Narrative

Clarity - The ideas should be understandable.  They should not be confusing.  Students need to avoid ambiguity, particularly when using pronouns to refer to characters.

Unity - Everything in the story must fit or belong. Nothing should seem out of place.

Logic - Everything that occurs in the narrative must make sense within the context/framework of the story.

Development - The writer needs to go into some depth and provide details.  He or she should not simply summarize an event or experience.  He or she needs to make it come alive.

Tone - The attitude of the story must be appropriate, and it should be consistent.  The narrative should either be serious in nature or light and humorous.

Images - The student should utilize strong images (words that stimulate or appeal to one or more senses) to add flavor/richness to the writing and make it come to life.  In essence, images capture and convey the sensory reality of the scene.

Mood Words - The student should use mood words to convey emotion and create feelings in the reader.  Again, mood words add spice/flavor/texture to the writing.  They capture and convey the emotional essence of the scene.

Balance - Students should incorporate a balance among description, action, and dialog (D.A.D.) in their narratives.  Good balance creates an effective dynamic sense, similar to changing tempo in music.  Too much description can slow down a narrative, causing the reader to lose interest.  Too little description can lead to "flat" writing that lacks detail and flavor.  Too much dialog causes the narrative to read like a play.  Too little dialog can make the rest of the piece seem tiresome.  Too little action (something happening) can lead to lack of interest, while too much action at the expense of description and dialog can create a one-dimensional, comic book style narrative.

Creativity - The student should come up with an uncommon or original idea or concept, something out of the ordinary, as long as it is logical.

Mechanics - Grammar and spelling.  Students must pay particular attention to their use of quotations marks and related punctuation and capitalization when writing dialog, as well as the usual concerns with run on sentences and sentence fragments.