Superheroes

Great stories have great characters... every time. If you want to create real and exciting characters in your writing you need to look around and draw from your real life. That's what we will be doing for this assignment -- literally.

In this project, students will use a wide variety of techniques to generate unique and well rounded characters. They will create superhero characters by using models from their own lives and produce both artwork and writing that will help to flesh the characters out.

The Superhero unit will be made of five assignments:

1. Letter of Permission
2. Story
3. Sketch
4. Graphic Novel Page
5. Evidence

Letter of Permission

You can't just turn someone's life into a story without their permission. Their lives are super important to them. You must learn how to ask permission to use someone else’s life in a writing project.

Assignment

Write a letter asking permission to use someone's life as the basis for a superhero story.

Assignment Requirements:

• the person you select must be at least 20 years older than you
• you must know the person personally

Story

Assignment

Write a factious character bio about someone you really know. Pretend that the life that they've been leading is in fact a cover for their real life... the life of a superhero!

Assignment Requirements:

• superhero character must be school appropriate and heroic
• is written in first-person point-of-view
• No less than 550 words
• spelling and grammar are correct

Character Story Content:

• includes a description of who you thought the person was
• includes how you discovered who the person really is
• includes a short event where you help the superhero
• includes a conclusion
• superhero is truly unique

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Sketch

Assignment

Draw a full page sketch of your superhero

(10 points)

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Graphic Novel Page

Assignment

Pretend that you are commissioned to write a full graphic novel starring your superhero. Pick any page in your graphic novel to draw. Use tension or crisis to add drama to your page. Add dialogue and/or narration.

(10 points)

Here are some examples.

Grading for Evidence

Assignment

Create some evidence that your person is really a superhero. e.g. a item from their “supersuit,” a certificate of membership in the “Super League of Awesomeness,” etc.

Create a small card like you'd read in a museum that describes the evidence. The card should answer most of these questions:

• What is it and what does it do?
• What is the evidence disguised as? How does the evidence disguise itself?
• How did you find it?

(10 points)

Put It All Together

Assignment

Create a webpage on your student site to host all of your work. Put them in this order:

1. Sketch
2. Story
3. Evidence
4. Graphic Novel Page
5. Letter of Permission

Once you are finished, show Mr Incorvia and then email the address to the person your superhero is based on.

Here is an example webpage