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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What author does Gardner remark has a persistent mean streak in his writing?

2. Gardner notes in Chapter 1 that all writing requires some measure of a ____ state.

3. Who is one of the writers Gardner notes in Chapter 1 as having both a fine ear for language and also a fascination with the materials?

4. What book was Gardner writing when he remembered the altered sense coming over him while in the last chapter?

5. Gardner compares Melville's Moby Dick with what in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gardner explain characterization and story through his hypothetical story in Chapter 1?

2. How does the young author learn technique through reading others?

3. What does Gardner say in Chapter 1 regarding "verbal sensitivity?" What does this term mean?

4. What state does good fiction elicit in the reader, according to Gardner?

5. What hypothetical situation does Gardner uses as an example of plot in Chapter 1?

6. What does Gardner remark of the author's sense of observation in Chapter 1?

7. What does Gardner write about showy language in Chapter 1?

8. What authors does Gardner use to illustrate language and character in Chapter 1?

9. How does Gardner describe traditional plot, victim stories, and "epiphany stories?"

10. Where did Gardner learn his method of writing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Gardner mean in Chapter 1 when he refers to "verbal sensitivity"? What does this phrase mean and not mean to the author?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the negative aspects of going for a graduate degree from a writer's workshop. What cons does Gardner cite for these programs?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss what Gardner refers to as "faith" in the final chapter. Where does the author find faith? How should the author go about escaping writer's block?

(see the answer keys)

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