abstract: Cannot be touched, tasted, smelled, heard, or seen (as opposed to something concrete, which can be perceived by one of the five senses). Emotions or ideas are abstract: love, hate, envy, greed, happiness, depression, anger, revenge, confidence, evil, kindness. (ch. 5)
acrostic: A poem that spells a word or phrase vertically, based on the first letter of each line. (ch. 5)
advance: A payment from a publisher when a writer signs a contract for a book. The advance is part of a writer’s royalty payment, paid up front and deducted from later royalty payments. (ch. 9)
archetype: A model that is used over and over in literature. One example of an archetype is the classic hero (or heroine): an unlikely hero, called upon to go on a journey, encounters dangers, gathers friends, is helped by someone older and wiser, is successful because of cleverness and goodness rather than brute strength, and returns home with a new understanding that is not always appreciated. (ch. 2)
autobiography: The story of a real person’s life, written by the person herself. (ch. 3)
bibliography: A list of the sources that an author used to write a book or research paper.
biography: The story of a real person’s life, written by another person. (ch. 3)
blog: Short for “web log,” an online journal. (ch. 2)
call for manuscripts: An advertisement that invites writers to submit writing by a certain date, usually on a specific topic or in a specific genre. Magazines often have their call for manuscripts in the front or back pages. Publishers and magazines insert their calls in writing magazines, Writer’s Market books, and on their websites.
character: A person (not necessarily human) who takes part in the action of a literary work. (ch. 6)
characterization: The act of creating and developing a character by (1) direct description; (2) dialogue—what the character says or what other characters say about him; and/or (3) actions—what the character does or what others do around the character. (ch. 6)
cite or citation: To cite is to include a very short note, or citation, that gives the name of an author and title of the work from which you are using words or ideas. Citation is included in the text of a writing piece and in a bibliography. (ch. 5)
climax: The high point of interest or suspense in a story; the point at which the conflict is revealed. Some call the climax the turning point in a piece of writing. (ch. 6)
conflict: A struggle between opposing forces. Internal conflict occurs within the character’s heart or mind. External conflict occurs between a character and an outside force: another character or a force of nature (animal, weather, flood, disease, etc.). (ch. 6)
contract: A contract is a legal agreement between a publisher and an author. (ch. 9)
cover letter: A letter that you send with your manuscript, introducing yourself and your writing. (ch. 8)
dialogue: Words said out loud in a conversation. When you write dialogue, use a book by a good author as a model for how to punctuate. (ch. 3, 5)
diary: A book in which you write about the events and ideas that occur in your life. Also called a journal. (ch. 2)
draft: Any piece of writing that is not ready to send to a publisher or a contest. A rough draft is writing in its earliest stages that you still plan to revise. A final draft has gone through revisions and editing so that it is finally ready to send out. Most writers number and date each draft. If you write directly on the computer, just put the date as part of the file name each time you save changes. Save hard copies of all drafts—you might use stuff you cut out in something else later on. (ch. 6,7)
editor: An editor makes suggestions to the author for additions, deletions, and reorganization in his or her writing so that it flows more logically and effectively for the reader. (ch. 8, 10)
epilogue: A concluding section that comes after the end of a work. An epilogue often summarizes the final results in the future for most or all characters. (ch. 5)
exposition: Comes at the beginning of a piece of writing; the exposition introduces the reader to characters, setting, and conflict. An exposition is also a form of writing (expository writing) that is written to inform, compare, contrast, analyze, give cause and effect, or give how-to instructions. (ch. 6)
fable: A piece of fiction that teaches a lesson or a moral. Animal fables give animals human characteristics: the animals speak and act like human beings, and often show human emotions, virtues, and vices. (ch. 5) See personification.
found poem: A poem fashioned from someone else’s writing (with the source cited). Usually, the original writing was not meant to be poetic, but the poet’s artful choices, deletions, and rearrangement make a new kind of meaning and sense. (ch. 5)
freewriting: Writing that is meant to get ideas and thoughts on paper with no concern for spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, paragraphs, or even staying on topic. (ch. 4)
genre: Kind of writing (biography, science fiction, mystery, etc.) (ch. 2, 3)
guidelines: An explanation of a publisher’s editorial needs and desires, which can include genre, subject matter, word length, and reading level. (ch. 8)
imprint: An imprint is a subdivision of a publishing company that focuses on publishing material for a specific market, such as books for teens, nonfiction, biography, and so forth.
inciting incident: An event in the beginning of a story, play, or narrative that introduces the conflict. (ch. 6)
journal: A book in which you write thoughts, observations, ideas, or anything that strikes you. Also called a diary. (ch. 2)
manuscript: A complete piece of original writing. Publishers and contests have guidelines for manuscripts that they publish. (ch. 8)
market: The intended audience of a piece of writing. (ch. 8)
memoir: Autobiographical writing based on the writer’s memories, usually written in the first person (“I”). (ch. 3)
metaphor: A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as if it were something else. Example: Happiness is a warm puppy. (ch. 6)
model: A pattern or figure of something to be made. Writers use books, stories, plays, and authors as models for their ideas and styles. Models can also be used to answer questions about punctuating dialogue or writing a bibliography. (ch. 3, 5)
monologue: A long speech spoken by one person. (ch. 3, 5)
moral: A lesson that is usually stated directly at the end of a story. (ch. 5)
personification: The representation of a thing or an idea as a person or by the human form.
plagiarism: Using someone else’s words or ideas in your writing, without giving credit to the real author. Plagiarism is a serious offense—students who plagiarize can get expelled from school, adults who plagiarize can get fired from their jobs, and authors who plagiarize can get sued. It comes from the Latin word meaning “to kidnap or abduct for ransom”—plagiarists kidnap the words of others for their own benefit. (ch. 5)
plot: A sequence of events—beginning, middle, and end—in a piece of writing. (ch. 6)
point of view: The perspective or vantage point from which a story is told. There is the first person point of view (“I”), the second person point of view (“you”—usually only found in how-to writing), and the third person point of view (“they/he/she/it”). (ch. 6, 7)
prologue: A description of characters or events that have happened before the first chapter of a story. (ch. 5)
prompt: A short lesson or a few paragraphs that are meant to stimulate you as a writer and help you get started writing something. (ch. 4, 5)
query: A query is a letter sent to a publisher that describes the proposal and outlines an author’s qualifications to write the article or book. (ch. 8)
reader: Someone who reads a piece of writing and responds to it so that the writer can find out what his or her potential audience might get from a particular piece. (ch. 7)
revise: To change an earlier draft in some way that affects the content: adding or inserting, deleting, combining sentences, moving around paragraphs, and rewriting parts in new ways to decide which way the writer likes best. With each revision, the writing should get better, more organized, and more interesting. (ch. 4, 6)
rights: When a publisher buys a manuscript, they are buying the right to publish that manuscript. (ch. 9)
royalty: A publisher pays a writer a percentage of the cover price for each copy of the author’s book that is sold. (ch. 9)
SASE: Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope. An envelope that has your name, address, and enough postage on it for the publisher to return your manuscript (if you want it back), or for the publisher to send back a note saying your submission was received—or accepted! (ch. 8)
style guide: A style is a set of standards (beyond basic grammar) for the writing and design of documents. The style guide for a specific publisher is known as “house style.” Formerly published style guides are called style manuals. Book publishing generally uses The Chicago Manual of Style. Newspapers and journals usually use The Associated Press Stylebook. Some other common style manuals are the MLA Style Manual and The Publication Manual of the APA.
theme: The central message an author wants to convey in his/her writing. In most literature, the theme is not directly stated but can be implied by the reader. Theme is different from a moral. (ch. 5)
turning point: See climax.
writer’s guidelines: See guidelines.
writing group: A group of writers who meet regularly to learn about writing and share, respond to, and critique each other’s writing. (ch. 7)