I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to explain myself after a long, confusing rant about my WIP current project smattered with gobbledygook that my poor non-writing friends/family couldn’t understand a lick of.
Ergo, this post.
Welcome to HEH?!? A Guide Through Writer Gobbledygook, a possibly short post in which I break down all the writer (or possibly non-writer that writers use) lingo/acronyms I can think of into normal, lay-man language. 😛 I even put it in alphabetical order (go figure)! Shall we begin?
(P.S. I am going to continue updating this as I find new lingo. You have been warned. :P)
Antagonist
If you look this up, you’ll get a definition along the lines of “…a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist.” Well… maybe. But not always. Usually, the main character’s chief foe is the villain, which is different (at least in my could-very-well-be-wrong understanding ;)). Antagonists are those who have their own plans that clash with the protagonist’s, even though they don’t directly oppose the protagonist himself. 😀
Bromance
“Bromance” is essentially a strong friendship between male characters, hopefully replacing the main character and his love interest’s cheesy romance. I.e. Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings, Janner and Kalmar Igiby from The Wingfeather Saga, Po and Finn from Star Wars, etc. Great stuff. 🙂
Character Voice
Essentially the defining way your character talks. Maybe it’s an accent, an over-used phrase, the use of slang or incredibly stiff and proper way of speaking. Maybe it’s dropping words, making them up on the spot, or trying to use long words and failing miserably (looking at you, Amy March XD). In general, being able to tell which character is speaking without a dialogue tag (“he said”, “Gloria responded”, etc.) is preferable. 😉
Charrie
Shortened version of “character”. Pronunciation varies according to the source (and stubbornness of the individual), but the ones I’ve found are “CHAIR-ree” “CAIR-ee” and “SHAIR-ree”. (Fun fact: I use SHAIR-ree. ‘Cause it’s better. Obviously. xD)
The Inner Critic
The imaginary person looking over your shoulder as you type and critiquing literally every word. A very annoying human who needs a vacation badly so that us writers can get our work done like we’re supposed to.
(Pro Tip: if Inner Critic is being overly annoying, try threatening him/her with the Bucket. This is a metal bucket that you place on his/her head, then bang on with a spoon. Guaranteed to shut Inner Critic up every time. Love it or your money back! :P)
“Killing” People
Before you panic, this usually means strategically (and possibly gleefully) letting a character die for the sake of your plot (and to torture your poor readers/charries). No, this is not a literal killing.
We sometimes forget that, though. Heh.
Don’t mind us…
MC
Not Master of Ceremonies, in case you were wondering. 😛 Nope, this one stands for “main character”. See Protagonist
“My character…”
These lovely two words usually start a highly confusing phrase like, “My characters were telling me about” or “My character finally let me” or “My character is so stupid!! Why can’t he start making smart choices?!” Every non-writer I’ve met (and a few writers, I’ll admit) have claimed that it’s impossible for a character to tell you something or “let” you do something or make stupid decisions without your consent, because they’re imaginary.
Don’t. Just don’t. They do this and it can be both highly entertaining and highly annoying. *shoos Irad away*
The thing is, when you spend hours and hours wrestling over how to create a realistic person, and the pieces click… they become a part of you. They come alive to you. When you let them go, they take their piece of your heart with them. No, they’re not real to anyone else (except maybe the readers with very vivid imaginations). Yeah, it’s physically impossible for them to do something without you letting them.
I don’t know what to tell you. This is happens and I can’t explain it. XD
NaNo (or NaNoWriMo)
The month of November is National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short – or NaNo for short short). Essentially, hordes of writers flock to the official NaNo website to roll up their sleeves and fry their brains trying to write 50,000 words in 30 days (1667 words per day, and it grows for every word you miss). Some people hate it. Others love it.
Bottom line, this is how writers show their insanity to the world (and insatiable need for chocolate).
(If you are a friend or family member of a writer, but not one yourself, ask them if they’re doing NaNo. Then be forgiving when they show up on December 1st looking like they just got beat up by the world’s scariest gang. And offer them chocolate. And maybe a shoulder to cry on. And accept that this will become normal every December 1st. These are the marks of a true friend. XD Also, throughout November, it might be wise to check on them throughout each day and make sure they’re eating/sleeping/showering/all-the-important-things.)
(Just kidding.)
(Maybe not about the chocolate, though…)
Plotting vs. Pansting vs. Plansting
These are the three most common, various ways of planning your story.
Plotting: where one follows a plot structure and fills in all the blanks with lists or spreadsheets or synopses or templates before attempting to actually write the story. Usually results in less editing and less writer’s block, but also less emotionally charged scenes. Can be stifling.
Pansting: flying by the seat of your pants. You sit down with a blank page, and you write. There isn’t much of a plan. Your characters and imagination guide every moment. Usually results in emotionally charged scenes and sometimes wild creativity, but also can cause extreme writer’s block and you have loads of editing to do at the end. Loads.
Plansting: a hybrid of the two (i.e. me XD). I’ve found that this usually results in some careful plot constructing, which gets thrown out of the window about halfway through. 😀
POV
Short for point-of-view. In a book, the POV character is the one through whose eyes you see the world. You’ll get their thoughts and reactions, see their emotions and be engaged in the scenes they’re engaged in. There are multiple POV styles (first person, third person, omniscient, etc.), but I won’t get in to all of that.
Protagonist
The main character; the hero; the one you root for. 🙂 A good way to find out who the protagonist is is check and see which character has the POV (or, if you’re figuring out a movie, who has the most scenes – who you follow around).
WIP
Short for “work-in-progress”. Essentially our main project(s) at the moment. 🙂
Worldbuilding
Lord of the Rings. ‘Nuff said. B-)
Just kidding. ‘Tis actually the process of – you guessed it – building a world, typically from scratch. Develop cultures, languages, beliefs, species, geography, laws of nature, the supernatural, universes… this is the place to give your imagination free rein. 😀
Writer’s Block
“When your imaginary friends won’t talk to you.” -Beats me, but whoever it was was brilliant
AKA, the bane of all well-meaning writers. This is what happens when you just. can’t. write. Also the cause of head-bangings and hair-pullings and angry-screamings and computer-throwings. It is beatable, though.
There you have it, a very incomplete writer’s dictionary for those of you trying to figure out what in the world your writer friend are talking about. XD Did I miss a definition? Lemme know and I’ll add it! 😀
What are some of your favorite bits of writer gobbledygook? Do you need a term explained? Was this a good idea or a horrible one? Will I ever write a short blog post/article/thingamabobber? XD
(Also, fill out this form for me if you haven’t already. I beg you. XD)
Until next time,
Take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth!! 😀
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