Whenever talking about writing here at The Writers’ Den we tend to use a lot of jargon. These specialist, writing specific words help us to explain what we mean in the best way possible, and without them our posts wouldn’t make much sense. A lot of you are beginner writers though, and might not know some of these words, so here’s a list of some writing terminology and their definitions.
Archetype: A typical example of something.
Audience: The intended readers of a writer’s work.
Backstory: The story of what happens before your novel begins.
Cliché: An expression that has been overused.
Exposition: A direct way of giving readers information that is needed for the story to make sense.
Denouement: The final part of a story, in which everything is pulled together and explained/resolved.
Dystopian Fiction: This genre is often categorised within fantasy and science fiction, and explores social and political constructs in a darker world similar to our own.
Foreshadowing: Hints that are left early on in a story to give clues to an important event that will occur later on.
Head-Hopping: This is where numerous points of views are told in one scene. This can be very hard to achieve well.
Hyperbole: A deliberate exaggeration.
Imagery: The use of language to create an image that appeals to the senses.
Indie Author: A writer who has chosen to to have complete control over the production of their books.
Premise: A one sentence story of what your novel is about.
Proofreader: Someone who checks a manuscript for spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Show Don’t Tell: A way of giving readers information that is needed for the story in an indirect way, by showing things through actions, senses or feelings rather than just saying it.
Tone: The writer’s attitude that comes across through their writing.
Has this post helped you to expand your writing vocab? If there’s any other writing jargon you can’t quite get your head around, let us know in the comments below and we’ll include it in our next jargon busting post.
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