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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who wrote the book 1984?
(a) Thomas Pynchon.
(b) George Orwell.
(c) Ray Bradbury.
(d) J. D. Salinger.

2. What was William Gass publishing at New American Library?
(a) The Sunlight Dialogues.
(b) Omensetter's Luck.
(c) The Wreckage of Agathon.
(d) Grendel.

3. Gardner writes in Chapter 2 that in the workshop he is teaching he encountered a story which he hopes to publish titled what?
(a) "Exit."
(b) "Thoughts."
(c) "Tomorrow."
(d) "Jason."

4. What is one of the most important things for a young writer to have, according to Gardner in Chapter 2?
(a) Community.
(b) Religion.
(c) Ego.
(d) Family.

5. Who does Gardner say one can be fooled by the nature of imagining that the best way to become a writer is to be a seaman or a lumberjack?
(a) Ernest Hemingway.
(b) Thomas Pinchon.
(c) Jack Frost.
(d) Jack London.

6. Which manuscript did Gardner send out which got a reply suggesting he cut it by a third?
(a) The Resurrection.
(b) The Sunlight Dialogues.
(c) Grendel.
(d) The Wreckage of Agathon.

7. Where is one of the oldest and best known writing workshops?
(a) Iowa.
(b) Kentucky.
(c) Kansas.
(d) New Hampshire.

8. One of the favorite survival jobs of writers has in recent years been what?
(a) Office clerks.
(b) Night auditing.
(c) High school teaching.
(d) College teaching.

9. Where does the manuscript of a book go after the copy editor is finished with it?
(a) Publisher.
(b) Author.
(c) Typesetter.
(d) Literary editor.

10. In Chapter 2, Gardner writes that the "true young novelist has the stamina, patience, and single-mindedness of a" what?
(a) Draft horse.
(b) Mule.
(c) Mother.
(d) Elephant.

11. Who is cited as the head of the writing program at Johns Hopkins and favors new and strange styles?
(a) William Glass.
(b) Kurt Vonnegut.
(c) John Barth.
(d) Max Apple.

12. What experimental writer does Gardner mention having been moved and delighted by in Chapter 2?
(a) Tom Robbins.
(b) James Joyce.
(c) William Glass.
(d) Samuel Beckett.

13. Who was the first editor to take interest in Gardner's work?
(a) Bob Gottlieb.
(b) James Growder.
(c) Jack Smith.
(d) Gerald Kimble.

14. What author once remarked "the best way to become a writer is to go off and write"?
(a) Hemingway.
(b) Ibsen.
(c) Fitzgerald.
(d) London.

15. To which editor at New American Library did Gardner send The Sunlight Diaries?
(a) Michael Harper.
(b) Bob Gottlieb.
(c) David Segal.
(d) Harry Crews.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the world of grants, Gardner writes in Chapter 2, who has a better chance than other artists?

2. What author of experimental fiction teaches at Rice?

3. What is one of the only programs for funding for writers on the governmental level?

4. Gardner compares the first thrill of achievement of the writer to that of an oboist or what?

5. Gardner writes in Chapter 3, "Young writers want to ____ because they're unsure of themselves."

(see the answer keys)

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