Writing Terms & What They Mean

Trying to understand the writing community can be challenging at first. There are so many abbreviations and terms that writers just throw around. I provided a list of the most common ones and their definitions.

Writing Abbreviations:

MC (Main Character): the protagonist of your work
OC (Own Character): a character you created and is not derived from another author’s work
WC (Word Count): how many words your work has
POV (Point-of-View): who is telling your story?
WIP (Work-In-Progress): a work you are currently writing, revising, or editing
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month): hundreds of thousands of writers across the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in November
LitMags (literary magazines): magazines that publish literature, especially short literary fiction

Categorizing Works:

Genre: the style of your book, defined by the main plot (e.g. fantasy, romance, fanfiction)
Audience: the age range your book is best suited to. Some examples are listed below.
Middle Grade: books intended for readers between eight and twelve years of age
Young Adult: books intended for readers between thirteen and eighteen years of age
Adult: books intended for adults

Categorizing Authors:

Overwriter: someone who typically writes works that are longer than the standard length of works in their genre
Underwriter: someone who typically writes works that are shorter than the standard length of works in their genre
Planner: someone who outlines their work thoroughly before writing it
Plotter: someone who writes their work without any form of outline
Plantser: someone who writes their work with a brief outline

People Who Help You:

Alpha Readers: your first line of readers, typically your friends or family
Beta Readers: people who don’t know you well and comment on large aspects of your work, like plot and characters
Sensitivity Readers: people who comment on problems with representation, such as inaccuracies or harmful tropes
Editors: people who comment on small aspects of your work, like accuracy and syntax
Literary Agent: a person who acts as a go-between between an author and a publisher, helping you get the best publishing deal for your novel
Publisher: an organization that publishes works

Parts of a story:

Exposition: the introduction
Rising Action: everything that leads to the climax
Climax: the main event or the turning point in the novel (e.g. the war, the confession, the realization)
Falling action: everything after the climax
Resolution: how the story ends
Plot Twist: a sudden change; something happens that changes how the reader expects the novel to unfold
Worldbuilding: especially in speculative fiction genres, authors have to describe the world (or worlds) the story takes place in

Technicalities:

Syntax: how a sentence is structured
Literary Elements: things a story must have (e.g. plot, characters)
Literary Devices: things that change the way you get your point across (e.g. figurative language, syntax)
Infodumping: telling the reader a lot of information—necessary or not—at once instead of weaving it in throughout the story
Trope: a plot, character, or setting typically seen in books of a genre (e.g. the love triangle, the chosen one)
Cliché: a plot, character, or setting seen so often in books of a genre that it is predictable and unexciting
Traditional Publishing: getting a novel or other work published by a traditional publisher; this process typically involves an agent
Self-Publishing: publishing a novel or other work yourself

Phew! That was a lot. Most of these are easy to remember once you’ve seen them. Knowing what they mean can help you communicate with the writing community, whether you want to talk with a writer friend or understand a blog post.

Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments!