View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In an analogy about a photographer, why did the photographer say he brought the same rejected photograph for judgment every year?
(a) "...I only used that camera this one time."
(b) "...I just know it is my best shot."
(c) "...I had to climb a mountain to get it."
(d) "...I never throw anything away."

2. What question does Dillard say a writer must ask when considering random scenes that come to mind?
(a) How many scenes do I need to write?
(b) Is writing the same as film exposure?
(c) Do I want to expose these scenes to the light?
(d) Should I write everything I think of?

3. Who does Dillard say that she believes to be one of the most prolific writers who has ever lived?
(a) William Shakespeare.
(b) James Patterson.
(c) Edgar Allen Poe.
(d) Thomas Mann.

4. Dillard believes that some writers weaken their resolve to discard parts of their work. Why?
(a) People have told them it is too good to discard.
(b) The words have come to have a necessary quality.
(c) They believe every word they write is too important to discard.
(d) It is too much work.

5. What does Dillard say shocked her as she remembered a formal lunch with a publishing colleague in Chapter 2?
(a) Her plants dying.
(b) The fanaticism of her twenties.
(c) The sexist terms the man used.
(d) Her lack of entertaining people.

6. How long did it take William Faulkner to write "As I Lay Dying"?
(a) Six weeks.
(b) Six months.
(c) Six years.
(d) Ten years.

7. According to Dillard, what kind of life is a life of sensation?
(a) A life spent reading.
(b) A life of spirit.
(c) A good life.
(d) A life of greed.

8. Where does the "line of words" go at the end of Chapter 1?
(a) To Venus.
(b) To Houston, Texas.
(c) To the sun.
(d) Out past Jupiter.

9. To what does Dillard compare writing a book?
(a) Climbing a long ladder.
(b) Learning to walk via crawling.
(c) Running a marathon.
(d) A reality television show.

10. How long does it generally take to write a book?
(a) One to five years.
(b) Six months.
(c) Two to ten years.
(d) One to ten months.

11. When a writer is stuck while writing a book, what does Dillard think he should do?
(a) Nothing but think about it.
(b) Write, no matter what.
(c) Do crosswords to stimulate the brain.
(d) Read books that are similar.

12. What sport did Dillard play with a boys' music camp?
(a) Softball.
(b) Basketball.
(c) Flag Football.
(d) Soccer.

13. Whose wife posed for the Liberty dime?
(a) Wallace Stevens.
(b) Osip Mandelstam.
(c) Wilhelm Dinesen.
(d) Thomas Mann.

14. When Dillard once wrote in a cinder-block cell, what scene did it overlook?
(a) A tar-and-gravel roof.
(b) Cape Cod bay.
(c) A strip mall.
(d) Mountains.

15. What does Dillard's "line of words" do with random pictures in the writer's mind?
(a) Dismisses them.
(b) Dreams of them.
(c) Dissects them out.
(d) Writes them down, word for word.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened in Bridgeport, Connecticut one morning in April, 1987?

2. Who is the main character in a story told by Ernest Thompson Seton?

3. Under what circumstances did Rabbi Uri of Strelisk tell his family to dispose of his manuscripts?

4. What was knocking on the carrel window as Dillard worked in Roanoke?

5. When Dillard wrote in Roanoke, Virginia, what did she long for upon coming home after writing?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 597 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample