The Rubric Bank — with all five levels

Building story according to: setup, confrontation, resolution

Building main character with motivations, problems, and transformation

Creating anticipation making reader want to know what happens

Dialogue revealing characters and advancing story simultaneously

Goal main character pursues must be specific and clear

Building external and internal conflicts that intertwine to enrich the drama

Conveying the real meaning beneath the surface of dialogue and action

Entering a scene late, leaving early, and cutting whatever doesn't serve

Moments that shift the story's course and raise its stakes irreversibly

The central idea echoing beneath the story's events and granting it unity

Controlling the speed of event progression to serve tension and respite

Progressively raising what the hero stands to lose to deepen reader investment

Planting early details that pay off later satisfyingly and logically

Revealing state and meaning through action and detail rather than direct telling

The ending's ability to close the story and leave a lasting impression

Does each scene turn a dramatic value (+ to − or vice versa)? A scene that changes nothing is a dead scene.

Separating what the character outwardly pursues (want) from what they inwardly need, and the tension between them.

Can you tell the speaker from their style without the name? Each character's vocabulary, rhythm, and subtext distinct.

Meaning beneath the words; what's unsaid carries the drama instead of on-the-nose dialogue.

Does what's at risk grow as the story advances? The stakes curve rises toward the climax instead of flattening.

Turning points and midpoint landing at their right relative positions, with structure shaped to theme consciously.

A central dramatic question the plot tests, illuminated by subplots from differing angles.

Clean screenplay formatting and economical action description, using format itself as a rhythm tool.