Short Story Instructions
You are going to write your own story. You’re going to mix the elements of Irving’s story and Poe’s poem. Your short story needs to have a moral to the story like “The Devil and Tom Walker.” It also needs to be spooky and have a melancholy mood like Poe’s, “The Raven.” If you are writing single-spaced, then your story should be two pages long. If you are writing double-spaced, your story needs to be four pages long.
You need to complete the graphic organizer for the main character(s) (Character Development) and the graphic organizer to outline the plot of the story (Story Map). If you have more than one main character, you need to complete more than one Character Development graphic organizer. You will turn in your graphic organizers with your complete paper at the end of class on Monday.
You have two full days in class to work on your story. I am attaching the rubric that I will be grading your story by. Your story will be worth 100 points. I am also attaching the graphic organizers. Complete the graphic organizers on your own paper. You can begin writing your story once you finish your graphic organizers.
What you need:
• Spooky mood
• Moral to the story
• Correct length
• Graphic Organizers
• Logic (your story needs to make sense)
• Correct standard punctuation and grammar
16-13 points
12-9 points
8-5 points
4-0 points
Spooky setting and atmosphere
The setting is clearly described, and words are used to describe the atmosphere
The setting is clearly described, and the atmosphere is implied
The setting and atmosphere are not clearly described
The setting is not described, and there is no kind of description of atmosphere
Moral of the story
There is an obvious moral of the story
There is an implied moral to the story
There is a hint of a moral, but no evidence
There is no moral to the story
Length
If single-spaced, the story is 2 pages long. If double-spaced, the story is 4 pages long
The story is ¾ the length that is required
The story is ½ the length that is required
The story is ¼ the length that is required or shorter
Graphic Organizers
Completes all graphic organizers
Completes the majority of the graphic organizers
Completes half or less than the majority of graphic organizers
Completes no graphic organizers
Logic
The story is logical and makes sense
The story is difficult to comprehend
The story is very hard to comprehend.
The story makes absolutely no sense
Punctuation/
Grammar
Few errors in standard punctuation and grammar.
Many errors in standard punctuation and grammar
So many punctuation and grammar errors that it is distracting to read
So many punctuation and grammar errors that the story is hard to comprehend