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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. To which substance is King first addicted as a young man?
(a) Cocaine.
(b) Prescription pain-killers.
(c) Marijuana.
(d) Alcohol.

2. When does King begin to write stories?
(a) While he is in kindergarten.
(b) After he finishes school.
(c) When he is eight or nine.
(d) During his first year of school.

3. Of the two reasons King gives for why people write, which one does he support?
(a) Writing as a hobby.
(b) Writing for fame.
(c) Writing as a passion.
(d) Writing for money.

4. How did King describe the cloth's appearance in his image?
(a) He talks about its smell.
(b) He describes its color.
(c) He describes its texture.
(d) He didn't.

5. When does King get the idea for Carrie?
(a) When his wife tells him a story she overheard.
(b) After reading about another girl.
(c) After taking a job at a high school.
(d) After watching a similar TV show.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to King, who determines what the image in the second chapter looks like?

2. What happens to the person(s) on whom King bases Carrie while they were in high school?

3. Of the details King has supplied the reader regarding his image in the second chapter, what does King hope the reader will primarily focus on?

4. How can the book, On Writing, be described?

5. What is one reason for reading the book, On Writing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What facts or ideas show the beginnings of King's career as a master of horror?

2. What are some of the things King remembers from his childhood? How might they have affected his writing?

3. What relationship is there between writing as a career and writing as a passion? Explain in your own words.

4. Based on the chapters, C.V., and What Writing Is, what ideas justify King's statement that writing is a serious job?

5. What are some of the aspects of writing that King is not going to emphasize in the chapter, What Writing Is?

6. As a child, King had many chronic ear and throat infections. How might these illnesses lead King to writing?

7. Can you explain how King created the character of Carrie and why he disliked her so?

8. King believed that writing is telepathy. What is telepathy in the context of this statement?

9. After Tabitha King's intervention in her husband's addictions, King insisted on moving his desk. How was this symbolically important to him?

10. King was a heavy drinker and addicted to cocaine. He believed that these two elements contributed to his creativity. In terms of the chapter, C.V., do you think his belief was justified? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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