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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is unusual about the character Annie Wilkes?
(a) She is a psychopath with redeeming qualities.
(b) Her prisoner finds her sympathetic.
(c) She is a good person doing evil deeds.
(d) She maintains her good qualities while committing her sins.

2. What activity might cause King to work on days he normally doesn't work?
(a) Having a writer's block and not producing his usual amount of words previously.
(b) Having a deadline to meet.
(c) Being in the middle of a new novel.
(d) Being sick on days previous to the holiday.

3. In addition to his injunction, King wants writers to leave something behind when they write. What should writers leave behind?
(a) Honesty.
(b) Cleverness.
(c) Their desires.
(d) Fear.

4. What book does King recommend for grammar study?
(a) Betty Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar.
(b) Any good high school grammar text.
(c) Prentice-Hall Handbook of Grammar.
(d) Strunk and White's Elements of Style.

5. What does King feel he will accomplish with his technique regarding description?
(a) He believes that a reader is unimpressed by description.
(b) He urges the writer to work more on his dialogues.
(c) He is leaving some things to the reader's imagination.
(d) He doesn not want the reader to become an active participant in the creative process.

6. Where does King get the idea for the novel Misery?
(a) From his wife.
(b) From a TV show.
(c) From a dream.
(d) From a book he was reading.

7. Does King feel that a writer should blindly follow all the rules in the book he recommends?
(a) Yes. They are excellent rules.
(b) Yes, but the writer should remember and use the exceptions, too.
(c) Yes, because these rules are the ultimate authority.
(d) No. He feels some of the rules are 'a little over the top'.

8. What is a common characteristic of adverbs?
(a) Oftentimes adverbs end with -ier.
(b) Frequently adverbs end in -ness.
(c) Most adverbs end in -ed.
(d) Many adverbs end in -ly.

9. What does King consider to be a writer's practice?
(a) Reading.
(b) Writing exercises.
(c) Daily journal entries.
(d) Any kind of writing.

10. What kind of material should a writer read in order to learn the most from his reading?
(a) In the same genre that he writes.
(b) Action drama.
(c) Bad prose.
(d) Poetry.

11. If used correctly, King believes that dialogue could be what object for a writer?
(a) The least important tool in the writer's toolbox.
(b) A strong tool in the writer's toolbox.
(c) A clever device used by the writer when necessary.
(d) A helpful tool like a monologue.

12. Which genre does King feel Misery will belong to when he begins to write the story?
(a) A novel.
(b) A screenplay.
(c) A short story.
(d) A novella.

13. What advice does King give on paragraphs?
(a) King wants writers to see their paragraphs as a graphic picture on a page.
(b) To pay attention to the length and number of paragraphs.
(c) King believes paragraphs should not vary in length.
(d) King feels paragraphs should have a standard length of 8 to 10 lines.

14. How many words a day does King try to produce?
(a) 5000 words.
(b) 1500 words.
(c) 2000 words.
(d) 3000 words.

15. When does King hold himself to the minimum number of words per day?
(a) When working under a deadline.
(b) During a period of writer's block.
(c) While writing the first draft of all his novels.
(d) While he is revising his work.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does King paint the main character from The Dead Zone?

2. How does King use this advice from his uncle?

3. According to King, what is the best technique to use with description?

4. Why does King take this position on adverbs?

5. In addition to comments on paragraphs, King mentions one other feature of the page. What is it?

(see the answer keys)

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