A lot of jargon and quite a few abbreviations exist in the writing, editing, and publishing industry, so we’re going to take a moment to dispel some of the fog and shed light into the crevices. We have a whole post on just Printing Terms and another one on Grammar, so this time we’ll focus on the Writing process. Rather than have an alphabetical list, we’ll start off with a few abbreviations that may be new to you, then delve into the writing process itself, and finally finish up with a short list of things to avoid. As the whole list is too long to include all here, we’ll continue with this topic next month (Writing and Editing Terms #2).
Abbreviations
- MC: Main character—central character whose actions and adventures the reader follows
- ms: Manuscript (usually lower case)—unpublished, final copy ready for editing
- mss: Manuscripts (plural, also lower case)—in case you have more than one going on at a time
- WIP: Work in progress—the story currently being worked on
- AKYB: As You Know, Bob—a method of info dump via dialogue, often stilted and awkward for the characters
- TOC: Table of Contents—occasionally used in fiction, almost required for non-fiction
Creating the story
- Pre-writing—Steps taken before starting to write the story itself, can include Brainstorming, Researching, Mapping, and Outlining, often used to create characters and build the story world
- Brainstorming—Collecting ideas without regard to feasibility, hopefully some will become useful later
- Researching—Discovering facts to create story environment
- Mapping—Drawing the story world to envision any distances, locations, or natural obstacles that may become relevant
- Outlining—Listing short bullet points to summarise content of story, can be used later to create TOC
- Creating Characters—Listing details of characters, often written up on a sheet inspired by Role Playing games
- World Building—Creating the story world (whether fictional or not) to give the reader a feeling of actually being there, can include culture, language, landscape, and history to allow consistent backdrop for story—important for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Historical stories where the story world may not be familiar to the reader
- Zero Draft—Writing step that precedes First Draft, total story dump without regard to practicality
- Rough Draft—Early draft of work that has not yet been re-read by author
- Draft—Sequential versions of story as revisions are made, numbered as work progresses
Problems to avoid
- Info Dump—Excessive description, backstory, or other information that doesn’t push the story along
- Head Hopping—Changing POV character mid-scene
- Purple Prose—Excessively descriptive writing, overloading the reader with irrelevant details (also Flowery Writing)
- As You Know, Bob—Characters being forced by the author to discuss things they would already know in the story world for the benefit of the reader
These are just a few terms…we’ll continue the list next month. See you then!