Writing the Short Story

Today we began the process of writing the short story.  Please see the handout description below.

Homework:  Pictures (if you are using Storybird) / typed rough draft due Friday.  Final project due the following Friday.

Create a Short Story!

You are going to create a short story to show us that you know what a good short story takes.  Once you create your story, you need to share it with us in one of three ways:

1)   By creating a Storybird using www.storybird.com (you turn it in through that website)

2)   By creating a picture book using Keynote (and emailing it to me through the app)

3)   By recording it with Garage Band to make an audiobook (and emailing it to me through the app)

Word Count:

            Academic: Minimum of 300 words (Storybird = 10 pages)

            CP:  400 – 500 words (Storybird = 16 pages)

            Honors: 500 + (no maximum, but try and keep it under 700 please!)

The Writing Process:

The way you go about doing this depends on what you want your final product to be.  If you are making a Storybird, you would be best to start choosing your pictures first, and then writing the story to go along with them.  Then, go the STORY WORKSHEET and make sure you’ve hit everything before revising your Storybird.

If you are going to make a Keynote book or Garageband audiobook, then you should start by outlining your story (see the STORY WORKSHEET).  That way you will have a basic idea of where to go.  Then, go ahead and type out your story.  After that is finished, you can add pictures through Keynote, or just read it aloud on Garageband. 

Short Story Rubric

Elements you must demonstrate in your story

(50 points)

Your teacher fills out the following!

­­­­______  /  5      A consistent and describable narrative tone (intelligent, innocent and naïve, dark and pessimistic, matter-of-fact) and point of view for your narrator

(1^st pers., 2^nd person, 3^rd pers. omniscient, 3^rd pers. Limited, 3^rd pers. Objective)

______  /  5      A Protagonist (or two protagonists, maximum) that is ROUND and DYNAMIC

           

______  /  15      Each of the parts of the plot diagram is obviously addressed, including inciting incident and climax, there is a sense of a complete/whole story, and you clearly chose ONE of the 36 PLOT LINES

______  /  5      An object, color, name, or season that has obvious symbolic meaning and fits into your story

______  /  5      Some obvious foreshadowing early in your story to the resolution of your primary conflict.

______  /  5      At least ONE type of irony obviously used (verbal, dramatic, or situational)

______  /  5      A repeating phrase, image, object, sound, or idea as a clear motif

______  /  5      It is professionally edited for spelling and punctuation