An Author's Life for Me

By MedicineFlower - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in On Writing

Saturday, October 9, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 51

alliterative phrase from the poetic form alliteration, a sentence that incorporates the same initial consonent for the principle stress words. Sometimes the effect is comical (unitentionally), but sometimes memorable. We all know "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled-peppers," from our Mother Goose.... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, October 8, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 50

material overshoot Authors research, but when they insist on including their entire research in the work, instead of using it to support sound novel writing, it's called material overshoot. Details are important - gun callibers, how things work and desciptions of murder weapons, but some authors... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 49

ghosting a residue of cut phrases lingering after revision. Since good authoring means sculpting paragraphs so that sentences have a close interrelationship, when phrases, clauses and sentences are cut during revision, that relationship is broken and, in many cases, evidence of the cut remains. This... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 48

shared illumination writing a scene employing minimal description of objects and persons, relying on the reader's experience to fill in the blanks. For example, if I have a dining room with a chandelier, just the mention of chandelier should tap into the reader's image archive. By describing it a... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 47

recto right handed page (odd numbered page) - Titles, sections and chapters start recto. (Not to be confused with rectal). verso left handed page (even numbered page) - presented blank before an initial recto page. Edward C. Patterson Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, October 4, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 46

colori words and phrases that are added to shade a scene to a particular setting, literally to add color. So if it's about to rain and the work is set in Palermo, the tour guide could look up and use the Scicilian expression for it's about to rain. Fra dopo poco gli santi pisceranno, thus adding... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, October 1, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 45

fabulous the art of telling a fable or Ru Paul, whichever comes first. Edward C. Patterson Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 44

epistolary a novel told entirely from letters. Recent examples are Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne. Edward C. Patterson Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 43

Metaphor medley - (also metaphor marathon ) two or more metaphors strung together in the same sentence. This is effective when the two metaphors are in contrast or a dichotomy. However, when they are similar, they give the reader a choice and they tend to slip off the path and the story. It also... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A Reader's Guider to Author's Jargon 42

elegiac a noble and pompous presentation or word order usually in the second person to give a ceremonial effect. Used in poetry, but in novels can reset or commence a section making the words more iconic than the subject matter. Authors should take care it its use or readers will either enshrine you... Sign in to see full entry.

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