Writerly terms: A reader's handbook

We writers have our own lingo, but to those who aren't in the writerly loop, it may sound somewhat foreign.  When I first began my whole writing journey a little over a year ago and started following writers' blogs, it didn't take much for me to get confused.  MC, WiP, and so on... what in the world did these strange abbreviations mean?

In order to keep my non-writing followers from getting confused lately, I've been translating the shortened terms in most of my blogs.  Then, a few nights ago, when I was trying to fall asleep, I had an idea.  Why not post a blog explaining what all of those darn things mean?  

So here we go, a quick breakdown on writerly lingo.  For a more detailed explanation, click on the definitions with attached links.

MC - The main character.  Think Harry Potter, Isabella Swan (The Twilight Series), Josephine March (Little Women), Jody Baxter (The Yearling) and Romeo (Romeo and Juliet).  In my YA WiP, it's Dahlia Kennedy =)

Protagonist -  The lead character, like the MC, a hero or heroine, usually.  

Antagonist -   The protagonist's adversary

WiP -  work in progress

MS - The manuscript, also known as the WiP once it has been completed and is ready to be shown to agents and publishers!



MG - middle grade

So that about covers the main ones that used to confuse me.  If anyone can think of more words, feel free to mention them to the comments, and I'll put add them to my list:)


3 comments:

Travener said...

QM = query madness.
FA = fecking agents.
CWWTTWBE = crazed writer who thought this would be easy.

Jessica L. Brooks (coffeelvnmom) said...

LOL Travener, those are great. Especially the last one. I need to hop over to your blog and see how everything is going.

Kathi Oram Peterson said...

I've been writing for years, but it still took me a while to understand writers blog lingo. I'm sure your definitions are appreciated. :)