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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 a recurring problem that Anne sees in her students?
(a) They really want to be published, and kind of want to write.
(b) They are bad spellers.
(c) They are too busy writing to listen to her class.
(d) They do not have good agents.

2. Where does the image of putting an octopus to bed come from?
(a) The nursing home.
(b) Pammy's memorial garden.
(c) Recovery.
(d) The octopus' mother.

3. What is Anne's first suggestion about writing dialogue?
(a) Always write in dialect.
(b) Secretly record your friends talking and use their words exactly, without asking permission.
(c) Copy conversations you hear in public.
(d) Read your words out loud.

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

5. Instead of writing towards a plot, what does Anne suggest?
(a) Taking a break.
(b) Writing about birds.
(c) Writing towards a scene.
(d) Writing about set design.

Short Answer Questions

1. Ten days before Pammy died, she went shopping with Anne. On this excursion Anne figured out what Pammy's essence was. What was it?

2. How does plot fall together?

3. What does Anne say good writing is about?

4. What does Anne say perfectionism will block?

5. Where did Anne's father teach his class?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Natalie Goldberg's response when asked for the best possible writing advice she had to offer? How true is this advice?

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

3. How does Anne state dialogue affects a reader?

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

5. 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?

6. In Part 1, Section 12, Plot Treatment, Anne had been working on a book for over two years that still was not acceptable to her editor. How does she describe the plot treatment she wrote, which was accepted by her editor, and gained her the last of her advance?

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

8. How does Anne suggest we can free ourselves from perfectionism?

9. How did Anne's article on the Special Olympics start off? How did it turn out?

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

(see the answer keys)

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