Jargon for Writers: Part Two

by Gayle Heston, COFW member

The following three part article first appeared in the Central Ohio Fiction Writers' newsletter Write From the Heart. In the August, September and November issues.

This is a continuation of the list started last month. As writers, we know how every profession has its own language. Words evolve special meanings for each group. The craft of writing, in which words and their meanings are so important, is no different from any other profession. I've collected some of the most commonly used definitions. This is neither a complete vocabulary list, nor are these the only descriptions available.

MELODRAMA: A sensational, sentimental plot full of events designed to thrill and titillate. It appeals to the emotions and the shallow characters are either all good or all bad.

METAPHOR: A figure of speech in which something is likened to something else without using the words "like" or "as." Example: "all the world's a stage."

META-NOVEL: Each book in a series stands alone; when read collectively, they form one big ongoing novel about the main character. Each book has its own arc: book one introduces the character and establishes a meta-goal that will carry through further books. In book two, that meta-goal is tested, etc. Example: All the books about Kinsey Milhone, from A to Z [Sue Grafton's mystery series], constitute one big book with lots of episodes.

MOTIVATION: Motivation is the reason why your hero does what he does. Again, we use Deb Dixon's G.M.C. [Goal, Motivation and Conflict] paradigm. Motivation is what drives your characters to achieve their goals. Keep it simple. Keep it strong. Keep it focused.

NARRATIVE: The part of the story that tells the reader what happened, the physical details of what is going on. In a nutshell, everything that isn't dialogue.

PACE: The speed and rhythm at which the story moves.

PLOT: A term used by Aristotle in the 4th century to describe the arrangement of the story's events, including the actions of the protagonist and how these actions affect the characters. Today we understand that there are only a certain number of plots out there. The thousands of stories and novels come from how YOU the writer present your version of the plot. At the Internet Public Library, @ www.ipl.org, you can find a complete list of 37 plots recognized today.

PLOT POINT: A scene or a moment in a scene that grabs the action, hooks into it, and flings it into a new direction. It is a major change or turning point in a plot. In The Weekend Novelist, author Robert J. Ray says: Plot Point One is the key scene that occurs right before the end of Act One. Plot Point Two is the key scene that occurs right before the end of Act Two.

POINT OF VIEW: POV is the vantage point from which the story is told. 1st Person POV—uses "I" to tell the story. 3rd Person POV—uses "he/she/they" to tell the story. 3rd Person is the most commonly used POV.

PROTAGONIST: The central character in a story, usually the Hero/Heroine.

SCENE: According to Jack M. Bickham, the scene is the basic large building block in the structure of any long story. It's a segment of story action, written moment-by-moment, without summary, presented onstage in the story "now." It does not happen inside the character's head; it is physical. Bickham lays out the pattern of a scene as: statement of goal; introduction and development of conflict; and failure of the character to reach his goal, a tactical disaster.

SEQUEL: The sequel is where the characters reflect on the preceding scene. Again using Jack M. Bickham's model of scene and sequel, we see that a sequel begins for your viewpoint character the moment the scene ends. The pattern for the sequel has four structural compartments: emotion; thought; decision; and action. The sequel is wholly internal.

SIMILE: Two dissimilar things are compared to each other, generally using either "like" or the phrase "as (blank) as." It is used to make a strange thing familiar.

STRUCTURE: A way to organize your story material in a way that is both logical and dramatic. A basic structure can be laid out in six steps: the inciting incident; the first plot point; mid-point; second plot point; the climax; and the resolution.

SUBPLOT: a secondary plot, which often shares an important relationship to the main plot, either through contrast or a parallel to it.

SUSPENSE: A reader's anticipation about how the story will turn out.

TAG LINES: a couple words or a phrase that tells the reader who is speaking. The least obtrusive and simplest tag lines are "he said" and "she said."

TENSION: the sense of excitement a reader feels when two or more aspects tug in seemingly opposite directions, helping to maintain psychological interest in the story.

THEME: The central idea of a story. Through plot and interaction among the characters, the idea that even though a work is fiction, it still may communicate a kind of truth about the way human beings act, think, or feel in a way that word-for-word truth cannot. Theme is a much broader term than plot, illustrating whatever universal idea the story put forward, while plot has to do instead with the literal events that occur in the characters' lives.

TRANSITIONS: It provides a direct statement to the reader to the effect that a change in time, place or viewpoint has happened since the last scene.

TURNING POINT: a point in a story at which things change. It keeps a plot from being linear and predictable. Plot points are just one example of turning points. In Writing the Breakout Novel, Donald Maass says a turning point could be the arrival of new information; as a shift in the course of events, a reversal, a twist, a challenge, or a disaster.

VOICE: The author's voice is how you, as the writer, present things, not what you write about. Voice also has to do with verb use. Passive voice is when the subject of the sentence is acted upon, instead of taking action. The over use of "TO BE" verbs can make your writing flat and boring. When you use Active Voice—the subject performs the action expressed by the verb; the subject acts.

Deanna Carlyle has compiled a list of over a thousand action verbs. It is available at www.deannacarlyle.com/articles/verbs. Gayle Heston, who writes mysteries and romantic suspense, is trying her hand at a thriller. She is a member of RWA, COFW and Sisters in Crime.

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