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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How much freedom do characters have to change in comedy?
(a) None.
(b) More.
(c) Less.
(d) Only the central character can change in comedy.

2. When is telling a story valuable to a narrative?
(a) Only when it explains a present or future action.
(b) Only when it explains a past action.
(c) Only when it advances future action.
(d) Only when it advances present action.

3. Which type of narrative is most often used when writing from a Representation perspective?
(a) Second person.
(b) First person.
(c) First person or second person.
(d) Third person.

4. What is an omniscient narrator?
(a) One that observes, understands, and comments on the narrative.
(b) One that observes and comments on the narrative, but does not have to understand it.
(c) One that observes and understands the narrative, but does not have to comment on it.
(d) One that comments on the narrative without observing or understanding it.

5. What type of speech patterns do people use when they are talking into a recorder?
(a) A higher voice than normal.
(b) Their dictation dialect.
(c) A lower voice than normal.
(d) Their normal speaking voice.

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

7. What is the benefit of an omniscient narrator?
(a) It can provide a better understanding of the events for a reader.
(b) It can provide a better understanding of the reasons behind the events for the reader.
(c) It can reveal more character in less time.
(d) It can reveal more character in a way that is clearer.

8. What is the main advantage of a first person narrative?
(a) To let the reader understand the world differently than the narrator sees it.
(b) To cause the reader to accept their own world.
(c) To encourage the reader to accept the world as someone else sees it.
(d) To let the reader see the world as someone else sees it.

9. From what perspective is the narrative being written?
(a) What the narrator believes he/she is saying.
(b) What the reader wants to hear.
(c) What the narrator wants the reader to hear.
(d) What the reader is hearing.

10. What type of relationships can contribute to a character's attitude?
(a) Past.
(b) Past, present, or future.
(c) Future.
(d) Present.

11. What is it that changes the control a writer has when they write words down?
(a) The fact that a writer can see the words.
(b) The fact that a writer speaks without thinking.
(c) The fact that a writer writes without thinking.
(d) The fact that a writer cannot hear the words.

12. What type of attitude should a character have with reference to events?
(a) Inconsistent and changing.
(b) Consistent and unchanging.
(c) Clearly defined.
(d) Vaguely defined.

13. In Chapter 11, what does the author state makes a character believable?
(a) The absence of truth.
(b) The portrayal of truth.
(c) The illusion of truth.
(d) The allusion to truth.

14. Which incidents in the story must the narrator be present for in order to make a first person narrative effective?
(a) The major and the minor incidents.
(b) The major incidents.
(c) The minor incidents.
(d) Neither the major nor the minor incidents.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How does a flashback affect the present narrative?

3. Which one of the following is an example listed in Chapter 12 of a transformation causing consequence that is beyond a character's control?

4. In general, how do people write in comparison to the way they speak?

5. How are "showing" and "telling" defined?

(see the answer keys)

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