Rubric for Short Story

Short Story Writing	Excellent	Very Good	Satisfactory	Min Acceptable
Details and Description	●      Use good detail and description throughout the story that also develops themes and mood	●      Give good detail and description to develop setting, characters, events and images	●      Give some detail and description to develop characters, events, and images	●      Contains limited detail and images
Word choice and sentence structure	●      Show variety and precision in word choice and use a variety of sentence types and lengths effectively	●      Use a variety of words and sentences but more complex sentences may be awkward	●      Incorporate some variety in words and sentences but some sentences are short and choppy or long and awkward	●      Uses basic language with many errors
Story Structure	●      Build a story through believable events that are generally not predictable ●      Create a climax with audience impact ●      Create an emotional impact on the audience or makes a strong point	●      Build the story on believable events with some sense of uncertainty ●      Develop a clear climax with some build up and impact ●      Engage the audience with the beginning and create a believable ending	●      Build the story on a series of predictable events ●      Develop a basic climax  ●      Establish the problem or situation and introduce main character(s) in the beginning ●      Ending is abrupt, seems forced or unlikely	●      Contains a beginning, middle, and end
Characterization	●      Create characters who reveal motivations and relationships	●      Develop characters through their words and behavior	●      Describe characters in a way that focuses on physical traits or stereotypes	●      Characters have little description or depth
Dialogue	·         Use natural and interesting dialogue	·         Use natural dialogue	●      Use dialogue but may be overused, underused, confusing, or forced	·         Dialogue is present but weak
Devices	·         Use 5 or more devices in creative and appropriate ways	·         Use 4 or more devices in some creative and appropriate ways	·         Use 3 of the devices	·         Uses 1 or 2 devices