Writer's Glossary

abbess phone home

Takes its name from a mainstream story about a medieval cloister which was sold as SF because of the serendipitous arrival of a UFO at the end. By extension, any mainstream story with a gratuitous SF or fantasy element tacked on so it could be sold. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

Also see Slipstream

action-adventure

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action outline

Action outline presents the plot and conflicts with little regard for staging. The writer is describing a world idea, not telling the story. An action outline is a synopsis of a book not yet written; it is a precursor to a scene outline. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

Adam and Eve story

Nauseatingly common subset of the "Shaggy God Story" in which a terrible apocalypse, spaceship crash, etc., leaves two survivors, man and woman, who turn out to be Adam and Eve, parents of the human race!! (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

adjective

Any word that describes or modifies a noun. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

adverb

A word which modifies or describes a verb. Typically, adverbs end in "ly." (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

agent (literary)

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AM/FM

Engineer's term distinguishing the inevitable clunky real-world faultiness of "Actual Machines" from the power-fantasy techno-dreams of "Fucking Magic." (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

anachronism

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and plot

Picaresque plot in which this happens, and then that happens, and then something else happens, and it all adds up to nothing in particular. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

antagonist

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"As you know Bob"

"As you know Bob" is a pernicious form of infodump through dialogue, in which characters tell each other things they already know, for the sake of getting the reader up-to-speed. This very common technique is also known as "Rod and Don dialogue" (attr. Damon Knight) or "maid and butler dialogue" (attr. Algis Budrys). (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

at stake

Drama is powerful if something is at stake: that is, if the characters involved have something to gain and something to lose. The reader must have something at stake as well -- a desire to see the outcome. Usually this is either a stake in the theme, in the characters and their aspirations, or in the resolution of the conflict. When nothing is at stake, there is no drama. (Jim Morrow) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

atmosphere

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author

A writer who has been published. As (arbitrarily) distinguished from a writer. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

authorial laziness

Authorial laziness is when the writer cuts corners. This typically leads to cheating the reader. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

author surrogate

An author surrogate (or writer surrogate) is a character who acts as the writer's spokesman. Sometimes the character may intentionally or unintentionally be an idealized version of the writer. A well known variation is the Mary Sue or Gary Stu (i.e. self-insertion). (Source: literary technique at Wikipedia ) (Source: author surrogate at Wikipedia )

A character whom the writer, consciously or unconsciously, models after himself. Such characters (e.g. Jubal Harshaw, Stranger in a Strange Land) often dominate the story when they should not, or acquire too many positive attributes, too few faults. Author surrogates often hog the point of view to the detriment of other characters. See Mary Sue. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

authorism

Authorism is an inappropriate intrusion of the writer's physical surroundings, mannerisms, or prejudices into the narrative. Overtly, characters pour cups of coffee whenever they're thinking, because that's what the writer does. More subtly, characters sit around doing nothing but complaining that they don't know what to do ... because the writer doesn't know either. (Tom Disch) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

backfill

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background

The background of a story is the combination history and context that supports or deepens the setting and or provides a backdrop for the action. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

backstory

In narratology, a backstory (also back story or back-story) is part of the background or history behind the situation extant at the start of the main story. This literary device is often employed to lend the main story depth or verisimilitude. A back-story may include the history of characters, objects, countries (see Worldbuilding) or other elements of the main story. Back-stories are usually revealed, sketchily or in full, chronologically or otherwise, as the main narrative unfolds. However, a writer may also create portions of a backstory or even an entire backstory that is solely for his or her own use in writing the main story and is never revealed in the main story. (Source: back-story at Wikipedia ) (Updated by: Fritz Freiheit)

bait and switch

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barf and polish

A mechanism for writing where the writing process is split into two phases. During the 'barf' or first phase the writer focuses on putting as many words on the paper (or into the word processor file) as possible. During the 'polish' or second phase, the writer focus on turning the output into cohesive, smooth, and professional product. There are a number of sub-techniques to help improve this technique, see barf and polish. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

barf phase

When writing, or pursuing some other creative process, the barf phase is the period when the focus is on getting as much of the story (or other "artifact") out without engaging ones critical or editorial faculties. It is followed by the polish phase. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

bathos

A sudden, alarming change in the level of diction. "There will be bloody riots and savage insurrections leading to a violent popular uprising unless the regime starts being lots nicer about stuff." (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

begin fallacy

Describing action that is introduced to the reader for the first time by saying that so-and-so 'began to' <verb>. Eliminating the 'began to' almost always strengthens the text. A detail of style. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

BEM

Acronym for Bug-Eyed Monster.

beta reader

An early reader of a work (short story or novel), as in the notion of a software beta tester. Beta readers are an important filter for a writer as they help point out problems with the work that the writer can't (easily) see. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

big scene

A big scene is 'big' when its drama is powerful and when the drama is central to the theme. Big scenes should occur at regular intervals, neither bunched too closely together nor strung too far apart. (Jim Morrow) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

black box scene analysis

Black box scene analysis is a convenient means of evaluating how important a scene is. Think of the scene as a black box: characters go in to it and come out of it. What have they gained or lost? What irrevocable things have happened? How are they different people afterwards than before? The black-box scene analysis is a useful means of separating local dexterity (entertaining imagery) from important plot or character development. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

blog

Originally from the term web log, a blog is a web way to communicate, usually on a daily or weekly basis. - (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

blogging

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blood and guts

Blood and guts describes an event or scene which involves characters in their fundamental, primal desires, stripped of convention, artifice, or propriety. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

bogus alternatives

List of actions a character could have taken, but didn't. Frequently includes all the reasons why or why not. In this nervous mannerism, the writer stops the action dead to work out complicated plot problems at the reader's expense. "If I'd gone along with the cops they would have found the gun in my purse. And anyway, I didn't want to spend the night in jail. I suppose I could have just run instead of stealing their car, but then ... " etc. Best dispensed with entirely. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

Cumbersome narration of infeasible actions which a character didn't take because it would mess up the story. Usually goes overboard and includes long-winded explanations why. If you're going to handwave past a dumb choice, the faster you do it, the better. (Lewis Shiner) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html ) -- Cumbersome narration of infeasible actions which a character didn't take because it would mess up the story. Usually goes overboard and includes long-winded explanations why. If you're going to handwave past a dumb choice, the faster you do it, the better. (Lewis Shiner) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

bolt-on

A feature of a setting that only appears to support some plot idea without its implications being followed and propagated to their logical conclusions and natural integration with greater society. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

brand name fever

Use of brand name alone, without accompanying visual detail, to create false verisimilitude. You can stock a future with Hondas and Sonys and IBM's and still have no idea with it looks like. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

Brenda Starr dialogue

A form of authorial laziness where long sections of talk have no physical background or description of the characters. Such dialogue, detached from the story's setting, tends to echo hollowly, as if suspended in mid-air. Named for the American comic-strip in which dialogue balloons were often seen emerging from the Manhattan skyline. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

bridge

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bug-eyed monster

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"burly detective" syndrome

This useful term is taken from SF's cousin-genre, the detective-pulp. The hack writers of the Mike Shayne series showed an odd reluctance to use Shayne's proper name, preferring such euphemisms as "the burly detective" or "the red-headed sleuth." This syndrome arises from a wrong-headed conviction that the same word should not be used twice in close succession. This is only true of particularly strong and visible words, such as "vertiginous." Better to re-use a simple tag or phrase than to contrive cumbersome methods of avoiding it. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

business (narrative)

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Caesar's palmtop

Caesar's palmtop is a handy device a writer introduces, in all innocence, whose existence in this particular fictional universe implies a huge offstage infrastructure that demands so much overhead explanation that it knocks the reader out of paying attention to the story. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

"Call a rabbit a smeerp"

A cheap technique for false exoticism, in which common elements of the real world are re-named for a fantastic milieu without any real alteration in their basic nature or behavior. "Smeerps" are especially common in fantasy worlds, where people often ride exotic steeds that look and act just like horses. (Attributed to James Blish ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

caper (story)

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card tricks in the dark

Elaborately contrived plot which arrives at (a) the punchline of a private joke no reader will get or (b) the display of some bit of learned trivia relevant only to the writer. This stunt may be intensely ingenious, and very gratifying to the writer, but it serves no visible fictional purpose. (Attr. Tim Powers) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

Card tricks in the dark is authorial cleverness to no visible purpose. Wit without dramatic payoff. (Lewis Shiner) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

careful reader

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chapter (story)

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character

A character is any person, persona, identity, or entity whose existence originates in a work of fiction. The process of creating and developing characters in a work of fiction is called characterization. (Source: Fictional_character at Wikipedia )

--

Those who people the story, affect it and are affected by it. The best characters are complex, with good and bad points, triumphs and tragedies. They face moral choices. Over the course of the story, they evolve and their evolution mirrors the theme the writer is after. They care strongly and face obstacles, and because of these the reader cares strongly for them. Examples of excellence: Frank Herbert, The Dragon in the Sea, Sparrow, Ramsey, Bonnett; Robert Silverberg, The Man in the Maze, Muller, Boardman, Rawlins. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

--

Any representation of an individual being presented in a dramatic or narrative work through extended dramatic or verbal representation. The reader can interpret characters as endowed with moral and dispositional qualities expressed in what they say (dialogue) and what they do (action). E. M. Forster describes characters as "flat" (i.e., built around a single idea or quality and unchanging over the course of the narrative) or "round" (complex in temperament and motivation; drawn with subtlety; capable of growth and change during the course of the narrative). The main character of a work of a fiction is typically called the protagonist; the character against whom the protagonist struggles or contends (if there is one), is the antagonist. If a single secondary character aids the protagonist throughout the narrative, that character is the deuteragonist (the hero's "side-kick"). A character of tertiary importance is a tritagonist. These terms originate in classical Greek drama, in which a tenor would be assigned the role of protagonist, a baritone the role of deuteragonist, and a bass would play the tritagonist. Compare flat characters with stock characters. (Source: K. Wheeler's Literary Terms and Definitions )

cheating the reader

Depriving the reader of rich an experience as they might have had. Unfortunately, not all readers realize when they are being cheated. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

Chekhov's gun

Chekhov's gun is the literary technique, similar to foreshadowing, whereby an element is introduced early in the story forming an expectation or contract with the reader that will be resolved at a later point in the story. (Source: Fritz Freiheit) (Also see Wikipedia Chekhov's gun at Wikipedia)

An example can be found in the twin pistols of the title character in Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler, which make an appearance in the first act, but are not used to important effect until the last act. (Source: Chekhov's_gun at Wikipedia )

chewing the furniture

Characters who are over-emoting for their situations. The term is adapted from the theater, where it is used to describe poor actors who ham it up. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

chrome

The term chrome is derived from the chrome decoration on an automobile. Scenic detail which has no plot significance but brings a place, character or period to life. Contrast with parsimony of detail. (CSFW: David Smith) -- (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html ) updated by (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

clever-author syndrome

Clever-author syndrome is where a writer shows off with some literary fireworks -- ten-dollar vocabulary, obscure references, overly artful constructions -- which remind us how smart the writer is but detract from the story. (CSFW: David Smith). (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

cliché

A cliché (from French, klɪ'ʃe) is a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel. The term is generally used in a negative context. (Source: Cliché at Wikipedia )

conflate

To conflate is 'to blow together'; to combine two similar dramatic elements (such as characters or scenes) to eliminate dramatic redundancy. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

conflict

Conflict is a necessary element of fictional literature. It is often classified according to the nature of the antagonist. These include Man vs. Himself, Man vs. Man, Man vs. Society, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. God, and Man vs. Machine.

When an entity is in conflict with his, her, or itself, the conflict is categorized as internal. Otherwise, it is external. (Source: Conflict (narrative) at Wikipedia ) (Updated by: Fritz Freiheit)

Conflict -- The opposition of forces between focus characters and their surroundings: either other focus characters or 'natural forces' (which include, in addition to the elements, peripheral characters). One can have conflict without drama, but it is almost impossible to have drama without conflict. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

contract with the reader

The reader's set of expectations that the writer must fulfill. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

cookie

A cookie is an element, not necessary to the plot, which rewards the reader who has been paying careful attention. Ideally, a cookie is a clever turn of phrase, an image, an allusion, or some other element of richness which the lazy reader will pass by Then the careful reader, who finds it, realizes that the writer has left this small package just as a reward for paying attention ... and that, in turn, encourages the reader to pay even more attention. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

copyedit

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copyeditor

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consensus reality

Useful term for the purported world in which the majority of modern sane people generally agree that they live -- as opposed to the worlds of, say, Forteans, semioticians or quantum physicists. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

countersinking

A form of expositional redundancy in which the action clearly implied in dialogue is made explicit. "'Let's get out of here,' he said, urging her to leave." (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

Countersinking is expositional redundancy, usually performed by a writer who isn't confident of his storytelling: making the actions implied in the story explicit. "'Let's get out of here,' he said, urging her to leave." (Lewis Shiner) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

cover letter

A cover letter is a letter attached to another document, such as a resume, that introduces the writer, the purpose for writing, and the attached document. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

cozy catastrophe story

A story in which horrific events are overwhelming the entirety of human civilization, but the action concentrates on a small group of tidy, middle-class, white Anglo- Saxon protagonists. The essence of the cozy catastrophe is that the hero should have a pretty good time (a girl, free suites at the Savoy, automobiles for the taking) while everyone else is dying off. (Attr. Brian Aldiss ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

crime (genre)

Crime stories, centered on criminal enterprise, are told from the point of view of the perpetrators. They range in tone from lighthearted "caper" stories to darker plots involving organized crime or incarcerated convicts. (Source: genre fiction at Wikipedia ) / crime

critique

A critique is constructive criticism or feedback, generally divided between positive and negative critiques. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

cyberpunk (genre)

Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre and movement noted for its focus on "high tech and low life". It is also a musical subgenre of industrial rock. The name is derived from cybernetics and punk and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk" published in 1983(see The Etymology of "Cyberpunk"), though the style was popularized well before its publication by editor Gardner Dozois. It features advanced science such as information technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or a radical change in the social order. (Source: cyberpunk at Wikipedia )

Primary exponents of the cyberpunk field include William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan, Rudy Rucker, and John Shirley.

dare to be stupid

'Dare to be stupid' is an exhortation by a critic to a writer whom the critic thinks is not stretching enough. Writers grow by daring to write bolder, more imaginative, more personal, or more emotionally powerful situations and confrontations. Since writing that stretches is by definition unpracticed, the result may be rougher than a less ambitious effort. The writer must trust the critics to recognize the stretch and help the writer build or expand his talents. (CSFW: Steve Popkes) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

Dennis Hopper syndrome story

A story based on some arcane bit of science or folklore, which noodles around producing random weirdness. Then a loony character-actor (usually best played by Dennis Hopper) barges into the story and baldly tells the protagonist what's going on by explaining the underlying mystery in a long bug-eyed rant. (Attr. Howard Waldrop ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

dénouement

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destage

Destage is to move offstage action which has been shown onstage. Things can be intentionally destaged (when they're undramatic) or unintentionally (when the writer's staged the wrong things). (CSFW: Steve Popkes) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

destination

Destination is the emotional endpoint of a story: where the writer's intent coincides and rings with the action in the story, where the experiential contract between writer and reader is fulfilled. The writer sets out to create certain responses in the reader; the destination is the place where the writer does so. One may have plot destinations (Frodo gets to the Crack of Doom), character destinations (Frodo masters the Ring and himself), or understanding destinations (Frodo learns he's adult and strong enough to scour the Shire). But stories must always have destinations. In the best writing, the characters' struggle involves multiple destinations that relate to one another (inner and outer journeys echo each other). (CSFW: Steve Popkes) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

detective (genre)

Detective fiction has become almost synonymous with mystery. These stories relate the solving of a crime, usually one or more murders, by a protagonist who may or may not be a professional investigator. This large, popular genre has many subgenres, reflecting differences in tone, character, and setting. (Source: genre fiction at Wikipedia )

deus ex machina

Or "God in the Box"

A story featuring a miraculous solution to the story's conflict, which comes out of nowhere and renders the plot struggles irelevant. H G Wells warned against SF's love for the deus ex machina when he coined the famous dictum that "If anything is possible, then nothing is interesting." Science fiction, which specializes in making the impossible seem plausible, is always deeply intrigued by godlike powers in the handy pocket size. Artificial Intelligence, virtual realities and nanotechnology are three contemporary SF MacGuffins that are cheap portable sources of limitless miracle. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

Deus ex machina -- Miraculous (often offstage) solution to an otherwise insoluble problem. "Look, the Martians all caught cold and died!" (Lewis Shiner) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

dialogue

A dialogue (or dialog) is a conversation between two or more (as versus monologue) characters. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

didactic

Intended to instruct or moralize. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

Dischism

The unwitting intrusion of the writer's physical surroundings, or the author's own mental state, into the text of the story. Writers who smoke or drink while writing often drown or choke their characters with an endless supply of booze and cigs. In subtler forms of the Dischism, the characters complain of their confusion and indecision -- when this is actually the writer's condition at the moment of writing, not theirs within the story. "Dischism" is named after the critic who diagnosed this syndrome. (Attr. Thomas M. Disch ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

disengage (to)

Disengage (to) -- A reader who is not paying close attention to the text is disengaged. Offstage action or a poorly-realized fictional dream disengage the reader: he skips or skims sentences, paragraphs, pages or whole chapters. The ultimate disengagement is the reader who puts down the book without bothering to finish it.

A writer must use both carrot and stick with the reader. Punish a reader who disengages, by making sure that necessary material is woven throughout the book, so that nothing may be skipped. Reward a reader who engages, by making every scene alive, tight, and well-written. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

document

A document is an organized collection of information, primarily in written form. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

don't break the chain

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drama

Drama is the ability to create powerful scenes, to present conflicts in a way which grips the reader, whether or not the storyline is believable. The tension of conflict forms the bedrock of drama. Example: Bester, The Demolished Man. Drama differs from conflict because drama takes place exclusively onstage, and in a manner the reader engages. Drama differs from staging to the extent that the drama is the conflict present in the situation, staging the extent to which it is realized in front of the reader. Badly staged conflict loses most of the force of its inherent drama. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

dystopia

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Easter egg

An Easter egg is some hidden aspect of a work that even a careful reader will miss, but once deciphered, reveals some message from the writer. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

Adapted from computer programming, a specialized form of cookie in which the writer 'hides' some surprise, not germane to the story (indeed, often irrelevant or irreverent), deep within the text, to be discovered only by the closest possible reading. For instance, in Quest of the Three Worlds, Cordwainer Smith encoded, as the first letters of consecutive sentences, the phrases KENNEDY SHOT and OSWALD TOO, without disrupting the flow of his narrative. Tuckerizing is a form of Easter egg. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

economy (narrative)

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Eden complex

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edges of ideas

The solution to the "Info-Dump" problem (how to fill in the background). The theory is that, as above, the mechanics of an interstellar drive (the center of the idea) is not important: all that matters is the impact on your characters: they can get to other planets in a few months, and, oh yeah, it gives them hallucinations about past lives. Or, more radically: the physics of TV transmission is the center of an idea; on the edges of it we find people turning into couch potatoes because they no longer have to leave home for entertainment. Or, more bluntly: we don't need info dump at all. We just need a clear picture of how people's lives have been affected by their background. This is also known as "carrying extrapolation into the fabric of daily life." (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

The places where technology and background should come onstage: not the mechanics of a new event, gizmo, or political structure, but rather how people's lives are affected by their new background. Example of excellence: the opening chapters of Orwell's 1984. (Lewis Shiner) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

edit

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editor

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element (narrative)

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elevator pitch

A short pitch, as in a pitch that can be delivered during an encounter on an elevator. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

emotional circuit breaker

An emotional circuit breaker is a tendency in a writer to cut away from a scene when the stakes get high, just as it is reaching its emotional peak, often followed by a lower-stakes retelling or narration of the same events (but safely removed in time or space). Generally speaking, the emotional circuit breaker is a bad thing, because it deprives the reader of the tension and excitement created by the immediacy. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

emotional disturbance

Emotional disturbance is the internal corollary to the out-of-whack event, it represents a character whose inner state is fundamentally unstable and who must do something assertive to restore equilibrium. Often the out-of-whack event triggers the emotional disturbance, but sometimes a character's emotional disturbance can be the reason the out-of-whack event occurs. (CSFW: Pete Chvany) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

empathic universe

An empathic universe is a common feature of melodramatic or romantic writing, it occurs when the writer customizes the environment to match the protagonist's moods. Lightning flashes as a Gothic horror opens; fog descends when the protagonist is confused; rain falls on funerals but the sun returns when the mourner becomes hopeful. Usually overused. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

ending

The ending, leaving out the notion of reader satisfaction, is where the story stops. As a general rule, the ending should be as early as possible. Contrast with the start. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

engage (to)

'Engage (to)' is used intransitively, it means a reader who is paying close attention. Used transitively, it means a writer or a piece of fiction that forces the reader to pay close attention. A reader who is engaged is following closely, intent on capturing everything that occurs in the story. The stronger the reader's engagement, the stronger the fictional dream. Stories which are economical, and in which the important events occur onstage, engage the reader. Readers are also engaged when scenes are so vital, alive and well realized that the reader cannot skip past them. See Local Dexterity. Setting action offstage, or including inefficient material, causes the reader to disengage. Puzzle-oriented mysteries engage the reader, because anything and everything may be a clue. The primary objective of the first four pages of any story is to hook and engage the reader. Whatever its flaws, Dune accomplishes this by the striking visuals of its early scenes. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

engagement (reader)

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epigram

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epilogue

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exposition

Exposition is a literary technique by which background information about the characters, events, or setting is conveyed in a novel, play, movie, short story or other work of fiction. This information can be presented through dialogue, description, flashbacks, or directly through narrative.

Because exposition generally does not advance plot and tends to interrupt action, it is usually best kept in short and succinct form, though in some genres, such as the mystery, exposition is central to the story structure itself. The alternative to exposition is to convey background information indirectly though action, which, though more dramatic, is more time consuming and less concise. (Source: Exposition_%28literary_technique%29 at Wikipedia )

exposition dump

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expository lump

An expository lump is a chunk of exposition that, whether or not relevant to the plot, is insufficiently integrated into the story being told. As such, is seems to come from left field, as if a page from an encyclopedia accidentally got shuffled in. Asimov is famous for these. A subheading, known as "I've Suffered For My Art (And Now It's Your Turn)" occurs when the writer, having done masses of boring research, proves this by unloading them on the stunned reader. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

eyeball kick

Vivid, telling details that create a kaleidoscopic effect of swarming visual imagery against a baroquely elaborate SF background. One ideal of cyberpunk SF was to create a "crammed prose" full of "eyeball kicks." (Attr. Rudy Rucker) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

An 'eyeball kick' is perfect, telling detail that creates an instant and powerful visual image. (Rudy Rucker) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

false humanity

An ailment endemic to genre writing, in which soap-opera elements of purported human interest are stuffed into the story willy-nilly, whether or not they advance the plot or contribute to the point of the story. The actions of such characters convey an itchy sense of irrelevance, for the writer has invented their problems out of whole cloth, so as to have something to emote about. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

false interiorization

A cheap labor-saving technique in which the writer, too lazy to describe the surroundings, afflicts the viewpoint-character with a blindfold, an attack of space-sickness, the urge to play marathon whist-games in the smoking-room, etc. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

false verisimilitude

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fan

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fan fiction

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fandom

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fanfic

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fanzine

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fantasy (genre)

Fantasy features stories set in fanciful, invented worlds or in a legendary, mythic past. The stories themselves are often epics or quests, frequently involving magic like the book series of Dragonlance novels. The enormous popularity of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novel and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels demonstrates the wide appeal of this genre. (Source: genre fiction at Wikipedia )

fast forward

The literary convention of shortcutting things the reader already knows but the characters may not. Example: Rex Stout's Archie Goodwin: "I got home and told Wolfe everything that had happened since I stumbled over Helaine Bradford's body in Adam Roberts' room. He grunted occasionally and belched when I was done.") Especially handy in mysteries. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

fat writing

Writing that uses too many or too large words just because the writer can. Also known as verdant greenery. (Source: Fritz Freiheit) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

ficelle character

Ficelle, from the French 'string,' is a term used by Henry James to denote a (secondary) character who exists to help the reader and move the plot forward. In Shakespeare's "Hamlet," Rosencranz and Guildenstern are ficelle characters. Vladimir Nabokov called them peri characters. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

fiction

Not strictly factual. Made up. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

fictional dream

A fictional dream is the illusion that there is no filter between reader and events, that the reader is actually experiencing what he is reading. The stronger the fictional dream, the more immediate the story. Disrupting the fictional dream is usually bad. Pointless digressions, expository lumps, lists, turgid prose, unrealistic characters, or a premise with holes in it, all disrupt the fictional dream. (John Gardner) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

Also see suspension of disbelief.

film it

Film it is a form of self-test for critiquing. To judge a scene or chapter, mentally convert it into a movie or screenplay. This effectively subtracts all narration and exposition and leaves only description, dialogue, and action. Things which shrink dramatically when filmed are heavy on telling, light on showing. (CSFW: Steve Popkes) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

first person

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first-draft-itis

First-draft-itis cause various flaws, primarily manifesting themselves as inconsistencies, which everyone, including the writer, agrees immediately should be corrected. E.g.: a character who has blue eyes in Chapter 2 has brown eyes in Chapter 7; or an important feature of the society which is first manifested in Chapter 20 and implicitly contradicted in what was written before. See Retrofit. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

flash fiction

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flashback

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flashforward

In history, film, television and other media, a flashforward or flash-forward (also called prolepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future. They may also reveal significant parts of the story that has not yet occurred, but soon will in greater detail. In the opposite direction, a flashback (or analepsis) reveals events that have occurred in the past. (Source: flashforward at Wikipedia )

focus character

The focus character is a character who serves a dramatic purpose greater than simply illustrating or illuminating the world -- a character about whom the reader cares even when he's offstage. Focus characters have distinct personalities; they further the themes and interact directly with other focus characters. In Lord of the Rings, for example, Saruman is a focus character but Sauron is not (he's a natural force). (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

fog

A reader fog is the reader's state of inability to imagine clearly the setting or action the writer is presenting. Usually arises because the writer has skimped on tactile description or otherwise shortchanged the reader of critical external clarity. Stories can (and should) sustain motivational ambiguity but they should blow away fog. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

font

A specific size and style of type within a type family, such as 12 pt. Courier or 8 pt. Times New Roman. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

foreground (to)

Foreground (to) (v.t.) is to draw attention to for artistic effect, or make the central element in a scene or story. (CSFW: Sarah Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

frame

A frame is a structure which puts boundaries on a story about to be told -- as, for example, a character announces to another character, I'm going to tell you a story. Often used in a prologue. Sometimes used to link many stories together into a novel form, as in The Canterbury Tales, where the pilgrimage is the frame, or The Bridge of San Luis Rey, where the bridge collapse is the frame. (CSFW: Steve Popkes) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

freeze-frame

A freeze-frame, adapted from the movies, is a brief pause for description of a new person, object, setting, or event. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

frontloading

Piling too much exposition into the beginning of the story, so that it becomes so dense and dry that it is almost impossible to read. (Attr. Connie Willis) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

funny-hat characterization

A character distinguished by a single identifying tag, such as odd headgear, a limp, a lisp, a parrot on his shoulder, etc. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

fuzz

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gag detail

Unnecessarily unrealistic detail that blows the credibility of the story. "I can accept a Neanderthal going to Harvard, but a Neanderthal with a middle name? Gag." (CSFW: Sarah Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

genre

Genres are vague categories with no fixed boundaries. Genres are formed by sets of conventions, and many works cross into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. The scope of the word "genre" is sometimes confined to art and culture, particularly literature, but it has a long history in rhetoric as well. In genre studies the concept of genre is not compared to originality. Rather, all works are recognized as either reflecting on or participating in the conventions of genre. (Source: Genre at Wikipedia )

Genre fiction is a term for fictional works (novels, short stories) written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to the fans of that genre. In contemporary fiction publishing, genre is an elastic term used to group works sharing similarities of character, theme, and setting—such as mystery, romance, or horror—that have been proven to appeal to particular groups of readers. Genres continuously evolve, divide, and combine as readers' tastes change and writers search for fresh ways to tell stories. Classic romance novels, such as those written by the Brontë sisters and Jane Austen in the nineteenth century, continue to enjoy popularity today in the form of both books and movies. Despite its popularity, genre fiction is often overlooked by institutions that favor literary fiction. (Source: genre fiction at Wikipedia )

get-it-in-the-mail syndrome

Prose over which the writer, in his eagerness to finish a work, has taken too little time or care. It implies that the writer can easily fix the problems if he concentrates on them. (CSFW: Sari Boren)

gingerbread (words)

Useless ornament in prose, such as fancy sesquipedalian Latinate words where short clear English ones will do. Novice writers sometimes use "gingerbread" in the hope of disguising faults and conveying an air of refinement. (Attr. Damon Knight ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

grouper effect

Named after the grouper, which eats by opening its capacious mouth and swallowing a huge volume of water, toothlessly capturing its prey in the resulting suction, the specialized form of get-it-in-the-mail syndrome which results when participants in a workshop feel get-it-in-the-mail pressure to submit works to the group. A pun. (CSFW: Alex Jablokov)

grubby apartment story

Similar to the "poor me" story, this autobiographical effort features a miserably quasi-bohemian writer, living in urban angst in a grubby apartment. The story commonly stars the writer's friends in thin disguises -- friends who may also be the writer's workshop companions, to their considerable alarm. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

hand waving

Hand waving is an attempt to distract the reader with dazzling prose or other verbal fireworks, so as to divert attention from a severe logical flaw. (Attr. Stewart Brand ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon ) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

hard boiled

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hard science fiction

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hard SF

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head fake

A head fake is a plot action that appears to be significant but is rapidly proved to be a net null, leaving the plot moving in exactly the same direction. Excessive head fakes undermine the reader's engagement because the reader becomes trained that they are not real. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

here-to-there mistake

A here-to-there mistake is over-describing interim stages because of a mistaken belief that the reader will not infer them. A writer whose character's eyes are closed, for example, wants to describe something visually and feels compelled to say, 'he opened his eyes'. Omitting this phrase usually works better -- the reader can infer the eye-opening from the visual description. Similarly, 'he got into the car, put the key in the ignition, started the engine and backed out of the driveway' is too much description: 'he got into the car and backed out of the driveway.' (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

hero's journey 

See monomyth.

homoism

Homoism is similar to nowism, the mistake of making aliens behave in inappropriate human ways, use inappropriate humanoid gestures or facial expressions, or generally manifest their emotions in human terms. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html ) See men-in-rubber-suits syndrome.

honorable near miss

Honorable near miss is a description of a work which aims at a worthwhile objective but fails to achieve it. (Quoted by Darrell Schweitzer) -- (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

hook

A hook causes the the reader engage quickly. In a novel, the reader must usually be hooked in the first chapter; in a short story, by the end of the first page. -- (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

hook (narrative)

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horror

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horse opera

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idiot plot

A plot which functions only because all the characters involved are idiots. They behave in a way that suits the writer's convenience, rather than through any rational motivation of their own. (Attr. James Blish) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

imitative fallacy

The common trap of trying to make the narrative imitate the personality of the protagonist. When the novel is concerned with an unlikable or inaccessible protagonist, the narrative is also unlikable and inaccessible. Since the reader cannot figure out the protagonist, nor is the reader given any reason to care about the protagonist, the reader disengages. The prose must transcend the imitative fallacy. Two examples of excellence are Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry (hypocritical evangelist), and Babbitt (smug placid businessman). (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

inappropriate metaphor

A metaphor should serve two purposes: create a tactile image and also convey an emotional or contextual subtext. A metaphor is inappropriate when the subtext is inconsistent with the writer's intentions: "The desert cowboy blew out his bearded cheeks like a startled puffer fish." Puffer fish in the desert? (CSFW: Alex Jablokov)

inappropriate mystery

A writer will often use mystery as a means of propelling a reader forward: characters speak of things that are opaque to the reader, a character goes offstage to do something important, or a development is referred to indirectly ("I was just heading out the door when the phone rang, with terrible news"). Mystery is inappropriate when the expected dramatic followup is lacking: the offstage action proves to be a diversion, or the suspense proves false. (CSFW: Steve Popkes)

incluing

Incluing is a technique for world building, in which the reader is gradually exposed to background information about the world in which a story is set. The idea is to clue the readers into the world the writer is building, without them being aware of it.

This in opposition to infodumping, where an undigested lump of background material is dropped into the story, often in the form of a conversation between two characters, both of whom should already know the material under discussion. (The so-called As you know, Bob conversation.)

Both incluing and infodumping are forms of exposition and are frequently used in science fiction and fantasy, genres where the writer has the task to make the reader believe in a world that does not exist. Writers in other genres have less use for these techniques, as they can often depend on the reader's familiarity with the "real world".

Incluing can be done in a number of ways: through conversation between characters, through background details or by establishing scenes where a character is followed through daily life. The most famous example of incluing is the door irised open, a phrase created by Robert A. Heinlein and used in several of his stories and novels. In real life, few if any doors do iris open; by mentioning it offhandedly without explanation the reader gets a picture of something both familiar and strange, without calling attention to its strangeness. (Attr Jo Walton) (Source: incluing at Wikipedia )

Jo Walton defines incluing as "the process of scattering information seamlessly through the text, as opposed to stopping the story to impart the information."

infodump

Large chunk of indigestible expository matter intended to explain the background situation. Infodumps can be covert, as in fake newspaper or "Encyclopedia Galactica" articles, or overt, in which all action stops as the writer assumes center stage and lectures. Infodumps are also known as "expository lumps." The use of brief, deft, inoffensive info-dumps is known as "Kuttnering," after Henry Kuttner. When information is worked unobtrusively into the story's basic structure, this is known as "Heinleining." (Source: Turkey City Lexicon ) (Updated by: Fritz Freiheit)

ing disease

"ing disease" is the excessive use of gerunds (verbs transformed into nouns by adding "-ing"). -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

instruction manuals

Unnecessary description of how futurist technology works. Best discarded entirely, because they usually signify that the writer is so proud of his device he can't risk describing its operations. "Bob spoke into the telephone, where his sounds vibrated the compressed charcoal, producing an electric current that traveled over the wires ... " See how silly that sounds? (CSFW: David Smith)

intellectual sexiness

The intoxicating glamor of a novel scientific idea, as distinguished from any actual intellectual merit that it may someday prove to possess. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

iterative deepening (writing)

The writing technique where multiple passes are made, each time further detail and elaboration are incorporated. A simple example of this is to first write an outline then elaborate the outline by filling in the details. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

"I've suffered for my Art" (and now it's your turn)

A form of info-dump in which the writer inflicts upon the reader hard-won, but irrelevant bits of data acquired while researching the story. As Algis Budrys once pointed out, homework exists to make the difficult look easy. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

jar of Tang story

"For you see, we are all living in a jar of Tang!" or "For you see, I am a dog!" A story contrived so that the writer can spring a silly surprise about its setting. Mainstay of the old Twilight Zone TV show. An entire pointless story contrived so the writer can cry "Fooled you!" For instance, the story takes place in a desert of coarse orange sand surrounded by an impenetrable vitrine barrier; surprise! our heroes are microbes in a jar of Tang powdered orange drink.

This is a classic case of the difference between a conceit and an idea. "What if we all lived in a jar of Tang?" is an example of the former; "What if the revolutionaries from the sixties had been allowed to set up their own society?" is an example of the latter. Good SF requires ideas, not conceits. (Attr. Stephen P. Brown )

When done with serious intent rather than as a passing conceit, this type of story can be dignified by the term "Concealed Environment." (Attr. Christopher Priest ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

joke ending

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just-in-time storytelling

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just-like story

SF story which thinly adapts the trappings of a standard pulp adventure setting. The spaceship is "just like" an Atlantic steamer, down to the Scottish engineer in the engine room. A colony planet is "just like" Arizona except for two moons in the sky. "Space Westerns" and futuristic hard-boiled detective stories have been especially common versions. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

keyhole effect

The keyhole effect is created in a piece of writing or film, where it is much easier, by dropping in references to a wider surround world. The term "keyhole effect" comes from the idea of looking through the keyhole of a mansion and seeing glimpses of the features and wonders that are contained within thus creating keyhole curiosity. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

keyhole curiosity

Similar to the edges of ideas keyhole curiosity is when the writer weaves the background into the story in such a way that the reader sees only partial aspects of the background, as if they were looking through a keyhole into a mansion, glimpsing only a fraction of the possibilities. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

kitchen-sink story

A story overwhelmed by the inclusion of any and every new idea that occurs to the writer in the process of writing it. (Attr. Damon Knight ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

kudzu plot

A plot which weaves and curls and writhes in weedy organic profusion, smothering everything in its path. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

Laputa

Laputa is named after Gulliver's floating aerial island, this is a fictional construction introduced without foundation. Readers will initially delight in Laputas but, the longer they float along without foundation, the more their suspension of disbelief erodes. They thus tend to work best in small doses like short stories. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

laughtrack

In this form of authorial laziness, the characters grandstand and tug the reader's sleeve in an effort to force a specific emotional reaction. They laugh wildly at their own jokes, cry loudly at their own pain, and cheat the reader of any real chance of attaining genuine emotion. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

literature

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literary agent

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literary criticism

Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists. (Source: Literary criticism at Wikipedia )

literary technique

A literary technique or literary device may be used in works of literature in order to produce a specific effect on the reader.

Elements of fiction -- Literary techniques are important aspects of a writer's style, which is one of the five elements of fiction, along with character, plot, setting, and theme. Of these five elements, character is the who, plot is the what, setting is the where and when, and style is the how of a story. [1]

Distinguishing most literary technique from literary genre -- Literary technique is distinguished from literary genre. For example, although David Copperfield employs satire at certain moments, it belongs to the genre of comic novel, not that of satire. By contrast, Bleak House employs satire so consistently as to belong to the genre of satirical novel. In this way, use of a technique can lead to the development of a new genre, as was the case with one of the first modern novels, Pamela by Samuel Richardson, which by using the epistolary technique gave birth to the epistolary novel.

See literary technique at Wikipedia (Updated by: Fritz Freiheit)

local dexterity

Local dexterity is an authorial facility with the micro-units of fiction -- lines, images, paragraphs, even scenes -- so that they are a pleasure to read and are vivid to the reader. Example of excellence: anything by Ross Thomas. Local dexterity can occasionally disguise the absence of drama or conflict in a scene. A symptom of this: after reading a piece, the critic thinks, "I really enjoyed reading it but nothing happened."

lock in (to)

A character is locked in to a situation when he cannot escape from its conflict, usually because the stakes are high enough, and the consequences of non-participation so onerous, that trying and failing to better than doing nothing. For example, Robinson Crusoe is locked in; he must survive. Usually there is an irrevocable action, early in the story, which locks the character into his problem.

MacGuffin

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but has little or no actual relevance to the story.

The director and producer Alfred Hitchcock popularized both the term "MacGuffin" and the technique. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Hitchcock explained the term in a 1939 lecture at Columbia University: "[We] have a name in the studio, and we call it the 'MacGuffin.' It is the mechanical element that usually crops up in any story. In crook stories it is most always the necklace and in spy stories it is most always the papers." (Source: MacGuffin at Wikipedia )

maid-and-butler dialogue

Maid-and-butler dialogue is dialogue in which (probably ficelle) characters tell one another things they should already know, so that the reader can overhear them ("So sad that Madame had her cardiac arrest in the parlor and was carried out on a green stretcher last Thursday, June fifth, Nineteen Thirty-Four," or, "Gee, Rod, here we are on Mars. It's a good thing we were able to flee the wreckage of our burning spacecraft.") Usually manifested by apparent simple-mindedness of the characters forced to deliver these inanities. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

main character

Another term for protagonist / narrator.

manuscript

A document formatted for submission to agents or editors.

manuscript format

A specification for font, white space, and layout for a manuscript, typically specified by an agent or editor when submitting a manuscript.

manuscript guidelines

Specification of acceptable manuscript format for submissions for a given market.

margin (document)

The white space around the outer edge of a page.

market (writing)

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Mary Sue

Mary Sue, sometimes shortened simply to Sue, is a pejorative term used to describe a fictional character, either male or female (male characters are often dubbed "Gary Stu", "Marty Stu", or similar names), that exhibits some or most of the clichés common to much fan fiction. Such characters were originally labeled "Mary Sues" because they were portrayed in overly idealized ways, lacked noteworthy or realistic flaws, and primarily functioned as wish-fullfillment fantasies for their authors, often very young and unsophisticated. While characters labeled "Mary Sues" by readers are not generally intentionally written as such, some authors deliberately create "Mary Sues" (often described as just that by their own authors) as a form of parody.

While the term is generally limited to fan-created characters, and its most common usage today occurs within the fan fiction community or in reference to fan fiction, canon and original fiction characters are also sometimes criticized as being "Mary Sues." Wesley Crusher Pat Pflieger (2001). "TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE: 150 YEARS OF MARY SUE". 3. Presented at the American Culture Association conference. Retrieved on 2007-01-15. is probably the best-known example. In play-by-post role-playing games, many original characters are also criticized as being "Mary Sues" if they dominate the spotlight or can miraculously escape a near-impossible predicament, usually with an unlikely and previously unrevealed skill.

Identifying a character as a "Mary Sue" is naturally a subjective matter. Not all characters seemingly exhibiting "Mary Sue" traits would necessarily qualify by everyone's criteria. Indeed, well-known characters like Michael Moorcock's Elric, who is a fairly obvious idealized author surrogate, Sci Fi Weekly Interview. are loved in spite of, or perhaps even because of, their relative "Sueness". (Source: Mary Sue at Wikipedia )

melodrama

The theatrical genre of melodrama uses theme-music to manipulate the spectator's emotional response and to denote character types. The term combines "melody" (from the Greek "melōidía", meaning "song") and "drama"(Classical Greek: δράμα, dráma; meaning "action"). While the use of music is nearly ubiquitous in modern film, in a melodrama these musical cues will be used within a fairly rigid structure, and the characterizations will accordingly be somewhat more one-dimensional: Heroes will be unambiguously good and their entrance will be heralded by heroic-sounding trumpets and martial music; villains are unambiguously bad, and their entrance is greeted with dark-sounding, ominous chords.

Melodramas tend to be formulaic productions, with a clearly constructed world of connotations: A villain poses a threat, the hero escapes the threat and/or rescues the heroine. The term is sometimes used loosely to refer to plays, films or situations in which action or emotion is exaggerated and simplified for effect. As against tragedy, melodrama can have a happy ending, but this is not always the case. -- Source Melodrama at Wikipedia

melodramatic actions

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melodramatic setting

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men-in-rubber-suits syndrome

A form authorial laziness where the members of an alien race all act like humans in rubber suits. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

mental land mines

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microwaving the soufflé

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milepost character

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mime conversation

An authorial laziness where the dialogue is supposedly loaded with portentous significance to all participants - contorted facial expressions, heavy word emphasis, significant looks - but completely opaque to readers because relevant facts are neither stated nor inferable.

"But when you told me that - "

"-s! And thus he couldn't - "

"Of course, and I was such a fool, so now if -- "

"not if, but-when! And -- "

Such conversation is infuriating to the reader and also cheat him of the genuine emotional conflict and change that are core to viable fiction. (CSFW: David Smith ) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

money rule

Money always flows towards the writer.

mono-environment

A more specific form of monoism, this form authorial laziness is where the physical setting has a single environmental characteristic, particularly at the planetary level. Examples include the jungle planet in Alan Dean Foster's Midworld or the desert planet Tatooine in Star Wars. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

monoism

An authorial laziness where some aspect of the setting or world has a single monolithic characteristic. For example, a planet that has a single environment (i.e. mono-environments), such as the desert planet of Arrakis in Dune, or the swamp-jungle planet of Dagobah in Star Wars. Another example of a monoism is an alien race which have some dominate characteristic, such as the hunting race in the movie Predator. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

monologue

A monologue (as versus a dialogue) is an extended, uninterrupted speech by a single person. The person may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud or directly addressing other persons, e.g. an audience, a character, or a reader. -- (Source: Monolgoue at Wikipedia )

more ink around the dogs

More ink around the dogs is a colloquial exhortation to emphasize a bit of chrome, taken from an otherwise dreadful story featuring fascinating dogs, the only feature the critics found worthy in the entire tale. -- (CSFW: Sari Boren)

motherhood statement story

An SF story which posits some profoundly unsettling threat to the human condition, explores the implications briefly, then hastily retreats to affirm the conventional social and humanistic pieties, ie apple pie and motherhood. Greg Egan once stated that the secret of truly effective SF was to deliberately "burn the motherhood statement." (Attr. Greg Egan ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

motif

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motivation (character)

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Mrs. Brown

The Mrs. Browns are the small, downtrodden, eminently common, everyday little people who nevertheless encapsulates something vital and important about the human condition. "Mrs. Brown" is a rare personage in the SF genre, being generally overshadowed by swaggering submyth types made of the finest gold-plated cardboard. In a famous essay, "Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown," Ursula K. Le Guin decried Mrs. Brown's absence from the SF field. (Attr: Ursula K. Le Guin) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

mundane science fiction

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mystery (genre)

Mystery fiction, technically involving stories in which characters try to discover a vital piece of information which is kept hidden until the climax, is now considered by many people almost a synonym for detective fiction. The standard novel stocked in the mystery section of bookstores is a whodunit. (Source: genre fiction at Wikipedia )

narratology

The study of the narrative form.

narrator

A narrator is an entity within a story that tells the story to the reader. It is one of three entities responsible for story-telling of any kind. The others are the author and the reader (or audience). The author and the reader both inhabit the real world. It is the author's function to create the alternate world, people, and events within the story. It is the reader's function to understand and interpret the story. The narrator exists within the world of the story (and only there—although in non-fiction the narrator and the author can share the same persona, since the real world and the world of the story are the same) and presents it in a way the reader can comprehend.

A narrator tells the story from their point of view and is frequently the main character (but not always, see Doctor Watson).

The concept of the unreliable narrator (as opposed to Author) became more important with the rise of the novel in the 19th Century. Until the late 1800s, literary criticism as an academic exercise dealt solely with poetry (including epic poems like The Iliad and Paradise Lost, and poetic drama like Shakespeare). Most poems did not have a narrator distinct from the author. But novels, with their immersive fictional worlds, created a problem, especially when the narrator's views differed significantly from that of the author. (Source: Narrator at Wikipedia )

negative critique

A negative critique (as opposed to a positive critique) points out a flaw or short coming in the writing. Examples include "as you know Bob" dialogue, impossible use of body parts, and show, don't tell. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

neologism

A neologism is a word, term, or phrase that has been recently created (or "coined"), often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas that have taken on a new cultural context. The term e-mail, as used today, is an example of a neologism.

New Wave science fiction (genre)

New Wave is a term applied to science fiction writing characterised by a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, and a highbrow and self-consciously "literary" or artistic sensibility. The term "New Wave" is borrowed from film criticism's nouvelle vague: films characterised by the work of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and others. The New Wave writers saw themselves as part of the general literary tradition and often openly mocked the traditions of pulp science fiction, which they regarded as stodgy, irrelevant and unambitious. (Source: New Wave (science fiction) at Wikipedia )

Significant New Wave authors are: Brian Aldiss, J. G. Ballard, John Brunner, Samuel R. Delany, Philip K. Dick, Thomas M. Disch, Harlan Ellison, Philip José Farmer, Harry Harrison, M. John Harrison, R. A. Lafferty, Ursula K. Le Guin, Keith Roberts, Joanna Russ, Robert Silverberg, Norman Spinrad, and Roger Zelazny.

non-proportional font

A font with a fixed width. The number of characters that appear in a given width, such as one inch, will be the same regardless of the specific characters included.

not simultaneous (grammar)

The mis-use of the present participle is a common structural sentence-fault for beginning writers. "Putting his key in the door, he leapt up the stairs and got his revolver out of the bureau." Alas, our hero couldn't do this even if his arms were forty feet long. This fault shades into "Ing Disease," the tendency to pepper sentences with words ending in "-ing," a grammatical construction which tends to confuse the proper sequence of events. (Attr. Damon Knight ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

noun

A word that is used to specify a person, place, thing, quality, or action and can function as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or an appositive. (Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/noun )

novel

A single book or story with a word count of 40,000 up. - (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

novella

A novella is a short story from 17,500 words to 40,000 (verify). - (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

novelette

A short story from 7500 to 17,500 words. - (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

nowhere nowhen story

Putting too little exposition into the story's beginning, so that the story, while physically readable, seems to take place in a vacuum and fails to engage any readerly interest. (Attr. L. Sprague de Camp) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

nowism

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objective correlative

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offstage

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ol' baloney factory

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one "big idea" rule

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onstage

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ontological riff

An 'ontological riff' is a passage in an SF story which suggests that our deepest and most basic convictions about the nature of reality, space-time, or consciousness have been violated, technologically transformed, or at least rendered thoroughly dubious. The works of H. P. Lovecraft, Barrington Bayley, and Philip K Dick abound in "ontological riffs." (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

organ music

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out of character

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out-of-whack event

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outline

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overhead

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pace

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pacing

Pacing is the rhythm of the novel, of the chapters and scenes and paragraphs and sentences. It's also the rate at which the reader reads, the speed at which novel events occur and unfold. It's using specific word choices and sentence structure -- scene, chapter, and novel structure -- to tap the emotions of the reader so that the reader feels what the writer wants the reader to feel at any given time during the story. -- (Source: Pacing by Vicki Hinze at fictionfactor.com )

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parable

A parable is a brief, succinct story, in prose or verse, that illustrates a moral or religious lesson. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human characters.

parsimony of detail

Parsimony of detail is an attribute of writing where the author has been frugal or conservative in what they tell the reader, generally in a positive way, such that any detail given is significant to the story in some way. It is a more narrowly focused aspect of economy. Contrast with chrome. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

pay off (to)

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perception fallacy

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peripheral character ego

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Phildickian

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pitch

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plot

In fiction a plot or storyline is all the events in a story, particularly towards the achievement of some particular artistic or emotional effect. In other words, it's what mostly happened in the story. Such as the mood, characters, setting, and conflicts occurring in a story. (Source: Plot (narrative) at Wikipedia )

plot coupons

The basic building blocks of the quest-type fantasy plot. The "hero" collects sufficient plot coupons (magic sword, magic book, magic cat) to send off to the writer for the ending. Note that "the writer" can be substituted for "the gods" in such a work: "The gods decreed he would pursue this quest." Right, mate. The writer decreed he would pursue this quest until sufficient pages were filled to procure an advance. (Dave Langford) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

plot device

A plot device is an element introduced into a story to solely to advance or resolve the plot of the story. In the hands of a skilled writer, the reader or viewer will not notice that the device is a construction of the author; it will seem to follow naturally from the setting or characters in the story. A poorly-written story, on the other hand, may have such awkward or contrived plot devices that the reader has serious trouble maintaining suspension of disbelief.

Calling an element of a work a 'plot device' is generally derogatory, implying a lack of complexity in the work. Judging something as a plot device is always subjective, and depends on the degree to which the 'item' serves other purposes or is well-integrated into the tale. For example the 'magic item' which the protagonists of a fantasy novel have to find or destroy is often a plot device; however one might hesitate to apply the term to the Ring of The Lord of the Rings, since it also serves many other purposes in the book. (Source: plot device at Wikipedia )

plot-driven

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plot inversion

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plot twist

A plot twist is a change ("twist") in the direction or expected outcome of the plot of a film, television series, video game, novel, comic or other fictional work. It is a common practice in narration used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation. Some "twists" are foreshadowed and can thus be predicted by many viewers/readers, whereas others are a complete shock.

When a plot twist happens near the end of a story, especially if it changes one's view of the preceding events, it is known as a twist ending.

Revealing the existence of a plot twist often spoils a movie, since the majority of the movie generally builds up to the plot twist.

A device used to undermine the expectations of the audience is the false protagonist. It involves presenting a character at the start of the film as the main character, but then disposing of this character, usually killing them. It is a red herring. -- Source Plot twist at Wikipedia

poetry

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point of view

Need to update from Template:Point of view (literary) article from Wikipedia (2008/04/05)

Point of view (or POV) and point-of-view character. The 'hidden camera' through which the reader perceives a scene. It may be inside a focus character (we see that character's thoughts and reactions to events), it may move among characters, or it may remain outside of all characters as either an omniscient narrator or an active, present author-voice (e.g. John Fowles, Italo Calvino) commenting on the action.

Point of view is a scarce resource, since it may be only one character at any one instant. Almost by definition, the reader will perceive the point-of-view character as the most important in a scene, and will be sympathetic to the point-of-view character (see Author Surrogate). Identical action will be perceived very differently by the reader if the point-of-view character is shifted (e.g. Rashomon; or Durrell, The Alexandria Quartet and The Avignon Quincunx). Granting a character point-of-view status for a scene usually signals that the character is a focus character, and is an easy way to separate focus and peripheral characters at the beginning of a story. Among the common points of view are:

Third person omniscient: The narrator knows everything, can shift in time and place at whim, from character to character, inside people's thoughts, feelings and motives.

Third person intrusive: The narrator editorializes on the story being told (Dickens, Fielding, Dostoevsky, John Fowles).

Third person unobtrusive or Third person impersonal: Presents the story without comment (Zola, Flaubert, Dashiell Hammett).

Third person limited: The narrator is confined to a single character, sitting on his shoulder or inside his head, observing only what is available to that character (Henry James, Raymond Chandler).

Second person: An uncommon view point where the reader is focus. "You open the door and enter the room."

First person: narrator is almost always intrusive and limited: confined to a single character who may be a witness (c.f. The Great Gatsby), a minor participant (Doctor Watson), or the central character (Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe). First person narrators are frequently either reader surrogates, author surrogates, or both. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

polish phase

When writing, or pursuing some other creative process, the polish phase is the period when the focus is on refining the story (or other "artifact") by engaging ones critical and/or editorial faculties. It is preceded by the barf phase. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

polysyllabism

The tendency to use a big word for effect even when a small word is better. (CSFW: David Smith ) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

"Poor me" story

An autobiographical piece in which the male viewpoint character complains that he is ugly and can't get laid. (Attr. Kate Wilhelm ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

positive critique

A positive critique (as opposed to a negative critique) points out a strength in the writing. Examples include an eyeball kick and incluing. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

postmodern

The Compact Oxford English Dictionary refers to postmodernism as "a style and concept in the arts characterized by distrust of theories and ideologies and by the drawing of attention to conventions."<ref>http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/postmodernism?view=uk</ref>

Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement'. While "modern" itself refers to something "related to the present", the movement of modernism and the following reaction of postmodernism are defined by a set of perspectives. It is used in critical theory to refer to a point of departure for works of literature, drama, architecture, cinema, journalism and design, as well as in marketing and business and in the interpretation of history, law, culture and religion in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Postmodernism is an aesthetic, literary, political or social philosophy, which was the basis of the attempt to describe a condition, or a state of being, or something concerned with changes to institutions and conditions (as in Giddens, 1990) as postmodernity. In other words, postmodernism is the "cultural and intellectual phenomenon", especially since the 1920s' new movements in the arts, while postmodernity focuses on social and political outworkings and innovations globally, especially since the 1960s in the West.

Source: Wikipedia

POV

Acronym for point of view.

powderpuff

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pre-published

A writer is pre-published before becoming an author. That is, the state of not having been published. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

premise

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prequel (story)

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prologue

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proportional font

A font with a variable width. The number of characters that appear in a given fixed width, such as one inch, will vary depending on the specific characters.

prose

Prose is ordinary writing in contrast to poetry or verse. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

protagonist

The main character in a story, on whom the writer focuses the narrative. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

pulp

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pump up (to)

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punish the careless reader

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pushbutton words

Words used to evoke a cheap emotional response without engaging the intellect or the critical faculties. Commonly found in story titles, they include such bits of bogus lyricism as "star," "dance," "dream," "song," "tears" and "poet," cliches calculated to render the SF audience misty-eyed and tender-hearted. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

reaction shot

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reader cheating

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reader expectations

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reader surrogate

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rear-view mirror description

The authorial habit of describing things only after they've figured in the action, never before they're used. "She dodged behind the boulder that she'd just seen out of the corner of her eye." The effect on the reader is that the description isn't seen for itself, but rather as if glimpsed only in the rear-view mirror. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

red shirt

A character who exists to be killed off. The term 'red shirt' comes from the high casualty rate of experienced by the security personnel on the original Star Trek and who wore red shirts. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

re-inventing the wheel story

A novice writer goes to enormous lengths to create a science-fictional situation already tiresomely familiar to the experienced reader. Reinventing the Wheel was traditionally typical of mainstream writers venturing into SF. It is now often seen in writers who lack experience in genre history because they were attracted to written SF via SF movies, SF television series, SF role-playing games, SF comics or SF computer gaming. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

Rembrandt comic book story

A story in which incredible craftsmanship has been lavished on a theme or idea which is basically trivial or subliterary, and which simply cannot bear the weight of such deadly-serious artistic portent. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

replacement principle

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retrofit

Retrofit is an editing term. To rewrite a previous chapter or scene for the purpose of making a later scene work better, by setting up something that is needed later, introducing a premise, situation or character so that its presence later in the story is justified. To revise a previous chapter or scene to conform details to what is necessary later in the story. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

review

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reward the careful reader

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rhinoceros

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rhinoceros in the room

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Roget's disease

The ludicrous overuse of far-fetched adjectives, piled into a festering, fungal, tenebrous, troglodytic, ichorous, leprous, synonymic heap. (Attr. John W. Campbell ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

role playing game

A game where the players take on the roles of imaginary characters.

rpg story

Template:Rpg story - A direct translation of RPG events into a story.

romance (genre)

Romance is currently the largest and best-selling fiction genre in North America. It has produced a wide array of subgenres, the majority of which feature the mutual attraction and love of a man and a woman as the main plot, and have a happy ending.

rubber science

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rule (writing)

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rules of engagement

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runaround

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query letter

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quest

A quest is a journey towards a goal used in mythology and literature as a plot. Quests can be found in the folklore of every nation.<ref>Josepha Sherman, Once upon a Galaxy p 142 ISBN 0-87483-387-6 </ref> In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and the overcoming of many obstacles, typically including much travel. -- (Source: quest at Wikipedia )

"Said" bookism

An artificial verb used to avoid the word "said." "Said" is one of the few invisible words in the English language and is almost impossible to overuse. It is much less distracting than "he retorted," "she inquired," "he ejaculated," and other oddities. The term "said-book" comes from certain pamphlets, containing hundreds of purple-prose synonyms for the word "said," which were sold to aspiring authors from tiny ads in American magazines of the pre-WWII era. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon ) / said-bookism

sans-serif

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scene (writing)

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scene outline

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science fantasy (genre)

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science fiction (genre)

A fiction genre that uses significant speculative trappings that basically conforms to and/or does not violate known science at the time of its writing. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

(From Wikipedia) Science fiction is defined more by setting than by other story elements. With a few exceptions, stories set out of Earth or in the future qualify as science fiction. Within these settings, the conventions of almost any other genre may be used. A sub-genre of science fiction is alternate history where, for some specific reason, the history of the novel deviates from the history of our world. Pavane (1968) by Keith Roberts was an influential early alternate history, Harry Turtledove's The Guns of the South is another popular example. Of late, alternate history has come into its own as a distinctive and independent outgrowth from general science fiction. (Source: genre fiction at Wikipedia )

Science Fiction Writers of America

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script

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second-order idiot plot

A variation on the idiot plot where the plot involves an entire invented SF society which functions only because every single person in it is necessarily an idiot. (Attr. Damon Knight) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

Also see bolt-on.

second person

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segue

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setting

The general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which the action of a fictional or dramatic work occurs; the setting of an episode or scene within a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place. For example, the general setting of Joyce's "The Dead," is a quay named Usher's Island, west of central Dublin in the early 1900s, and the initial setting is the second floor apartment of the Misses Morkan. Setting can be a central or peripheral factor in the meaning of a work. The setting is usually established through description--but sometimes narration or dialogue also reveals the location and time. (Source: http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_S.html )

In fiction, the setting of a story is the time, location and circumstances in which it takes place. Broadly speaking, the setting provides the main backdrop for the story. Sometimes setting is referred to as milieu, to include a context (such as society) beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. In some cases, setting becomes a character itself and can set the tone of a story. (Source: Setting (literature) at Wikipedia )

seven-point plot

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sequel (story)

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serif

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SF

Acronym for Science Fiction.

SF/F

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SFWA

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shadow staging

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shaggy God story

A piece which mechanically adopts a Biblical or other mythological tale and provides flat science-fictional "explanations" for the theological events. (Attr. Michael Moorcock ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

short story

A work of fiction less than 40,000 words in length, but more commonly between 1,000 and 7,500 words. Not a novel. - (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

show, not tell

A cardinal principle of effective writing. The reader should be allowed to react naturally to the evidence presented in the story, not instructed in how to react by the writer. Specific incidents and carefully observed details will render authorial lectures unnecessary. For instance, instead of telling the reader "She had a bad childhood, an unhappy childhood," a specific incident -- involving, say, a locked closet and two jars of honey -- should be shown.

Rigid adherence to show-don't-tell can become absurd. Minor matters are sometimes best gotten out of the way in a swift, straightforward fashion. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

signal from Fred

A signal or message from Fred is a comic form of the "Dischism" in which the writer's subconscious, alarmed by the poor quality of the work, makes unwitting critical comments: "This doesn't make sense." "This is really boring." "This sounds like a bad movie." (Attr. Damon Knight ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

simile of action

Metaphors or similes can be considered as a means of coining adjectives by repackaging nouns: "He was as strong as a bull, rosy-fingered dawn, it was as easy as pie." Metaphors are relatively seldom used to convey adverbs, and especially seldom to convey intention. It can be done in a few words if you know what to look for: namely, a simile in a structure such as: "He <verb> as if he was <metaphoric verb>ing," as in a sentence like "he regarded the outstretched hand as if it were a day-old fish." This has the extremely desirable result of describing intention without shifting narrational point of view; the technique can be used with high frequency without becoming obtrusive. (CSFW: David Smith) (Source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

slipstream story

Non-SF story which is so ontologically distorted or related in such a bizarrely non-realist fashion that it cannot pass muster as commercial mainstream fiction and therefore seeks shelter in the SF or fantasy genre. Postmodern critique and technique are particularly fruitful in creating slipstream stories. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

slush pile

The slush pile is the set of unsolicited manuscripts, usually at a magazine or book publisher.

smart subconscious

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snark rule

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snowflake method (writing)

An alternative name for the iterative deepening writing technique. (Source: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php )

soft science fiction

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soft SF

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sorcerer's apprentice's mop

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space opera

Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic adventure, and larger-than-life characters often set against vast exotic futuristic settings with remotely plausible technology such as time travel and interstellar travel, complex alien civilizations and depictions of human futures. (Source: space opera at Wikipedia )

space western

The most pernicious suite of "Used Furniture". The grizzled space captain swaggering into the spacer bar and slugging down a Jovian brandy, then laying down a few credits for a space hooker to give him a Galactic Rim Job. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

speculative fiction

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spoiler

A spoiler is a warning that if you proceed you will (may) encounter information that the original author / director / etc. intended to be a surprise to the reader / viewer. For example, you might find out that the twist ending of a story or movie. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

squid in the mouth

The failure of an writer to realize that his/her own weird assumptions and personal in-jokes are simply not shared by the world-at-large. Instead of applauding the wit or insight of the writer's remarks, the world-at-large will stare in vague shock and alarm at such a writer, as if he or she had a live squid in the mouth.

Since SF writers as a breed are generally quite loony, and in fact make this a stock in trade, "squid in the mouth" doubles as a term of grudging praise, describing the essential, irreducible, divinely unpredictable lunacy of the true SF writer. (Attr. James P. Blaylock ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

squid on the mantelpiece

Chekhov said that if there are dueling pistols over the mantelpiece in the first act, they should be fired in the third. In other words, a plot element should be deployed in a timely fashion and with proper dramatic emphasis. However, in SF plotting the MacGuffins are often so overwhelming that they cause conventional plot structures to collapse. It's hard to properly dramatize, say, the domestic effects of Dad's bank overdraft when a giant writhing kraken is leveling the city. This mismatch between the conventional dramatic proprieties and SF's extreme, grotesque, or visionary thematics is known as the "squid on the mantelpiece." (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

staging

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stalling

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Stapledon

Stapledon is the name assigned to the voice which takes center stage to lecture. Actually a common noun, as: "You have a Stapledon come on to answer this problem instead of showing the characters resolve it." (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

steam-grommet factory story

Didactic SF story which consists entirely of a guided tour of a large and elaborate gimmick. A common technique of SF utopias and dystopias. (Attr. Gardner Dozois ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

stet

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story arc

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storyboard

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story clock

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style

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subtext

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submission

Send your manuscript to an agent or editor.

summary (story)

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submit

Send a manuscript to an agent or editor with the intent of getting it published.

submyth

Classic character-types in SF which aspire to the condition of archetype but don't quite make it, such as the mad scientist, the crazed supercomputer, the emotionless super-rational alien, the vindictive mutant child, etc. (Attr. Ursula K. Le Guin) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

subplot

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super hero

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Superman syndrome

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suspension of disbelief

Suspension of disbelief or "willing suspension of disbelief" was a formula devised by the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge to justify the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literature. Coleridge suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend his judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative.

The phrase "suspension of disbelief" came to be used more loosely in the later 20th century, often used to imply that the onus was on the reader, rather than the writer, to achieve it. It might be used to refer to the willingness of the audience to overlook the limitations of a medium, so that these do not interfere with the acceptance of those premises. According to the theory, suspension of disbelief is a quid pro quo: the audience tacitly agrees to provisionally suspend their judgment in exchange for the promise of entertainment. These fictional premises may also lend to the engagement of the mind and perhaps proposition of thoughts, ideas, art and perhaps theories.

sword and sorcery

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tabloid weird story

Story produced by a confusion of SF and Fantasy tropes -- or rather, by a confusion of basic world-views. Tabloid Weird is usually produced by the writer's own inability to distinguish between a rational, Newtonian-Einsteinian, cause-and-effect universe and an irrational, supernatural, fantastic universe. Either the FBI is hunting the escaped mutant from the genetics lab, or the drill-bit has bored straight into Hell -- but not both at once in the very same piece of fiction. Even fantasy worlds need an internal consistency of sorts, so that a Sasquatch Deal-with-the-Devil story is also "Tabloid Weird." Sasquatch crypto-zoology and Christian folk superstition simply don't mix well, even for comic effect. (Attr. Howard Waldrop ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

technical detail

A technical detail, when critiquing a story, is some detail of the story that only a careful reader or expert will recognize as being incorrect. For example, an not immediately obvious anachronism, such as having a Roman citizen from the time of Caesar use zero, or not counting a leap day in duration that includes a leap year February 29th. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

tense

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tension (narrative)

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texture

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thematic redundancy

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theme

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third person

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thread (narrative)

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three-act structure

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tic

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Tom Swifty

An unseemly compulsion to follow the word "said" with a colorful adverb, as in "'We'd better hurry,' Tom said swiftly." This was a standard mannerism of the old Tom Swift adventure dime-novels. Good dialogue can stand on its own without a clutter of adverbial props. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

toon

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travel time

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trope

A literary trope (from Greek τροπή - tropē, "a turn, a change" and that from τρέπω - trepō, "to turn, to direct, to alter, to change") is a common pattern, theme, motif in literature, or a term often used to denote figures of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning. -- (Source: Trope (literature) at Wikipedia )

Tuckerizing

Named after Wilson Tucker, the practice of introducing as peripheral characters, or offstage icons, names recognizable to the reader. (For example, naming the Moon's capital 'Heinlein' and its main street 'La Rue de la Professor Bernardo de la Paz'.) A subclass of rewarding the careful reader. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

trilogy

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turgid prose

Turgid prose is prose that is excessively ornate or complex in style or language.

twist ending

A twist ending or surprise ending is an unexpected conclusion or climax to a work of fiction, and which often contains irony or causes the audience to reevaluate the narrative or characters. A twist ending is the conclusive form of plot twists. -- Source: Wikipedia

ubermensch

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underserve

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unlikely use of body parts

A description of a character's action, commonly sensory, that is would be highly unlikely if taken literally. These can usually be turned into more feasible activities by changing the body part into a more sense-noun, such as changing "eyes" to "gaze". For example, "He raked her graceful figure with his eyes," or "His eyes traversed the horizon seeking the first appearance of enemy fighters." (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

unperceived source

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unreliable narrator

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unstage

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use it or lose it

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used furniture

Use of a background out of Central Casting. Rather than invent a background and have to explain it, or risk re-inventing the wheel, let's just steal one. We'll set it in the Star Trek Universe, only we'll call it the Empire instead of the Federation. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

utopia

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viewpoint

The viewpoint of a story or narrative. That is, who is relating the story. The three primary viewpoints are third person (the most common), first person, and second person (the least common). -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

viewpoint glitch

The writer loses track of point-of-view, switches point-of-view for no good reason, or relates something that the viewpoint character could not possibly know. Also known as head popping. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

verb

A word or phrase that expresses existence, action, or occurrence. Such as 'be', 'run', or 'conceive' (respectively). (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

verse

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voice

Voice is the narrational form used. Often confused with point of view, but it is distinct. The same scene, told from the point of view of the same character, will have a very different texture if done first-person-singular ("I raced down the alley") rather than third-person-singular ("Our hero raced down the alley"). In very rare occasions (e.g. McInerny, Bright Lights / Big City), second-person is used ("you open the door and are hit in the head; lights explode in your brain"). In a story with multiple points of view, each character may have his own tense and voice, and thus distinguish characters on a textual level.

Adjusting voice can increase or decrease the distance between writer, reader and character. Using first-person, for example, brings reader and character practically into the same head. Using a narrative-reminiscence style shortens the distance between reader and writer. (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

VP

Acronym for viewpoint.

Watson character

A Watson character is a supporting character whose principal purpose is to voice the reader's confusions and concerns, so that the protagonist is given an opportunity to answer them without resorting to an expository lump. "My God, Holmes, you mean the bell-pull was a snake?" (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html ) / Watson

WE

Acronym for word echo.

western (genre)

Western fiction is defined primarily by being set in the American West in the second half of the 19th century, and secondarily by featuring heroes who are rugged, individualistic horsemen (cowboys). Other genres, such as romance, have subgenres that make use of the Western setting. (Source: genre fiction at Wikipedia ) / western

whistling dog story

A story related in such an elaborate, arcane, or convoluted manner that it impresses by its sheer narrative ingenuity, but which, as a story, is basically not worth the candle. Like the whistling dog, it's astonishing that the thing can whistle -- but it doesn't actually whistle very well. (Attr. Harlan Ellison ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

white room syndrome

A clear and common sign of the failure of the writer's imagination, most often seen at the beginning of a story, before the setting, background, or characters have gelled. "She awoke in a white room." The 'white room' is a featureless set for which details have yet to be invented -- a failure of invention by the writer. The character 'wakes' in order to begin a fresh train of thought -- again, just like the writer. This 'white room' opening is generally followed by much earnest pondering of circumstances and useless exposition; all of which can be cut, painlessly.

It remains to be seen whether the "white room" cliche will fade from use now that most writers confront glowing screens rather than blank white paper. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

wiring diagram fiction

A genre ailment related to "False Humanity," "Wiring Diagram Fiction" involves "characters" who show no convincing emotional reactions at all, since they are overwhelmed by the writer's fascination with gadgetry or didactic lectures. (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

word count

The number of words that a document contains. While this may seem straight forward, there are several different methods of generating this count.

word echo

The repetition of a word or phrase in close proximity or in a longer passage. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

word processor

A word processor is a piece of software for creating documents. -- (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

wordsmithy

Template:Wordsmithy

workshop

Template:Workshop

worldbuilding

Template:Worldbuilding

writer

Someone who has written (or is writing) a short story, novel, etc. As (arbitrarily) distinguished from an author. (Source: Fritz Freiheit)

writer's group

Template:Writer's group

writer's workshop

Template:Writer's workshop

you can't fire me, I quit

An attempt to diffuse the reader's incredulity with a pre-emptive strike -- as if by anticipating the reader's objections, the writer had somehow answered them. "I would never have believed it, if I hadn't seen it myself!" "It was one of those amazing coincidences that can only take place in real life!" "It's a one-in-a-million chance, but it's so crazy it just might work!" Surprisingly common, especially in SF. (Attr. John Kessel ) (Source: Turkey City Lexicon )

zipper story

A zipper story is a particular form of story involving two (or more) alternating strands, which in the story's beginning appear completely unrelated but which over time come closer and closer together until their connection becomes the story's climax. Fred Pohl's novel Gateway is a zipper story. (CSFW: David Smith) (Original source: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html )

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