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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When you start think there is one more thing you could do, what should you remind yourself?
(a) The octopus is snoring, time to move on.
(b) Dr. Suess refuses to eat the broccoli.
(c) Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.
(d) Your characters have evolved, time to move on.

2. What movie line does Anne suggest as a good one to tape to the wall of your office?
(a) "Climb every mountain."
(b) "From sun up to sun down I am the best writer in town."
(c) "Hey - lighten up, Francis."
(d) "Jeremiah was a bullfrog."

3. What does Anne say you have to get over, or you will not go far in your writing?
(a) Paranoia.
(b) Jealousy.
(c) Hypochondria.
(d) Perfectionism.

4. How does Anne tell her students to train the unconscious to kick in?
(a) Listen to classical music.
(b) Drink wine and eat chocolate, then write.
(c) Phone an off-putting friend, that will get your creative juices going.
(d) Sit down to write at approximately the same time every day.

5. According to Anne, what is one thing that can make a book very tiring to read?
(a) Dialogue written in dialect.
(b) Serif font.
(c) Dr. Suess.
(d) Dialogue written without any dialect.

6. What was Anne writing about when she contacted an expert to help her with the set design?
(a) A kitchen.
(b) A garden.
(c) A vegetable medley.
(d) A Special Olympics race.

7. What do we want out of important characters, such as a narrator?
(a) For them to be reliable.
(b) For them to manipulate us.
(c) A good plot line.
(d) For them to entertain us every step of the way.

8. What does Anne tell her students the reason to write is?
(a) To get published.
(b) To find a good agent.
(c) To create books.
(d) To get noticed and make lots of money.

9. What is the question Anne's students always ask?
(a) What happens when a character changes?
(b) How can you put an octopus to bed?
(c) How do you know when you are done?
(d) How can I write like Dr. Suess?

10. When a student is having difficulty writing, what does Anne ask them about?
(a) About the wire thingy on champagne bottles.
(b) The current time and temperature.
(c) How messy they were as a child.
(d) Their school lunches.

11. When Anne showed up at the Special Olympics to write an article, did she know what she was going to write?
(a) No, she was not even very interested.
(b) She had no idea of what the finished article would be.
(c) Yes, she was going to write a food review about the hot dogs there.
(d) Yes, about a girl on crutches.

12. What does the title, False Starts, mean?
(a) When you start writing too soon, without doing your research.
(b) You think you know about the character, but as you start writing, you can find out you were wrong.
(c) When you have to scrap your bad first draft.
(d) Set design never turns out like you think it will.

13. What does Anne say can reveal a character better than pages of description?
(a) One line of dialog that rings true.
(b) Really off the wall dialect.
(c) The antagonist.
(d) Pages of dialog with descriptive wording.

14. What was Anne's first poem about that got any attention?
(a) Tiny bubbles.
(b) Her father.
(c) Sam.
(d) John Glenn.

15. What is Anne's father's occupation?
(a) Hippie.
(b) Librarian.
(c) Real Estate Agent.
(d) Writer.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is at least half the battle Anne faces in her daily writing?

2. After a half hour of writing, how much material was generated from the school lunch assignment?

3. What image does Anne use to help her gather dialog for characters?

4. What does Anne say perfectionism will block?

5. What advice does Anne's hypnotist give her about the negative voices?

(see the answer keys)

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