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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 is the basic formula for drama?
(a) Setup, buildup, payoff.
(b) Buildup, payoff, setup.
(c) There is no formula, drama naturally occurs.
(d) Setup, switch, sendoff.

2. What does Anne say that there is ecstasy in?
(a) Ripples in the water.
(b) Paying attention.
(c) Compassionate detachment.
(d) Wine and chocolate.

3. What does the one-inch picture frame remind her of?
(a) That she only has to write one inch of words that day.
(b) How she is too old for orthodontia.
(c) All she has to do is write as much as she can see through the one-inch picture frame.
(d) How big her mole is getting.

4. Where does plot grow from?
(a) A one-inch picture frame.
(b) Characters.
(c) A good outline.
(d) A good topsoil.

5. Ten days before Pammy died, she went shopping with Anne. On this excursion Anne figured out what Pammy's essence was. What was it?
(a) It was about who she was, not her clothes.
(b) It was about who she was, not what she could do with her hands.
(c) It was about her checks and her clothes.
(d) It was about how well she wrote checks.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Anne say good writing is about?

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

3. When Anne showed up at the Special Olympics to write an article, did she know what she was going to write?

4. What does Anne say can reveal a character better than pages of description?

5. What are great language tools that explain the unknown in terms of the known to the reader?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Anne suggest can help when you sit down to write dialogue?

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

4. How does Anne suggest writing about school lunches be beneficial for a writer?

5. Readers need a sense that an important character, such as a narrator, is reliable. How does Anne suggest that writers accomplish this?

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

7. Plot is the main part of your story. How does the plot best grow organically, according to Anne?

8. At some point you may need to design a set for your characters that you know nothing about. What avenues does Anne suggest taking to gain the knowledge you need?

9. Another of Anne's stories stems from the movie Stripes. The line is "Hey, lighten up Francis." How is this story helpful to her students?

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

(see the answer keys)

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