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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are great language tools that explain the unknown in terms of the known to the reader?
(a) Similes.
(b) Plots.
(c) A garden and river.
(d) Metaphors.

2. What is at least half the battle Anne faces in her daily writing?
(a) Writing a bad first draft.
(b) Having enough paper in the printer.
(c) All the characters talking at one time.
(d) Quieting the critical voices.

3. What advice did E. L. Doctorow have about writing?
(a) "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
(b) "Writing makes me paranoid. I don't recommend it."
(c) "Writing a novel is like taking a horse to water, but then he does not drink."
(d) "Writing a novel is like making dinner. If you do prep work, the cooking comes easy."

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

5. Aside from talking to people, what are other ways to gather ideas for set design?
(a) Take a nap and dream about it, or watch a movie.
(b) Reading a book on the subject and then meditating.
(c) You need only to look to the plot for your set design.
(d) Going to visit and reading books about the set your are trying to design.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is on Anne's desk that reminds her of short assignments?

2. What two qualities are needed to communicate effectively according to Anne?

3. Anne tells her students they can use paranoia as wonderful material, and then recites a poem. Who is the author of the poem?

4. Where does the image of putting an octopus to bed come from?

5. What is Anne's comment on messes?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Anne suggest writers offer hope to readers?

2. How did Anne accomplish a very believable gardener in her novel, when she cannot even keep a houseplant alive?

3. With every work there will always be more that you could have done. What does Anne warn us against with this thought?

4. Alice Adams suggests the ABDCE formula for writing a short story. How can formulas be a great way to get us started?

5. What does Anne suggest doing with the feeling of paranoia?

6. When Anne's students tell her they do not know where to start, she tells them to start with their childhood. How is this helpful?

7. How does Anne state dialogue affects a reader?

8. Where does Anne find out something about false starts?

9. When Anne was writing food reviews, how did allowing herself to write bad first drafts help her?

10. What does a bad first draft provide a writer, according to Anne?

(see the answer keys)

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