There’s an interesting note at the beginning of this lexicon, which Bruce Sterling has been writing and revising since 1990. Now he’s posted it online for free, so we can learn from his experiences. But this is what he says:
The Workshop Lexicon is a guide (of sorts) for down-and-dirty hairy-knuckled sci-fi writers, the kind of ambitious subliterate guttersnipes who actually write and sell professional genre material. It’s rough, rollicking, rule-of-thumb stuff suitable for shouting aloud while pounding the table.
http://artlung.com/smorgasborg/Sterling_SF_lexicon.shtml
The Lexicon comes in six parts, each focusing on a various aspect of writing, such as character and viewpoint, or plots. These terms tend to point out various problems or cliches found in genre writing, thought they don’t necessarily tell you how to fix them should you spot one in your story. That’s up to you as the writer, but at least your eye is able to pick issues out once they’ve been identified.
Some favorites:
Bathos. A sudden, alarming change in the level of diction. “There will be bloody riots and savage insurrections leading to a violent popular uprising unless the regime starts being lots nicer about stuff.”
Idiot Plot. A plot which functions only because all the characters involved are idiots. They behave in a way that suits the author’s convenience, rather than through any rational motivation of their own.
The Steam-Grommet Factory. Didactic SF story which consists entirely of a guided tour of a large and elaborate gimmick. A common technique of SF utopias and dystopias.
Fuzz. An element of motivation the author was too lazy to supply. The word “somehow” is a useful tip-off to fuzzy areas of a story. “Somehow she had forgotten to bring her gun.” (umm…I think I use this one sometimes. Must now go do a word search on my story for the word “somehow.”)
Are any of these familiar? Some I’ve seen before, but some others brought me a new chuckle. Have any you’d like to add?
I see that smile.