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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When talking with a subject expert about kitchens, what are good questions to ask about the kitchen?
(a) How best to keep stainless steel appliances clean.
(b) What were the smells and stains like?
(c) What were the sights, sounds, and smells like?
(d) What were the sights and sounds like?

2. When you start think there is one more thing you could do, what should you remind yourself?
(a) Your characters have evolved, time to move on.
(b) Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.
(c) Dr. Suess refuses to eat the broccoli.
(d) The octopus is snoring, time to move on.

3. What does Alice Adams' ABDCE formula stand for, in writing a short story?
(a) Action, Background, Development, Climax, and Ending.
(b) Asides, Background, Drama, Characters, and Encoding.
(c) Action, Background, Characters, Drama, and Ending.
(d) Alice's Books Do Create Excitement.

4. What advice did Anne's father give her brother when he was overwhelmed at writing a report on birds?
(a) "Take pictures of the birds in Bolinas."
(b) "Woody Woodpecker is a great bird to write about."
(c) "Only write about California birds this time."
(d) "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

5. At what age did Anne start writing?
(a) Five.
(b) Eleven.
(c) Thirty.
(d) Eight.

6. How does Anne define clutter?
(a) Wonderfully fertile ground.
(b) Something to be swept under the rug.
(c) Makes her hold her breath.
(d) Easier to deal with if you put in specific piles.

7. What magazine did Anne write food reviews for, before it folded?
(a) Pots and Pans.
(b) California.
(c) Food News Review.
(d) Sacramento.

8. How does plot fall together?
(a) As you listen to your characters and watch them move.
(b) As you conform your characters to the plot in your outline.
(c) Piece by piece, like a puzzle.
(d) As you listen to jazz music and drink wine.

9. What was the image from a medieval monk, Brother Lawerence, that helped Anne come to terms with the residents in the nursing home?
(a) We are all dust in the wind.
(b) Do not worry about tomorrow, today has enough worry for all.
(c) That we, like trees in the winter, have nothing to give, but are there to be loved unconditionally.
(d) Treat others as you would want to be treated.

10. In Part 1, Section 6, Polaroids, what was Anne's finished article about?
(a) The girl on crutches.
(b) Tragedy transfromed to joy and sheer effort.
(c) The runners.
(d) The "cool man" game.

11. When writing towards a scene, why may you find it is all wrong when you finish it?
(a) Because your subject matter expert finally called you back to talk about set design.
(b) Because your editor said it was wrong.
(c) Because the wind is blowing from the west now.
(d) Because of what you have learned about your characters along the way.

12. How does Anne describe writing for herself and most other writers she knows?
(a) Dewy and thrilled.
(b) Elegant.
(c) Rapturous.
(d) Not rapturous.

13. What is a plot treatment?
(a) A treatment of the dialog in the book.
(b) It treats the false starts in a book.
(c) A road map of the beginning and end of a chapter, and how the end grows into the following chapter.
(d) It is something done by a big plotting machine.

14. When a student is having difficulty writing, what does Anne ask them about?
(a) How messy they were as a child.
(b) About the wire thingy on champagne bottles.
(c) The current time and temperature.
(d) Their school lunches.

15. What was Anne's first poem about that got any attention?
(a) Sam.
(b) Her father.
(c) Tiny bubbles.
(d) John Glenn.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Anne say good writing is about?

2. What do most of Anne's students assume about why well-respected writers's books turn out beautifully?

3. What can yield strange characters lurking in the shadows, according to Anne?

4. What is a recurring problem that Anne sees in her students?

5. Instead of writing towards a plot, what does Anne suggest?

(see the answer keys)

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