again attempt
My leg, my lank and youthful leg, to pull.
Mine father dead for fortnights four and buried,
Body consume'd now by worms in truth must be,
So never can appear as ghost.
Be off, yon jester; I shall not prey to thine jests
Befall again. The rest is silence." (Exeunt)
Hint

Othello

King Lear

Romeo and Juliet

Hamlet

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. Which story would be killed by the following?

"The storm has moved off to the east, and the tornado warning for Kansas has been cancelled."
Hint

The Wizard of Oz

The Wind and the Fury

Oklahoma!

Well, Blow me Down!

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. Which story would be killed by the following?

"You clumsy oaf! I told you that slipper was fragile! You know how easily glass breaks! Now I'll never find the girl who wore it to the ball last night. Oh, well, let's go back to the palace. ... Out of my way, charwoman!"
Hint

Snow White

The Little Mermaid

The Princess and the Pea

Cinderella

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. Which story, if begun this way, would go no further?

"In the beginning, G-d rested."
Hint

The Phone Book

The Dictionary

The Siddur

The Bible

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. What story would have been killed had the following been uttered?

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into Laszlo's Lounge. This is the end of a beautiful friendship, so stop looking at me, kid. And stop playing it, Sam!"
Hint

Oklahoma!

Cairo

Xanadu

Casablanca

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. If the following appeared, which story would go no further? "I don't care if you have one thing, two things, or a thousand things under your hat! Sally told you that our Mom's away and no one can come in!" "Slam," went the door!

Answer: The Cat in the Hat

Sally and her brother let the Cat in the Hat inside, and things go downhill from there. That is, until Thing 1 and Thing 2 help clean up. If you've never read Dr. Seuss, get yourself some kids right now and read!

2. Only a single changed word, but what famous poem would have been prematurely ended by the following? "Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately parrot of the saintly days of yore."

Answer: The Raven

"Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore'." If it was a parrot, it would be quothing forever, ergo, end of poem. OK, maybe the words would keep going, but the poem would be over.

3. This non-standard opening would kill which story? "Hi, you've reached Ishmael; thanks for calling. I'm on vacation in Mexico, having a whale of a time, and can't go fishing right now, so please leave a message and I'll call you when I return. Beeeep."

Answer: Moby Dick

One of the most famous openings in all literature, "Call me Ishmael" begins the saga of the hunt for Moby Dick. Don't think Ahab ever made it to Mexico. Too bad. Did you ever think that another Ahab story could be "A Farewell to Arm"? Neither did I.

4. If the following had been the opening sentence, which story would have stopped then and there? "It was the best of times; it was the age of wisdom; it was the epoch of belief; it was the season of Light; it was the spring of hope; we had everything before us; we were all going directly to Heaven."

Answer: A Tale of Two Cities

A very famous, if very long, opening, each phrase above is paired with its negative: ""It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness;... we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way." Without the conflict, there would really be no story.

This book also has a famous ending, but maybe that will show up in another quiz.

5. If the second sentence was the following, the story of which song would go no further? "Take the 101 south past Sunnyvale, and go south on 87, Guadalupe Parkway."

Answer: Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

Those are rather simple direction to San Jose from San Francisco. Unfortunately, if the question was answered, we wouldn't have had Dionne Warwick's catchy singing of Burt Bacharach's famous tune. OK, OK, she's singing about Los Angeles, but I didn't feel like typing up those directions!

6. If the title character of a certain play interrupted as follows, which play would be over way too soon? Horatio: "Two nights together had these gentlemen, Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch, In the dead vast and middle of the night, Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father, Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe, Appears before them, and with solemn march Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes," Title character interrupts: "Be off with you, and ne'er again attempt My leg, my lank and youthful leg, to pull. Mine father dead for fortnights four and buried, Body consume'd now by worms in truth must be, So never can appear as ghost. Be off, yon jester; I shall not prey to thine jests Befall again. The rest is silence." (Exeunt)

Answer: Hamlet

Horatio tells Hamlet that he and two friends have seen the ghost of Hamlet's father, who died, alas, by murder foul, untimely was, but two months past. (Sorry; it's hard to stop.) Hamlet believes them, of course, or the play would end right there. By the way, as a little extra joke, I didn't write the last four words of Hamlet's interruption above.

In the real play, they are actually Hamlet's final words as he dies. Shakespeare gets credit for those. I'll take the blame for the rest.

7. Which story would be killed by the following? "The storm has moved off to the east, and the tornado warning for Kansas has been cancelled."

Answer: The Wizard of Oz

If the tornado hadn't picked up Dorothy and Toto's house, this would have been a rather boring story about life on the farm. Still, it might have been funny to hear, "Uncle Henry, where are you going to put those shingles?" "Why, Dorothy, they'll go somewhere over the outhouse, way up high. Rain leaks inside the outhouse, that's why (oh why) can't I."

8. Which story would be killed by the following? "You clumsy oaf! I told you that slipper was fragile! You know how easily glass breaks! Now I'll never find the girl who wore it to the ball last night. Oh, well, let's go back to the palace. ... Out of my way, charwoman!"

Answer: Cinderella

All you had to do was put "glass" and "slipper" together to figure out this was about Cinderella. This plot killer comes very late in the story, but is still fatal. Oh, yes - I added the last sentence just to add insult to injury!

9. Which story, if begun this way, would go no further? "In the beginning, G-d rested."

Answer: The Bible

Perhaps this question should have started the quiz, but if G-d rested on the first day, before creation, this quiz wouldn't have existed. That would probably have made it very difficult to play.

10. What story would have been killed had the following been uttered? "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into Laszlo's Lounge. This is the end of a beautiful friendship, so stop looking at me, kid. And stop playing it, Sam!"

Answer: Casablanca

These are actually four plot-killing quotes that come from all over the film. It's a good thing they weren't said, or one of filmdom's greatest movies, with some of the most memorable quotes (and some of the most misremembered, misquoted quotes, too!), would have stopped short. Then the main song would have been, "As Time Goes Bye-Bye."

Source: Author Tchochkekop

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