View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. King has been called a hack over the years. What is a hack?
(a) A literary drudge.
(b) A writer with no talent.
(c) An excellent writer.
(d) A writer of trivial matter.

2. What book does King recommend for grammar study?
(a) Strunk and White's Elements of Style.
(b) Any good high school grammar text.
(c) Betty Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar.
(d) Prentice-Hall Handbook of Grammar.

3. What is King's first piece of advice to those reading the chapter, On Writing?
(a) To believe in their work.
(b) To practice their writing using his suggestions.
(c) To read.
(d) To write every day.

4. In the chapter, Toolbox, what advice does King give the reader?
(a) Writers should carefully prepare their tools before beginning to write.
(b) Writers should always be prepared.
(c) Writers need their own toolbox to be successful.
(d) Writers need to have outlets other than writing.

5. How many words a day does King try to produce?
(a) 3000 words.
(b) 5000 words.
(c) 2000 words.
(d) 1500 words.

6. What are King's feelings on grammar study?
(a) Grammar should be studied at length.
(b) Lengthy grammar study is unnecessary.
(c) Grammar should be studied only through high school.
(d) Grammar should be learned intuitively.

7. What is unusual about the character Annie Wilkes?
(a) She maintains her good qualities while committing her sins.
(b) Her prisoner finds her sympathetic.
(c) She is a psychopath with redeeming qualities.
(d) She is a good person doing evil deeds.

8. According to King, what characteristic should a writer's space have?
(a) A simple place with little or no distractions.
(b) A quiet place with a radio and a computer.
(c) A calming venue with only a telephone and a computer.
(d) An office space with files, computer, printer, and a telephone.

9. Another belief of King is that writers have a special need. What is this need?
(a) An office equipped with a computer and internet access.
(b) A telephone.
(c) A modern computer with Skype and YouTube accounts.
(d) A specific space in which to write.

10. Which genre does King feel Misery will belong to when he begins to write the story?
(a) A novella.
(b) A novel.
(c) A screenplay.
(d) A short story.

11. Why is it important to King that a writer not be distracted while working?
(a) He feels that distractions cause a writer to lose the desire to work.
(b) He suggests that writers need solitude to clarify their thoughts.
(c) He thinks writers achieve their best work in solitude.
(d) He believes that distractions make achieving a high number of words impossible.

12. What kind of verbs does King recommend be used when writing?
(a) Verbs of vivid action.
(b) Verbs in the active voice, present tense.
(c) Verbs in the passive voice, past tense.
(d) Verbs in the active voice.

13. At what point does King try to add symbolism to his work?
(a) While editing the novel.
(b) In the first draft.
(c) When it seems to be important to do so.
(d) In the second draft.

14. How does King define vocabulary?
(a) The sum of the words you know.
(b) Good words and knowledge of how to use them.
(c) A knowledge of words used by different people that you are going to write about.
(d) An essential tool for good writing.

15. King's comparison of a handyman's toolbox with a writer's tool box is which figure of speech?
(a) Epigram.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Irony.
(d) Simile.

Short Answer Questions

1. In addition to his injunction, King wants writers to leave something behind when they write. What should writers leave behind?

2. How does King feel about figures of speech?

3. According to King, what goes in the top of the writer's toolbox?

4. How does King paint the main character from The Dead Zone?

5. With respect to vocabulary, King states that __________ does not matter:

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 693 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample