View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How long does it generally take to write a book?
(a) One to five years.
(b) Six months.
(c) One to ten months.
(d) Two to ten years.

2. Which religious sect did Dillard read about in the Virginia library?
(a) Islam.
(b) Catholicism.
(c) Hasidism.
(d) Hinduism.

3. Dillard refers to writing as changing "..from an expression of your notions to an epistemological tool." What does epistemological mean?
(a) Greek knowledge.
(b) Bacterial DNA that is extrachromosomal.
(c) A philosophy concerned with the nature and origin of knowledge.
(d) Surgical incision of the perineum during childbirth.

4. Which author would only write poetry when he was '...rather out of health'?
(a) A.E. Housman.
(b) Jack London.
(c) Osip Mandelstam.
(d) Wallace Stevens.

5. What did Dillard do one night in the rare book room of the Virginia library?
(a) Moved a black chess piece.
(b) Left the lights on all night.
(c) Knocked over a chess board.
(d) Moved a white chess piece.

Short Answer Questions

1. How long did it take William Faulkner to write "As I Lay Dying"?

2. What does Dillard say that the printed word cannot compete with?

3. What question does Dillard say a writer must ask when considering random scenes that come to mind?

4. What does Dillard say shocked her as she remembered a formal lunch with a publishing colleague in Chapter 2?

5. How did Washington writer, Charlie Butts, write fiction in order to gain momentum?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Dillard describe the way in which a writer might start the process of writing a book?

2. When Dillard heard a June bug bumping up against the carrel window one night, what did the noise bring her to realize?

3. How is the line of Dillard's words likened to a hammer in Chapter 1?

4. Describe the inside of Dillard's study on Cape Cod.

5. Dillard describes the scenes from her desk at the library in Virginia. Why does she say these scenes are detrimental to her work?

6. Why does Dillard feel that an appealing workplace for a writer should be avoided?

7. Why does Dillard believe a writer often wants to refrain from throwing away the beginnings of the work she has created?

8. Why does Dillard believe that putting together a book is interesting and exhilarating?

9. How does Dillard describe the line of words as being one's own heart?

10. When the cab driver in New York sang songs with Dillard, why did he sing one dull song twice?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,122 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample