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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Anne say good writing is about?

2. What is Anne's response to her students question about knowing when they are done?

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

4. What are great language tools that explain the unknown in terms of the known to the reader?

5. What is Ethan Canin's idea of the most valuable thing about writing?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Anne state dialogue affects a reader?

2. 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?

3. How did Anne's article on the Special Olympics start off? How did it turn out?

4. How do you know when you are done, according to Anne?

5. What does a bad first draft provide a writer, according to Anne?

6. How does Anne compare writing a first draft to watching a Polaroid develop?

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

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

9. What does Anne suggest can help when you sit down to write dialogue?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When you are stuck and cannot think of any other thing to do, but you can not leave your work alone, how does writing a letter help the writer? Who can you write the letter to? What can the letter be about? What does the writing a letter free the writer from?

Essay Topic 2

Short assignments and bad first drafts are the most helpful things Anne has to impart about writing. Pick either the short assignment or bad first draft, and explain the motivation, process, and outcome of the task.

Essay Topic 3

On the first day of class, Anne tells her students that good writing is about telling the truth. What kind of attitude do the students have the first few days? How does their attitude change in the following days? Why does their attitude change?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 800 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample