For most of us who went to grade school, typical instruction in creative writing has always involved the more basic and obvious concepts such as plot, three act structure, points of view, themes, clichés, etc. And while those are all well and good, by the time a writer really starts becoming serious about their craft, the environment surrounding writing has significantly changed. Soon it becomes less about how to write a story and more about how to get that story out there. And with this new environment comes a new series of terms related to publishing, editing, and even just straight up casual communication between writers that any amateur has to learn. And for those of us who might have grown up in a small town with a struggling school system that put much less effort into creative instruction than we would have liked, it’s sometimes hard to catch up.
So, this week I decided to share some of the new acronyms, terms, and phrases I have discovered only since entering college and making myself more acquainted with, not just the “business” sides of creative writing, but also the “casual.” Some terms you may already be familiar with, and others you may not. But hopefully they will help make your entrance into the creative writing community run a lot smoother.
Speculative Fiction – basically the heavier “genre” fiction that encompasses people, places, and situations that are not grounded in reality. This includes stories with fantasy, paranormal or supernatural elements. Opposite to:
Contemporary Fiction – which covers stories that are grounded in reality, involving people, places, and situations that could very well be found in our modern day lives.
WIP – Work in Progress. Used in a sentence: “My current WIP has taken me ten long, agonizing years to complete.”
MC – Main Character
MS – Manuscript; that thing you desperately want to have finished.
AU – Alternate Universe. i.e.: I wish I lived in an AU where I could write faster.
Mary Sue / Gary Stu – a character that comes across as flawless and perfect; is often seen as a projection of the author’s desired self-image.
NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. A designated time during the month of November where writers get together online and set goals to complete a 50,000 word novel.
WC – Word Count
YA – Young Adult
Archetype – a specific type of character that is often recreated across literature. Some examples would include “The Mentor,” and “The Hero” characters.
Antihero – a protagonist who lacks the typical characteristics of a “hero.” They aren’t exactly good, but they are definitely not the antagonist of the piece. Han Solo is probably the best example of this.
ARC – Advanced Reader Copy. A copy of a nearly-finished piece that is often distributed to critics and book reviewers in order to help add to the hype of a novel’s debut.
Stutter – an occurrence during writing where the same word or phrase is used more than once within a noticeable length of time. Can sometimes be done on purpose for dramatic effect, but most often it is just a poor arrangement of words. I see stuttering quite often when critiquing other peoples’ work, and it never fails to shake me out of the story. Example: “There were multiple lacerations across the man’s torso. When I looked around the room, I saw multiple claw marks on the carpets and the hardwood floors.”
AYKB – As You Know, Bob… Probably my favorite of the writing acronyms, and my least favorite to actually come across within a story. Its appearance basically heralds the arrival of a sloppy exposition dump. I’ve seen it done in several movies and a few books, and it always makes me cringe at how obvious it is. i.e.: “As you know Bob, it’s the one year anniversary of your wife Helena’s brutal murder. But I don’t know why I’m mentioning it–one, because you’re probably well aware of that already, and two, there is surely nothing significant about it whatsoever as far as the rest of our day goes.”
Purple – language that is unnecessarily flowery. In other words, something that seems “purple” is often something that appears pretentious purely for the sake of being pretentious, and not legitimately profound.
Logline – a single sentence pitch for your story that you would often give to an agent. Not to be confused with a:
Tagline – which is a juicy one to two sentence teaser for your story that would normally appear on a cover or a listing.
Deus Ex Machina – Greek for “God from the Machine.” A literary device in which someone or something comes in at the last minute to magically fix all your characters’ problems. Now, don’t get me wrong: I LOVE Doctor Who. But there is almost always some sort of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, magic fix-everything button at the end of an episode. Deus Ex TARDISa.
Zero Draft – in other words, “Word Vomit.” This is where you just let loose with your writing in order to explore characters and situations and kind of piece together how you want your story to go.
Chekhov’s Gun – a “law” of writing which demonstrates that everything you put within a story must have significance or meaning. In other words, do not introduce a gun in Act One if that gun is not going to come into play during Act Three.
Night Owls, are there any terms used within creative writing that are new to you / were new to you later in your writing career? Share them with us below!
