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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the author think about characters from unrelated ideas?
(a) It is both possible and interesting to put them together.
(b) It is possible to put them together, but not interesting.
(c) It is neither possible nor interesting to put them together.
(d) It would be interesting, but it is not possible to put them together.

2. Which one of the following triggers a negative reaction from readers?
(a) A character who is controlled by others.
(b) A character who wants power or control.
(c) A character who confuses others.
(d) A character who is confusing.

3. Why is it necessary for a reader to care about the characters in a narrative?
(a) So they will want to know more about them.
(b) So they will sympathize with them more.
(c) So they will understand them better.
(d) So they will anticipate the events in the book.

4. Why should sources of inspiration be altered?
(a) To make them more effective.
(b) To make them more mysterious.
(c) To make them more familiar.
(d) To make them more unrealistic

5. What determines the amount of characterization in an event?
(a) The desire of the author.
(b) The importance of the event.
(c) The timing of the event.
(d) The number of pages.

6. How will the story itself suggest characters?
(a) According to what needs to happen and how it needs to take place.
(b) According to the beginning of a story.
(c) According to the ending of a story.
(d) According to what needs to happen, but not how it needs to take place.

7. What type of reaction will an audience have to a character with opposing characteristics?
(a) Immediate, but not necessarily negative.
(b) Immediate and negative.
(c) Slow, but mostly negative.
(d) They may not respond at all.

8. How does the author define an idea?
(a) What the reader is not intended to understand and/or learn.
(b) What the reader is intended to understand, but not necessarily learn.
(c) What the reader is intended to understand and/or learn.
(d) What the reader is intended to learn, but not necessarily understand.

9. What type of reputation can a character have?
(a) One that is deserved.
(b) One that is not deserved.
(c) A character should not have a reputation.
(d) Deserved or not deserved.

10. What will many experienced authors claim about their characters?
(a) They were taken from other literary works.
(b) They were completely invented for the story.
(c) They were inspired by history.
(d) They were taken from life.

11. According to the quote that ends Chapter 3, where does the author believe a writer can find wonderful stories?
(a) Very few landscapes on earth.
(b) Any landscape on earth.
(c) No landscapes on earth.
(d) Most landscapes on earth.

12. What should a writer do when adding layers to a stereotyped character?
(a) Confirm the reader's expectations.
(b) Confuse the reader.
(c) Surprise the reader.
(d) Prove the reader wrong.

13. Which one of the following is not an example the author uses as a way to add emotional intensity to a character?
(a) Symbols.
(b) Omens.
(c) Mistakes.
(d) Signs.

14. What kind of story does the author use as an example of how a story can suggest characters?
(a) Natural disaster.
(b) Murder.
(c) Space adventure.
(d) Unwilling confinement.

15. How many different aspects of creative writing are there?
(a) Two.
(b) Three.
(c) Five.
(d) Four.

Short Answer Questions

1. What two things should a writer be open to translating into their characters and stories?

2. What can cause a reader to become more engaged with a character?

3. What are three good example of character definition in fiction?

4. What type of physical appearance can make a character more engaging?

5. In an event-driven narrative, what is the goal of the characters?

(see the answer keys)

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