Writers' Language Dictionary

As those of you who aren't writers you may be wondering what on earth "MC" and "POV" stand for, I've created a page for all of those abbreviations to be explained.

I also realise that there are younger members of my audience who may not understand the definition of words like "genre" or may not know what "plot twist" means.

If there are any abbreviations/words that I've mentioned in a post and you don't understand then just comment on this page!

Please remember that, if you find words on here and you think "Who doesn't know that", please be considerate and remember that this blog is for anyone to read, thus I'd like everyone to understand it!

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Aa

Alphas/Alpha readers:
These are the people that an author gathers (most often friends and family) to read their book before all the editing and other such requirements before publishing a book takes place. They give the author feedback on their story and tell them about the parts that don't seem to make sense, need working on etc.

Antagonist:
Simply put, the antagonist could be considered as the "bad guy" in a story but, in reality, they are only opposing the main character's goals- not necessarily the character itself. The antagonist could be someone they really love and respect. They don't need to be against the MC- just their goals- to be the antagonist (See also: Villain)

Antihero:
This is the main character in a story with no particularly heroic abilities.

Cc

Character Arc:
This is how a character changes through the course of the story. For instance, a character could be really shy and cowardly at the beginning of the story, but on the way throught the get even more courageous and, in the end, have found true courage.

Climax:
This is the part of the story where ther's the most action or it's the part where everything in the story this far has been leading up to this moment. It's the peak of the story and after this happens

Gg

Genre:

Genre (Pronounced "John-ra") means the type of book you're writing. For example- Fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, dystopian etc. are all diffrent genres (or types) of books. The word genre is used for movies or T.V shows as well.

Mm

MC:
This stands for "main character" so, for example, "I've been putting my MC through a lot of stress in this chapter!"

Nn

Novelette:
A novelette is in between a short story and a novella. It is 7,500-17,999 words long.

Novella:
A novella is a story that's not quite long enough to be a novelette but too long to be a novelette. A novella is 17,500-39,999 words long

Pp

Plot:
The plot is the turn of events that happen all through the story-line.

Plot Points:
These are th significant events in the plot. The most important plot point is the climax.

Plot Twist:
A plot twist is when something unexpected or unpredictable happens during the story. For example, a man could have been declaring his love for a girl all through the story but then, unpredicted by anyone, he claims that he actually loves someone else but hadn't had the courage to say so. Another example could be that there's been someone who has been the "bad guy" all this time but it could be reveal that the one who is actually bad is the friend of the protagonist and the supposed bad guy has actually, unknown to anyone, been helping the protagonist. It's really just an unexpected turn of events.

POV:
This is an abbreviation for "Point of view" So for example "The story was set in a zoo but from the animals' POV"

Protagoniost:
This is the main character or hero of a story. For example, Bilbo is the protagonist of "The Hobbit" by J.R.R Tolkien and in "Mary Poppins" by P.L Travers it's Mary Poppins Herself who is the protagonist.

Rr

RP:

This stands for "role-play". Sometimes some of the writers on the YWW and I roleplay with our characters to work on their personalities, how they would react to certain situations etc. For example, "Would anyone like to RP with my character, Henry?"

Ss

Scene:
It's the part of a book where a series of events happens in the same setting

Setting:
This is the particular location in which an event takes place. 

Style:
All writers a have a certain way they write.  They all have things about their style that makes it unique.

Synopsis:
This is a brief description or summary of a book that tells a little of what it's about and leaves the readers asking questions. You find these on the backs of book covers. 

Tt

Theme:

There are often themes of stories. For example, Charles Dickens stories often have themes of poverty.

Vv

Villain:

This is the character that opposes both the character's goals and the character itself. This is the "bad guy".

Ww

Word sprint:
A word sprint is where you find another writer and both of you try to get as much written as possible in a set ammount of time (say, 10, 15, 20 minutes etc.) It's a good way of getting things writen down quickly when you know you have a limited time to do it. It's a way to get motivated if you're stuck. Doing it with somebody else provides accountability [See also- Word war]

Word war:
A word war is extremely similar to a word sprint. The only difference is that the people taking part are competing against each oter to see who cn write more words in the set ammount of time.


WIP:
This stands for "Work in progress" For example- "Would you like to read a snippet of my current WIP?"