□ Character relationships are well developed and interesting. □ Characters are unique and not stereotypes or one dimensional □ Characters, especially main character, is developed well through multiple techniques (dialogue gestures, description, action, etc). □ Story does not meet minimum word requirements. □ Ending is clichéd, shocking, or unbelievable.
□ Beginning of the story has too much summary and background-needs a scene and action. □ The plot tries to cover too much time or is confusing to follow.
□ Plot is not engaging, doesn’t contain tension, or is clichéd. □ Story meets word requirements, but needs to be longer, ideas need to developed further. □ Ending is ok but could be more satisfying or original. □ Beginning of the story is interesting but may have too much summary and not enough action. □ The plot is fairy condensed but may span too much time or have too much history or summary. □ Plot is interesting but may contain some confusion, clichéd ideas, or vagueness. □ Ending is satisfying even if it’s abrupt or doesn’t wrap up all ideas. □ Beginning of the story engages audience and begins with action or a scene and not summary or background. □ The plot is condensed enough to develop in a short story (time is condensed) □ Plot is original and surprising (had tension), but not shocking. See this website for grammar review if needed: Make sure to use correct capitalization, spelling, and grammar. Make sure to start a new paragraph when a new character speaks. Make sure to have title page with name, name of story, date, etc. Name the file as: yourlastname_story (for example: swing_story) Try not to fall back on common plots, stereotypical characters, etc. Try to write a unique story in your own writing style. Think about all the elements of fiction which the fiction lessons and your textbook discuss. Write a short story (possibly using a character/characters you have developed in class assignments (week three discussion assignment). Here is the first draft of my new rubric: Great start here–see comments above for ways to improve the story. Great detail about the city but need more details in some places–scenes would help with that. Just need more dialogue in scenes.Īre the setting and details in the story well developed and unique? Use a comma between speaker and dialogue. Is the dialogue in the story natural and realistic? Does it help develop characters, action, and scenes? Also some comma splices, apostrophe errors, run-ons, and other errors are getting in the way of your ideas. Also you need more scenes-to really move the action along and help the readers get into the story and characters.ĭoes the story contain college-level writing and an interesting writing style? Are there too many grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors?Īvoid using second person (you) in fiction. Good at the start but try to let the action and dialogue show things-try not to explain everything. I would suggest just starting with the first scene-let the background of the characters come out through the plot.ĭoes the story contain scenes that let the characters act and move and not just a summary of events or time periods? You begin more with an introduction or summary. It’s most effective to start with dialogue and/or action. Good idea for plot-just need more scenes and less summary to make the story more effective.ĭoes the story start with action or dialogue instead of summary? Is the plot interesting and original? Is the plot condensed enough to develop in the length of the story? So much of the story is summary that we only get general info on her.
Good character but I wanted to know more about her-and see her more in action. Here is my original rubric (with examples of comments and a grade):Īre the characters well developed through a variety of character techniques (such as dialogue, using gestures, observations, etc.)? I hope this new rubric makes the expectations of the assignment clearer to students and make grading more objective and clear. I also changed the point values because the short story ends up being one of the longest assignments in the class, so I changed it from 100 to 150 points (I plan to decrease the points in their literary critique since that is a shorter overall assignment). After reading all this information about rubric, I decided to revise it into a point-based, more analytic rubric. I have used a holistic, comment-based rubric for my short story assignment in Creative Writing for several years.