Character Sketch Assignment: Instructions and Rubric

Your assignment:

·  Fill out a character map (page 54) and write a character sketch about one of your relatives. It can be a member of your immediate family or one of your more distant relatives. It can even be a pet.

·  In your sketch, give evidence of your relative’s traits through his or her thoughts, words, or actions, through physical description, and/or though other characters’ thoughts, words, or actions. Make sure to use at least four means of characterization at least once.

·  Do not use “direct exposition” to tell your readers about those traits. (“Direct exposition” is where the writer or narrator tells the reader about the character’s traits directly.) In other words, show; don’t tell!

Other requirements:

·  First draft: Type it in Word format (or open it in Word and save it as a Word file), and then print four copies. Final draft: upload it on TurnItIn.com. I will not accept the final draft in any other form.

·  No page limit, but I doubt you’ll make the character come alive with just two or three paragraphs.

·  For the final draft only: Color code the means of characterization you use, either by highlighting the text or changing the text’s color, using this table. Make sure the text is still readable!

Means of characterization / Color / Means of characterization / Color
What the character says / Red / What others think or say / Blue
What the character thinks / Orange / What others do because of the character / Purple
What the character does / Green / Physical description / Brown

·  Your character sketch doesn’t have to amount to an entire story, but it can be if you want it to. It can just be part of the story, like the excerpt we read from the exposition of “The Possibility of Evil” (page 55).

To get an A:

·  Read the beginning of “The Possibility of Evil” again. Pay attention to how the writer uses indirect exposition to suggest traits and to excite curiosity about Miss Strangeworth.

·  Brainstorm with people in your family about your relative. (If your mother tells you an interesting story about your grandfather, you could use her quote. That’s an example of “what others say about the character”!)

·  Add dialog so that you have quoted people ten times. Make sure to punctuate the quotes correctly by using page 59, which we went over in class.

·  Use your character map, but don’t be a slave to it. If your sketch or story takes off in another direction, leave the map behind! A sketch that reads like a list of your map’s rectangles would be pretty boring.

·  Use the rubric below. Use the rubric’s A column as both a guide and, when you’re done, as a checklist!

Character sketch rubric:

Item (all rows are weighted equally) / A / B / C / F
Color coding / Four of six colors are present and are used correctly (see table on previous page) / One or two colors are missing or are used incorrectly / Three colors are missing or are used incorrectly / All four colors are missing or are used incorrectly
Vivid picture / Your words create a vivid picture of your character / Some of your words create a vivid picture, but there are one to three stretches where they do not / Some of your words create a vivid picture, but most of your paper does not / Almost none of your words create a vivid picture of your character
Direct exposition / No direct exposition is present (you “don’t give away your diamonds”!) / You use direct exposition once or twice to get across your diamonds / You use direct exposition three or four times to get across your diamonds / You use direct exposition more than four times to get across your diamonds
Punctuating quotes (use page 59) / 10 things quoted and 0 to 1 mistakes / 8 things quoted or 2 to 3 mistakes / 7 things quoted or 4 to 5 mistakes / 6 or fewer things quoted or greater than 5 mistakes

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