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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. In Anne's experience, and the experience of other writer's she knows, how easily does plot structure come?
(a) It tends to come like the development of a Polaroid.
(b) Not easily at all.
(c) It is like a Gulf stream going through a straw.
(d) Easy as pie.

2. What is Anne's comment on messes?
(a) Messes should be kept to a minimum.
(b) Hire a housekeeper to clean up your messes.
(c) Messes do not say anything about who we are.
(d) They are an artist's true friend.

3. Who are the two authors that Anne says have written well about plot?
(a) E. M. Forester and John Gardner.
(b) Flannery O'Conner and Faulkner.
(c) John Gardner and Faulkner.
(d) Rosemary Wells and Doreen Cornin.

4. What is a plot treatment?
(a) It treats the false starts in a book.
(b) A road map of the beginning and end of a chapter, and how the end grows into the following chapter.
(c) A treatment of the dialog in the book.
(d) It is something done by a big plotting machine.

5. After a half hour of writing, how much material was generated from the school lunch assignment?
(a) Enough to write two or three books.
(b) The perfect amount for a short story.
(c) Too much for Anne and some of the people in class, it threatened to immoblize them.
(d) None, her students did not eat lunch.

Short Answer Questions

1. Anne's editor loved the characters in her book, but what was the problem with the book?

2. When will you know your characters, according to Anne?

3. How does Anne describe the Polaroid?

4. What do readers want to know about characters besides their superficial values?

5. What advice did E. L. Doctorow have about writing?

Short Essay Questions

1. At some point you may need to design a set for your characters that you know nothing about. What avenues does Anne suggest taking to gain the knowledge you need?

2. Another of Anne's stories stems from the movie Stripes. The line is "Hey, lighten up Francis." How is this story helpful to her students?

3. According to Anne, how are we able to see the underlying essence of a person?

4. How does Anne suggest writing about school lunches be beneficial for a writer?

5. When Anne's students tell her they do not know where to start, she tells them to start with their childhood. How is this helpful?

6. How does Anne say perfectionism affects writing?

7. How does Anne state dialogue affects a reader?

8. Alice Adams suggests the ABDCE formula for writing a short story. How can formulas be a great way to get us started?

9. How did having a mother and father who read, and a father who was a writer, affect Anne's life?

10. When Anne was writing food reviews, how did allowing herself to write bad first drafts help her?

(see the answer keys)

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