Part 18 (1/2)

4. Thou shalt not saw the air with abstractions, for readers, like lovers, are attracted by particularity.

5. Thou shalt not mutter, whisper, blurt, bellow, or scream, for it is the words and not the characterization of the words that must carry their own decibels.

6. Thou shalt infect thy reader with anxiety, stress, and tension, for those conditions that he deplores in life he relishes in fiction.

7. Thy language shall be precise, clear, and bear the wings of angels, for anything less is the province of businessmen and academics and not of writers.

8. Thou shalt have no rest on the sabbath, for thy characters shall live in thy mind and memory now and forever.

9. Thou shalt not forget that dialogue is as a foreign tongue, a semblance of speech and not a record of it, a language in which directness diminishes and obliqueness sings.

10. Above all, thou shalt not vent thy emotions onto the reader, for thy duty is to evoke the reader's emotions, and in that most of all lies the art of the writer.

When you get the good news of a book contract, let me know and share the pleasure.

SOL STEIN.

Action: In fiction, action connotes something happening that is not necessarily physical movement. Adversarial dialogue is action.

Architecture: In the design of a larger work such as a novel, the purposeful order of scenes.

Aria: In any creative form, a longer speech designed to evoke an increasing emotional effect on the reader or viewer. See speechifying.

Backstory: The characters' lives before the story, novel, or film began.

Book doctor: A person who provides a free-lance editorial service to writers for a fee. Book doctors critique book ma.n.u.scripts and shorter material; some do detailed suggestions and line-editing of complete ma.n.u.scripts, services previously supplied by publishers. They charge by the hour or by the nature of the a.s.signment.

Cliche: A hackneyed expression, tired from overuse.

Coincidence: In fiction, something that happens by chance and is insufficiently motivated.

Crucible: In fiction, a situation or locale that holds characters together as their conflict heats up. Their motivation to continue opposing each other is greater than their motivation or ability to escape.

Diction: Choice of words, probably the best identifier of quality in writing.

Eccentricity: An offbeat manner of behavior, dress, or speech peculiar to a person and dissimilar to the same characteristics of most other people.

Echo: In dialogue, an answer that repeats the question.

Engine, Starting of: The moment when the reader's curiosity is so aroused that he will not put the book down or turn to something else. It usually carries an intimation of conflict, a character threatened or wanting something badly that he can't have.

Episodic fiction: A story told in parts in which one event happens after another without seeming to be integrated into the whole.

Flab: Extraneous words, phrases, and sometimes lengthier matter the elimination of which strengthens prose.

Flab Editor: A copyrighted computer software function enabling the user to highlight individual words and hide them or bring them back at will to see the difference their excision makes in the strength of text. See the Software section of Chapter 34.

Flashback: A scene that precedes the time of the present story.

Handle: A short description of the book designed to evoke interest in it.

Immediate scene: A scene that is visible, as if being filmed.

Jargon: Words or expressions developed for use within a group that bar outsiders from readily understanding what is being said. The purpose of language is to communicate or evoke; jargon obfuscates or hides.

Line s.p.a.ce: Four blank lines in a double-s.p.a.ced ma.n.u.script, used within chapters to indicate a break, usually of time, or a s.h.i.+ft to a different location.

LMP: The initials of the Literary Market Place, the directory of the American book publis.h.i.+ng industry, listing book publishers, editorial services, agents, a.s.sociations, events, and industry yellow pages. This huge, expensive directory can be consulted in many public libraries. It is invaluable for the writer whose work is ready for the market.

Marker: An easily identified signal that reveals a character's social or cultural cla.s.s, heredity, or upbringing.

Metaphor: A figure of speech that results when words or phrases are brought together that do not ordinarily belong together, yet by their proximity convey a fresh meaning. One thing is spoken of as if it were another. Some of the best novel t.i.tles are metaphors (e.g., The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter).