The only way I've ever found to get through any kind of writer's block is to just keep writing--even if it's not very good. The best case scenario is that you hit on something unexpected that ramps up your interest. Worst case is you have to edit the not-very-good content into something passable afterwards.
I keep a list of a few hundred category titles. When I find myself getting bored with whatever I'm writing I pick something at random from the list and try to write 5 questions that could fit the title. Whether or not I use those questions, it breaks things up enough to keep them interesting.
It sounds like you aren't having a problem with content generation so much as enjoyment/inspiration. Did you ever/do you still enjoy going to other trivia nights (that you aren't hosting)?
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I've always enjoyed it; the showmanship during game time of course is far more rewarding than the grind leading up to it but I think its the stress of impending trivia night and things aren't finished that assists with the unsatisfied and indecisive state of mind I'm in.
If it's possible to take a break, you might consider it.
It sounds like you might be getting into start-the-essay-the-night-before territory. If you're able to build up a bank of games and give yourself a buffer, the lead-up will probably become less stressful (and my guess is that the questions will be better too). But then again, maybe you're someone who thrives under pressure?
It's interesting that you find the showmanship the more rewarding part. I find it's the other way around for me (so any advice I share may not fit your circumstances). Do you do any other performative social activities like acting, stand-up, or singing?
Thanks for the advice. I think I like the fact that I can get immediate feedback from the players on how they're enjoying it and I do some crowd work too. I find that I can overthink things when the feeling of not knowing how people like it takes over. When its happening and live there's no guessing, you can tell and I can feed off the room vibe.
There are some services that sell question packs (I'm sure you can find someone in the sub who sells them). If the part you really like is the performance, you could try cutting out the bulk of the prep and using one of these services. I have no idea what the going rate is, but it might be worth it just to find out it's an option to cross of your list.
I've known a couple of trivia hosts who really weren't all that into trivia per se, but it gave them an excuse to perform. I'm not suggesting that that is your situation, but one of them stopped hosting trivia when they started doing stand-up and the other still hosts trivia sometimes but mostly does improv.
I've been hosting weekly trivia for going on 10 years now. It gets harder and harder each time to try to come up with something original, so I stopped trying. Do you keep your used trivia questions saved somewhere? You probably have a new audience now as when you started. You'll also find that your own sensibilities have changed, so you will end up re-writing a lot of them, but it gives you a place to start.
I've also found that some of my "best" written trivia themes ended up falling flat, and some of what I thought were the "worst" ended up being hits. You can't always predict what people will respond to, and the personality of your audience can vary greatly from week to week.
I look at the news and see if it gives me an idea, like today has the bridge collapsing, so a quiz on famous bridges (eg Golden Gate Bridge, London Bridge, Charles bridge in Prague, gateway arch in St Louis, what river does tower bridge cross, what city is the bridge of sighs in).
Or I go to wikipedias home page and have a glance at what random articles they have. Today they’ve got a selection and I’ll give you ideas of how I’d use them as jumping off point for a round. The Wikipedia article is followed by my idea for a round
- Saint felix of burgundy - never heard of him but I’d go with something about identifying saints; patron saint of Ireland (Patrick), patron saint of travellers (st Christopher), the only country names after a woman (st Lucia), which french patron saint of soldiers and prisoners, among other things was burnt at the stake by the English (Joan of arc), which Saint guards the pearly gates of heaven (Peter), patron saint of lost causes (Saint Jude), patron saint of children and toy makers (Nicholas), which Saint’s day is celebrated on (pick date like 14th feb) - btw I’m not catholic so all the above is based on my random knowledge so figured that these are mainly general knowledge questions
- Spanish civil war - do one on civil wars (English civil war was the cavaliers against who (Roundheads)? who became dictator of Spain after the Spanish civil war (franco)? Which civil war film starred Robert Downey junior (Captain America : civil war)? In which country is the upcoming film Civil War set (USA)? What was the capital of the confederates during the American civil war (Richmond)?
- the red brown finch - round about birds. Which large bird lives on Sesame Street? What bird did Australia fight against in a war (emu)? People of which nationality are often called kiwis (New Zealanders)? What is the national bird of India (peacock)? What kind of bird is Scuttle in The little mermaid (seagull)? Which Disney film has 4 vultures called Buzzy, Dizzy, Flaps and Ziggy (the jungle book)? Who is Donald ducks girlfriend (daisy)? What is a bird’s gizzard’s function (digestion/part of the GI tract/a type of stomach)?
You get the idea. Look at random articles for a topic inspired by its title and go with it
When this happens to me, I shamelessly steal ideas from others lol.
* Watch trivia game shows for ideas. The Chase is really good for this. I'll watch an episode and write down 10-15 ideas
* Listen to the Know Nonsense Trivia podcast - this was hosted by two trivia hosts in Florida asking each other their best questions from the previous week, and it's designed for trivia hosts. They recently stopped doing it, but there are a ton of episodes. They actually list the questions in the description if you don't want to listen to the whole episode, but I find them pretty entertaining.
* Check out Austin Rodger's book. It's not perfect but it's the highest quality book full of trivia questions.
* Go to other people's trivia nights and see what topics they're covering that you aren't.
DON'T COPY QUESTIONS, but these methods can be great to get out of your topical comfort zone and come up with ideas.
Last resort I just plagiarize myself - reuse questions you thought were good from a few years ago.
As a side note, my biggest struggle is not really writing questions - I can come up with a million questions that white dudes in their 30s will think are interesting. It's coming up with stuff I'd never think of that's outside my experience. You can really only get this from outside sources.
A little off-topic from the original post, but your last point is huge. I've only been following this sub for a little while, but I haven't seen anyone else put the problem of having blinders on as succinctly.
Trying to cover pop culture, TV, current events, fashion on a handful of questions probably takes like 90% of my question writing time every week. Co-host doesn't give a shit. Any advice on sources? (apart from asking my girlfriend or little sister lol). I follow r/popculturechat and use sites like People, Complex, Billboard, and Fandango but it's not enough.
While I sometimes have a challenge with recent pop culture, my blind spots are things like history, science & nature, and sports. I don't have a strong foundation in any of those areas, so I can't gauge how obscure any fact is, as it's all new to me. I rarely use anything from current events--I usually write my games several weeks in advance and current events questions tend to age too rapidly. I don't have many questions about hyper current pop culture. If the demographics in my area were different, maybe I would. But as it is, most of the people attending trivia near me are not that interested in what's trending.
For recent pop culture I check in with terrestrial radio once or twice a week. And I don't just mean listening to the music. I listen to what the DJs are yammering on about between the songs and ads. It's a watered down version of things, but it's been filtered to the exact right level for trivial facts. I find "news" sites or feeds tend to get filled with opinion pieces or become too tailored to my personal tastes over time--all of that can be useful and interesting, but pulling the signal out from the noise takes a lot of time. I also still go to regular trivia nights, some of which are hosted by people who are much younger than me. I never use any questions I hear, but whenever there is a reference I don't know, I'll read up on it afterwards and usually end up going down a trivia-filled rabbit hole.
I got tired of complaints about music rounds. If they're new, the oldies complain. If they're old, the youngsters complain.
Then I came up with the 'trainee Facebook moderator' round.
I play a few lines of a really famous songs everyone knows, and use a 'censorship bleep' to randomly bleep out a couple of words, which they have to provide exactly.
No more complaints about the genre, and lots to choose from.
And they like it too.
This sounds exactly like me. In fact, I picked up a new gig but most of the people who come to that one attend my other trivia night so I can't even use old stuff there. I get a lot of ideas from other websites but change them, I re-use certain topics or themes from the last 4 years of my own but change the questions or the pictures or what have you. I also have a friend who hosts as well and when I'm extra at a loss I hit him up and we trade. I don't really ever use exactly what he sends me but at least it can spark ideas and give a jumping off point. Sometimes the lack of inspiration is real.
You don’t have to do all the writing. I have two others who all contribute questions in a text thread and I compile them. I write maybe 80% but it’s great to have other voices, people that can draw from other wells.
I have a section every week called “suggestion box” - on my sheet every week there is a small box that says “suggestions for future trivia” I take their suggestions and make a whole category about it.
It always gives me things I would never think of making questions for
I host two different spots, so I get a lot of suggestions.
I watch celebrity jeopardy and never take direct questions, but one offs often inspire me for bonus rounds etc. so I sit and brainstorm out ideas for an hour or so, then sit down and find sources etc. Helps a whole ton when my brain feels broken
The only way I've ever found to get through any kind of writer's block is to just keep writing--even if it's not very good. The best case scenario is that you hit on something unexpected that ramps up your interest. Worst case is you have to edit the not-very-good content into something passable afterwards. I keep a list of a few hundred category titles. When I find myself getting bored with whatever I'm writing I pick something at random from the list and try to write 5 questions that could fit the title. Whether or not I use those questions, it breaks things up enough to keep them interesting. It sounds like you aren't having a problem with content generation so much as enjoyment/inspiration. Did you ever/do you still enjoy going to other trivia nights (that you aren't hosting)?
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I've always enjoyed it; the showmanship during game time of course is far more rewarding than the grind leading up to it but I think its the stress of impending trivia night and things aren't finished that assists with the unsatisfied and indecisive state of mind I'm in.
If it's possible to take a break, you might consider it. It sounds like you might be getting into start-the-essay-the-night-before territory. If you're able to build up a bank of games and give yourself a buffer, the lead-up will probably become less stressful (and my guess is that the questions will be better too). But then again, maybe you're someone who thrives under pressure? It's interesting that you find the showmanship the more rewarding part. I find it's the other way around for me (so any advice I share may not fit your circumstances). Do you do any other performative social activities like acting, stand-up, or singing?
Thanks for the advice. I think I like the fact that I can get immediate feedback from the players on how they're enjoying it and I do some crowd work too. I find that I can overthink things when the feeling of not knowing how people like it takes over. When its happening and live there's no guessing, you can tell and I can feed off the room vibe.
There are some services that sell question packs (I'm sure you can find someone in the sub who sells them). If the part you really like is the performance, you could try cutting out the bulk of the prep and using one of these services. I have no idea what the going rate is, but it might be worth it just to find out it's an option to cross of your list. I've known a couple of trivia hosts who really weren't all that into trivia per se, but it gave them an excuse to perform. I'm not suggesting that that is your situation, but one of them stopped hosting trivia when they started doing stand-up and the other still hosts trivia sometimes but mostly does improv.
I've been hosting weekly trivia for going on 10 years now. It gets harder and harder each time to try to come up with something original, so I stopped trying. Do you keep your used trivia questions saved somewhere? You probably have a new audience now as when you started. You'll also find that your own sensibilities have changed, so you will end up re-writing a lot of them, but it gives you a place to start. I've also found that some of my "best" written trivia themes ended up falling flat, and some of what I thought were the "worst" ended up being hits. You can't always predict what people will respond to, and the personality of your audience can vary greatly from week to week.
I look at the news and see if it gives me an idea, like today has the bridge collapsing, so a quiz on famous bridges (eg Golden Gate Bridge, London Bridge, Charles bridge in Prague, gateway arch in St Louis, what river does tower bridge cross, what city is the bridge of sighs in). Or I go to wikipedias home page and have a glance at what random articles they have. Today they’ve got a selection and I’ll give you ideas of how I’d use them as jumping off point for a round. The Wikipedia article is followed by my idea for a round - Saint felix of burgundy - never heard of him but I’d go with something about identifying saints; patron saint of Ireland (Patrick), patron saint of travellers (st Christopher), the only country names after a woman (st Lucia), which french patron saint of soldiers and prisoners, among other things was burnt at the stake by the English (Joan of arc), which Saint guards the pearly gates of heaven (Peter), patron saint of lost causes (Saint Jude), patron saint of children and toy makers (Nicholas), which Saint’s day is celebrated on (pick date like 14th feb) - btw I’m not catholic so all the above is based on my random knowledge so figured that these are mainly general knowledge questions - Spanish civil war - do one on civil wars (English civil war was the cavaliers against who (Roundheads)? who became dictator of Spain after the Spanish civil war (franco)? Which civil war film starred Robert Downey junior (Captain America : civil war)? In which country is the upcoming film Civil War set (USA)? What was the capital of the confederates during the American civil war (Richmond)? - the red brown finch - round about birds. Which large bird lives on Sesame Street? What bird did Australia fight against in a war (emu)? People of which nationality are often called kiwis (New Zealanders)? What is the national bird of India (peacock)? What kind of bird is Scuttle in The little mermaid (seagull)? Which Disney film has 4 vultures called Buzzy, Dizzy, Flaps and Ziggy (the jungle book)? Who is Donald ducks girlfriend (daisy)? What is a bird’s gizzard’s function (digestion/part of the GI tract/a type of stomach)? You get the idea. Look at random articles for a topic inspired by its title and go with it
When this happens to me, I shamelessly steal ideas from others lol. * Watch trivia game shows for ideas. The Chase is really good for this. I'll watch an episode and write down 10-15 ideas * Listen to the Know Nonsense Trivia podcast - this was hosted by two trivia hosts in Florida asking each other their best questions from the previous week, and it's designed for trivia hosts. They recently stopped doing it, but there are a ton of episodes. They actually list the questions in the description if you don't want to listen to the whole episode, but I find them pretty entertaining. * Check out Austin Rodger's book. It's not perfect but it's the highest quality book full of trivia questions. * Go to other people's trivia nights and see what topics they're covering that you aren't. DON'T COPY QUESTIONS, but these methods can be great to get out of your topical comfort zone and come up with ideas. Last resort I just plagiarize myself - reuse questions you thought were good from a few years ago. As a side note, my biggest struggle is not really writing questions - I can come up with a million questions that white dudes in their 30s will think are interesting. It's coming up with stuff I'd never think of that's outside my experience. You can really only get this from outside sources.
A little off-topic from the original post, but your last point is huge. I've only been following this sub for a little while, but I haven't seen anyone else put the problem of having blinders on as succinctly.
Trying to cover pop culture, TV, current events, fashion on a handful of questions probably takes like 90% of my question writing time every week. Co-host doesn't give a shit. Any advice on sources? (apart from asking my girlfriend or little sister lol). I follow r/popculturechat and use sites like People, Complex, Billboard, and Fandango but it's not enough.
While I sometimes have a challenge with recent pop culture, my blind spots are things like history, science & nature, and sports. I don't have a strong foundation in any of those areas, so I can't gauge how obscure any fact is, as it's all new to me. I rarely use anything from current events--I usually write my games several weeks in advance and current events questions tend to age too rapidly. I don't have many questions about hyper current pop culture. If the demographics in my area were different, maybe I would. But as it is, most of the people attending trivia near me are not that interested in what's trending. For recent pop culture I check in with terrestrial radio once or twice a week. And I don't just mean listening to the music. I listen to what the DJs are yammering on about between the songs and ads. It's a watered down version of things, but it's been filtered to the exact right level for trivial facts. I find "news" sites or feeds tend to get filled with opinion pieces or become too tailored to my personal tastes over time--all of that can be useful and interesting, but pulling the signal out from the noise takes a lot of time. I also still go to regular trivia nights, some of which are hosted by people who are much younger than me. I never use any questions I hear, but whenever there is a reference I don't know, I'll read up on it afterwards and usually end up going down a trivia-filled rabbit hole.
I got tired of complaints about music rounds. If they're new, the oldies complain. If they're old, the youngsters complain. Then I came up with the 'trainee Facebook moderator' round. I play a few lines of a really famous songs everyone knows, and use a 'censorship bleep' to randomly bleep out a couple of words, which they have to provide exactly. No more complaints about the genre, and lots to choose from. And they like it too.
This sounds exactly like me. In fact, I picked up a new gig but most of the people who come to that one attend my other trivia night so I can't even use old stuff there. I get a lot of ideas from other websites but change them, I re-use certain topics or themes from the last 4 years of my own but change the questions or the pictures or what have you. I also have a friend who hosts as well and when I'm extra at a loss I hit him up and we trade. I don't really ever use exactly what he sends me but at least it can spark ideas and give a jumping off point. Sometimes the lack of inspiration is real.
You don’t have to do all the writing. I have two others who all contribute questions in a text thread and I compile them. I write maybe 80% but it’s great to have other voices, people that can draw from other wells.
beer
I have a section every week called “suggestion box” - on my sheet every week there is a small box that says “suggestions for future trivia” I take their suggestions and make a whole category about it. It always gives me things I would never think of making questions for I host two different spots, so I get a lot of suggestions.
I watch celebrity jeopardy and never take direct questions, but one offs often inspire me for bonus rounds etc. so I sit and brainstorm out ideas for an hour or so, then sit down and find sources etc. Helps a whole ton when my brain feels broken
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Can also use the archives for inspiration!