When it comes to Sporcle, curators truly do know best. In this blog series, some of the great curators of Sporcle share their expert opinions on curating, top-notch quizzes, up-and-coming Sporclers, and a wee bit of trivia.
This week we feature PrincessMartell, curator for the Play and Children’s Books subcategories.
How did you first get involved with Sporcle?
In 2013, I was reading A Song of Ice and Fire and I was looking for information about these books on the internet when I clicked on the link to the Sforzando quiz ASOIAF Top 300 Characters someone posted on a forum. I didn’t create an account immediately, but, even if I don’t remember it very well, I think I did it thanks to the Back to Sporcle Week (at least, the date corresponds). I started making quizzes one year later because I was frustrated not to find more quizzes about ASOIAF.
Why did you decide to be a curator for your subcategories?
The CP my first created quiz got is what makes me want to release more quizzes, and I thought it would be a great thing to be able to do the same thing for others by being a curator. I was first a bit afraid to apply, but I saw that the subcategory Children’s Books was without curator. Literature has always been one of my favorite topics and one of my favorite categories on Sporcle and, even if I’m a bit older than the age written on the cover, I still love reading children’s books. Then–since this category isn’t a very busy one–I applied for Play, my favorite literary genre alongside novels.
What’s your favorite trivia fact having to do with your subcategories?
Children’s Books: It’s definitively not easy to become a successful children’s book author–Dr Seuss, Beatrix Potter and J.K. Rowling’s first works were all rejected by publishers at the beginning.
Play: The tragic author, Aeshylus, who is one of the oldest playwrights whose plays weren’t lost, died in a very strange way. While the bald old man was walking peacefully, a tortoise dropped by an eagle felt on his head and killed him. The bird of prey mistook his bald skull for a stone and tried to break the shell of the reptile on it.
What are some of your favorite published quizzes from your subcategories?
Children’s Books: I really like needapausebutton‘s Aesop’s Fables Illustrated and lupin‘s Fairy Tales by Illustration, which both represent the singularity of children’s books well–the link between text and pictures.
Play: I’m going to leave out quizzes focused only on Shakespeare since he has his own subcategory. Zipcity‘s American Playwrights (Multiple Choice) is a very good application of this quiz type to the topic. And I really like survivor‘s Classic Plays from Rhyming Clues, a very clever game and a subtle work which pays tribute to the plays.
What are some of your favorite contributed quizzes from your subcategories?
Children’s Books: BorezU‘s ‘If You Give a ____ a ____’ Click-a-Long series is a very nice way to feel like a child again. I also like a lot how Tootsnsuch‘s London Pub or Fairy Tale? is surprisingly far from easy, or how emberly13‘s Finish that Insult: Roald Dahl enables us to read well-known books again in a very funny way.
Play: All of NJSB‘s quizzes on Plays are really great (for example, Playwrights’ Nationalities). And, as an Antiquity lover, I recommend LisaSimpsonOH‘s recent quiz about Greek tragic authors: The Ultimate Ancient Greek Tragedians Cage Fight.
What are your favorite quizzes from an entirely different category?
I already mentioned Sforzando‘s A Song of Ice and Fire quizzes. On very different topics, geshmonkey‘s Armageddon series, Thebiguglyalien‘s To do Lists, and all triplet_3‘s baby names by decade (for example, Baby Names : ‘M’ Girl Names by Decade), are also among my favourite quizzes.
Which Sporcle Group do you frequent most often?
I generally click on Recent Discussions to have a broad view on what is happening.
How can Sporclers in your subcategories best contact you?
Send me a Sporcle private message.
Are there any Sporclers whose quizzes you think merit more attention than they get?
I want to mention pecheneg, pdigoe and Rackie who regularly make a lot of great quizzes on a wide variety of topics, as well as christopherjulia, who, in a short time, created many very good quizzes.
Haiku or favorite Dad Joke (or both):
I heard my Dad make
So many bad Dad Jokes that
I couldn’t choose one
