Miscellaneous List of Glossary/Writing Terms

Miscellaneous List of  

Glossary/Writing Terms

Adjective: A word that modifies a noun or pronoun by describing, refining, or qualifying it.  Adjectives can add color and immediacy to writing; however, adjective overuse is a stylistic error common to beginning writers.

Advance: A sum of money a publisher pays a writer prior to the publication of a book. It is usually paid in installments, such as one-half on signing the contract and one-half on delivery of a complete and satisfactory manuscript. The advance is paid against the royalty money that will be earned by the book.

Antagonist:  In fiction, the main character who comes into conflict with the protagonist (hero or heroine).  The antagonist could, in some stories, be a thing or situation (a monster, a storm, a flood, etc.).

Assignment:  A specific article requested by an editor for a predetermined fee.

Blacklist:  List of books published before the current publishing year, but still in print.

Bimonthly:  Every two months. 

Bio note: (Bio) A sentence or short paragraph containing personal information about the writer of a story or article.

Biweekly:  Every two weeks.

Bibliophile: A person who enjoys books.

Boiler plate:  A standard publishing contract, with no changes or addenda made by the writer or agent.  The boilerplate should be considered a starting point only; usually changes will be made.

Byline:  Author's name appearing with his or her published work.

Bubble Method: The Bubble Method, sometimes called clustering and mind mapping, is a brainstorming technique. Writers use it to discover the unexpected and to clarify thoughts.

Category fiction:  General term used to denote commercial fiction which falls into genre categories, such as science fiction, mystery, romance, and others.

Chair glue: The stuff that keeps you sitting in a chair so you can write; tenacity.

Civilians (which is what I call non-writers) think that all it takes to do what we do is to sit down with a pen and paper and write. Good writers understand they every day they write is a new day with unique challenges and possible pitfalls.

Clip: (or tear sheet) is a published article, a sample of a writer's work. It has been cut from a magazine, photocopied, if necessary, and sent to a magazine's editor when requested.

Clipping file: This is a place to collect articles, columns, and newspaper reports, from print or electronic media, that spark your imagination.

Climax:  The moment of greatest intensity in a work of fiction; the point to which the story has been building from the outset.

Cool down: This is the concept of allowing a piece of writing to be set aside for a few hours to a few months in order to return to it with a fresh eye for revising, editing, and polishing.

Copy editing:  Marking errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation and word usage.

Co-publishing can be more than a self-publishing partnership, or it can be subsidy publishing with a twist. Check the contracts clearly and make sure that you seek legal advice before entering into any agreements. Typically in co-publishing, the author accepts some of the financial responsibility for production of a book with the publisher. If your book has a limited niche, this might be the way to go.

Copyright:  The intrinsic ownership by an author of his or her works.  Copyright law recognizes that the creator of a work owns it automatically and immediately upon its creation.

Cover letter:  Short letter accompanying a manuscript or book proposal.  Should include the name of the piece, word count, and a brief mention of the author's publishing credits, if any.

Censor: The censor, sometimes called the "internal critic," "shadow artist," or "crazy maker," replays in your mind words inferred or spoken by those who are not supportive.

Creativity: A way of bringing into being that which hasn't been in a particular way before and is noted by its inventiveness and originality. Creativity reflects artistic, written or verbal art or any endeavor that encourages original thinking.

Credits: Similar to a byline but usually appears at the bottom of the article.

Critique group: This is a meeting of writers who gather to help each other improve writing skills through evaluation methods.

Deadline: The date when your work must be with the editor. Miss one of these and your writing career with that publication is dead.

Deck: A sentence or two underneath the headline of your piece which summarize the article.

Dream smasher: These are the people in our lives who do not support our quests.

Editorial Calendar: Lists future issues planned, topics that will be covered in those issues and deadlines for submissions for those issues.

Electronic submission:  Submission made via modem or on computer disk.  Very few editors accept electronic submissions of unsolicited manuscripts.

Essay: An essay is a nonfiction piece of writing that shares a universal truth or supports a theory

Evergreen/Timeless Piece: An article which can be used at any time of year and even across several years.

Fair use:  Reproduction of short excerpts from a copyrighted work, usually for educational or review purposes.  Such use does not infringe the author's copyright.

Feature article: A large article, often including interviews, quotations and covering a key topic; often time-relevant or issue-relevant.

Fiction: In writing, a piece of creative work based on something that has been invented.

Filler: A short item: two or three paragraphs that can be used to fill up space. Many writers suggest breaking in with this type of item. (Short, short articles), essays, and humor are not queried.

Galleys:  The initial typeset form of a manuscript, sent to an author for review.  Page divisions are not made, but type size and column format are set.

Genre: A category of art, in our case writing, distinguished by a definite style, form, or content. Fiction genres include mysteries, romances, and adventures. Nonfiction genres include how-to books, inspirational books, and humorous books.

Guidelines: The document, usually on a magazine's website (but sometimes available by e-mail or mail), wherein the editor clearly explains what they require in terms of articles, whether they want queries or submissions on spec, how they want to receive queries or articles, word lengths, payment terms and rights bought.

Hook: The all-important first paragraph of your query letter and article. The paragraph that hooks the reader's attention and makes them want to read more.

Imprint Division within a publishing house that deals with a specific line or category of books.

Kill Fee: The amount you are paid, if after accepting your article and having issued you a contract, the editor decides not to publish your work. Not all magazines pay kill fees. Check your contract.

Lead time: Elapsed time between acquisition of a manuscript by an editor and its publication.

Lede/Lead: A deliberate misspelling of lead. This is the opening of the article, which encompasses the 

hook. (Editor's note: This is an archaic use, however, to prevent confusion with the term "lead" which could also refer to line width. Now, most editors simply refer to the common spelling, "lead.")

Masthead: The list of who does what in a magazine. It lists the names of the editors, writers, designers, etc. It is essential to study the masthead so you know who to send your queries or submissions to.

MS/MSS: Manuscript, also used to mean article. As in no unsolicited MSS, means a magazine will not look at manuscripts they have not requested to see.

Nonfiction: In writing, a piece of work based on a real event or occurrence.

Nut graf: he paragraph immediately following the hook which explains what the article will cover.

Novelette/Novella: Short works of fiction ranging from 7,500 - 40,000 words.  The terms are often used interchangeably, although novelettes tend to be shorter, and novellas longer.

On-spec: Editors might ask to see your work on-spec; this means on speculation. They might use it, and they might not, no guarantees.

Op/Ed: An opinion piece or editorial on a current event.

Over-the-transom: Unsolicited materials submitted to editors are described as coming "over-the-transom".

Page fright: Similar to stage fright, page fright is the feeling that you cannot write and if you do, you'll fail.

Pays on acceptance: The magazine pays as soon as they agree to publish the article.

Pays on publication: The magazine only pays after the article has been published. Some magazines have a policy of only paying at certain times of year following publication of the piece, but most pay at the end of the month in which a piece is published.

Personal Essay: An essay on almost any topic told from personal experience.

Piece: A generic term for an article, story, poem or any other type of submission. (Also known as a "work.")

Plagiarism: Presenting another's works, words, or ideas as one's own

Portable office: A portable office is a cardboard box suitable to transport your writing supplies (pads, pencils, laptop, notes, etc.) from one place to another

Proofreading: Careful and detailed reading of copy to identify and correct typographical mistakes

Prose: Prose is ordinary writing, but not verse.

Print-on-demand (POD) publishers offer technology to print one book at a time, only when they’re sold or requested. While the unit cost is higher (thus the royalty is lower), there is no large outlay of funds to do a print run with a printing house.

Public domain: Any material that can be freely used by the public, and does not come under the protection of a copyright, trademark, or patent.

Punctuation: It is a device used to assist the reader. It takes the place of changes in tone, inflection, and volume and of pauses, facial expressions, etc., by which a speaker clarifies words.

Query: This is not a question, but a sales letter through which you are selling your idea to the editor. It must showcase your writing style. It must, therefore be incredibly well written and tight.  A letter of inquiry written to an editor, publisher, or agent to ascertain interest in a topic.

Reprints: Articles that have previously been published. Check your contract for when or whether you can offer these articles to other magazines.

Rights:  Ownership of all the various ways in which a creative work may be reproduced, used, or applied.  Most editors buy only specific rights at any given time, and these should be clearly outlined in the contract.

These can be further divided into:

All rights: The editor buys all rights to the article. This means you cannot re-sell this piece of work, ever, ever again. Electronic Rights: The editor buys the rights to publish the article online. These can be First Electronic Rights or All Electronic Rights.

First rights: The editor buys first publication rights only. This means you can re-sell the work later on. Rights to publish your article in Britain. FNASR: First North American Serial rights -- first rights to publish your article in North America.

Regional rights: Common in the USA, the editor buys rights for a particular region only.

Seasonal -- An article that relates to a particular time of year.

Second Rights: The right to publish an article that has already been published. Pay for second rights is lower than first rights and a decent period of time may have to pass between selling first rights and selling second rights.

Self-editing: The term self-edit refers to a method used to polish and transform the initial drafts of a piece of writing into a manuscript ready to submit to a magazine editor or book publisher.

Self-publishing: In this arrangement, the author pays for a book's manufacturing, production, and marketing, and he or she keeps all income derived from the book. Self-published authors must be self-promoters as much as those published by traditional houses.

Service Piece: An article that shows people how to do something, or offers advice on a topic. ("Self-help piece".)

Serial:  A publication that appears periodically, such as magazines, newspapers, or newsletters.

Sidebar: Additional information in the form of chart, information box or graph that is used to support the article.

Simultaneous Submission: Sending your work to more than one editor at a time. Some editors accept this, others strictly forbid it, check the Guidelines.

Subsidy publishers are companies that offer a range of publishing services, such as editing, fulfillment, and distribution for a fee.

Multiple Submissions: Sending in more than one article at a time to an editor. This is not a good thing to do. They might like all your ideas but only have room for one in that issue; in which case you've just lost future sales; or it might, and this is most likely, mark you out as an over-keen beginner. Send in your ideas one at a time.

Slant: Your take on the article, what makes it different from existing articles?

Slush pile:  Common term for unsolicited manuscripts received by a publisher or editor.

Submission: Your completed article.

Synopsis:  Concise but thorough summary of a manuscript or script.  A synopsis is a necessary part of any book proposal

Tear sheet:  Sample of an author's published work; the actual page containing the article, story, etc.

Tight: Concise, accurate writing.

Writer's block: The real or imagined obstacles that stop a writer from writing.

Writer's journal: A book or spiral tablet in which writers jot thoughts, describe feelings, and investigate creativity and notes.

Writer's voice: The choice of words, phrases, and sentences that, when composed in written form, reflect the feelings, ideas, and desires of the writer.