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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 one of fiction's most important purposes?
(a) To make the reader feel more uncomfortable.
(b) To make the reader feel less sorrow.
(c) To make the reader feel more sorrow.
(d) To make the reader feel less uncomfortable.

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

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

4. As explained in Chapter 15, what is the time difference in "showing" and "telling"?
(a) Showing takes more time than telling.
(b) Showing takes less time than telling.
(c) Showing and telling take the same amount of time.
(d) The time for both showing and telling depends on the writer.

5. Besides an individually defined character, what does the narrator of a first person story need?
(a) A reason for telling the story.
(b) A knowledge of all other characters.
(c) A knowledge of the major characters.
(d) A reason for his/her actions in the story.

Short Answer Questions

1. How much fiction uses random transformation?

2. Which character in Pygmalion does the author use as an example of a character that changes him or herself?

3. What type of speech patterns do people use when they are talking into a recorder?

4. Which incidents in the story must the narrator be present for in order to make a first person narrative effective?

5. According to the author in Chapter 13, what is the writer's responsibility?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the consequences that are beyond a character's control and provoke a transformation?

2. What are the advantages to using an omniscient or limited narration?

3. How is the illusion of truth created?

4. How do "showing" and "telling" affect the story?

5. What are the three levels in which a writer can penetrate the mind or experience of a viewpoint character?

6. How can a presentation perspective and a representation perspective be successfully applied?

7. How can a writer explore a character's past?

8. What is the value of justification and how does a writer decide the amount to include in a story?

9. What is the author's theory of how people experience transformations in life?

10. What choice must a writer make when using a first person narrative, and what should influence the decision?

(see the answer keys)

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