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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which one of the following is not given in Chapter 12 as a reason for characters to change themselves?
(a) Will.
(b) Action.
(c) Greed.
(d) External circumstances.

2. What is the fourth and final technique for interjecting humor listed by the author in Chapter 10?
(a) Sarcasm.
(b) Timing.
(c) Eccentricity.
(d) Role reversal.

3. Which perspective is placed on the humor by a writer in a comedy?
(a) Narrow.
(b) Reasonable.
(c) Skewed.
(d) Unreasonable.

4. Which form of language requires more precision?
(a) Writing.
(b) Writing and speaking both require the same amount of precision.
(c) Speaking.
(d) Neither writing nor speaking requires precision.

5. Which Irish novelist does the author refer to when describing characters that change from situations beyond their control?
(a) Charles Kickham.
(b) James Joyce.
(c) William Carleton.
(d) Jonathan Swift.

6. In comedy, how should a transformation be presented?
(a) In a justified way.
(b) In an unjustified way.
(c) Close to the end of the story.
(d) In the middle of the story.

7. According to the author in Chapter 10, what is comedy almost always about?
(a) Vengeance.
(b) Betrayal.
(c) Accidents.
(d) Pain.

8. How can a character effectively have a random transformation?
(a) Only in a world where random change is abnormal.
(b) Only in a world where random change is normal.
(c) Only in a world where everyone else changes.
(d) Only in a world where no one else changes.

9. Which one of the following is an example of a character that remains unchanged?
(a) A character who only changes around specific characters.
(b) A character who pretends to change.
(c) A character who wants to change, but cannot.
(d) A character who changes involuntarily.

10. What Ayn Rand book, mentioned in Chapter 12, features sympathetic characters that are not transformed, but unmasked?
(a) The Fountainhead.
(b) We the Living.
(c) The Voice of Reason.
(d) Anthem.

11. How can a character appear to change while remaining unchanged?
(a) They only change in front of certain characters.
(b) The reader is misinterpreting the character.
(c) The author does not develop the character effectively.
(d) They reveal the truth about who they were all along.

12. How much impact does sound have on the types of voices the author is discussing in Chapter 13?
(a) It is a major part of it.
(b) It has no impact on it.
(c) It is only a small part of it.
(d) It has an average impact on it.

13. What is the amount of justification proportionate to?
(a) The number of events involved in the character being justified.
(b) The event being justified.
(c) The character being justified.
(d) The number of characters involved in the event being justified.

14. What do third person narratives transcend?
(a) Neither awareness nor understanding.
(b) Awareness, but not understanding.
(c) Understanding, but not awareness.
(d) Awareness and understanding.

15. What does "controlled disbelief" refer to?
(a) When a character makes another character go along with something neither one of them believe.
(b) When a character goes along with something they cannot believe.
(c) When a character makes another character go along with something they cannot believe.
(d) When a character refuses to go along with something they cannot believe.

Short Answer Questions

1. As explained in Chapter 15, what is the time difference in "showing" and "telling"?

2. What is a viewpoint narrator?

3. What difficulty exists when writing a first person narrative?

4. What effect does writing down words have as opposed to speaking them?

5. What should the motives reveal when making a character more believable?

(see the answer keys)

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