Abbreviations and Terms that Writers Use

Before I write anything else on this blog, I felt that I should include a note about some writing jargon. I'll be using a lot of these terms in future posts, mainly because I am just used to writing and thinking about these terms.

Since I was not interested in the extra work (and because there was no obvious benefit other than neatness) this is not in alphabetical order. Following each term, there is a sentence showing how that term is used. The examples are quite silly, and not necessarily factual regarding me and my writing.

This is not an exhaustive list. Not that you would have thought that it was, I just wrote that because that is the normal thing to do in lists of this type. Another one of those things that "goes without saying." (The quotation marks right there are to show that I know it is a cliche!)

May you be enlightened!

WIP(s): Work In Progress. This is probably a well known term when typed out, especially since it is no only writers that use it. But I am including it here because the pronunciation can be confusing. It is pronounced the same as the word "whip." If it comes up in conversation, as with all homophones, the context will show the meaning. "Yesterday I wrote nine thousand words in my WIP...then deleted seven thousand of them."

MC(s): Main Character. "My MC is an alien that lives 'somewhere in space between Neptune and the moon,'"

MMC/MFC or FMC: Main Male Character/ Main Female or Female Main Character. This can help differentiate when talking about your MCs. And using the terms does not mean that the novel/story that the MCs are in is a romance. "The scene where my MMC first meets my FMC is awkward."

Fan Fiction/FanFic: a piece of writing (usually short) that features the characters (and sometimes situations) from a popular novel, film, or TV series. The more popular the story, the more FanFics are written about it. I don't write FanFics, but my brother writes them extensively. "The 'Barney the Dinosaur' FanFics appeal only to a very select demographic."

POV: Point Of View. This is another one that you probably know, but I added it to increase the length of my list. "The chapter from the POV of 'Ralph', the junky car stuck up on cinder blocks, probably doesn't add a lot to my novel, but it was a lot of fun to write."

Limited Third Person: the narrator speaks about the perspective of a single character (at least a one time), and only knows the thoughts of that character. Many writers use this form of third person writing, as it helps keep focus on one character, and it helps build suspense, since we don't know what the other characters are doing. (I know I'm not explaining that very well.) "The novel was written in the limited third person, which makes sense, because the MC was the only character that was neither dead nor un-dead."

Grey character: a character that you want the reader to feel "conflicted" about. He might be more "good" or more "bad", but is a mixture of both. As his arc progresses, the reader's opinion of him might change. "I feel conflicted about one grey character, because although he assassinated the governor and several officials, he almost died rescuing a small child from a rabid chihuahua."

Anti-hero: like a grey character, except the reader is supposed to be "on" the anti-hero's side. The anti-hero has strong moral or personality flaws, but he is really a "good guy." And we want him to win. "My MC is an anti-hero--he's always driving recklessly through down-town areas."

When I started out making this list, I thought that it would be longer, but it wasn't. Maybe I'll add to it later. I probably will, But I hope that this is enough for any readers that do not know a lot of writing terms to understand my writing.