Terms (for the rest of us)

This drove me insane last year, so I decided to compile a list of writing terms and jazz for anyone who cares or who is, like me, clueless. If you think of any I can add, you can comment on the page and I’ll put it on. If you’re writerly and already know these, I apologize for my ignorance. But really, we have the craziest acronyms. When I have the time, I’ll add links so you can zoom off to any one of these and start writing without having to Google it first.

First off, the events (thanks to the WriYe site for compiling all the events in one place):

NaNoPubYe: National Novel Publishing Year (work crazily to finish/publish your novel)
JaNoWriMo: January Novel Writing Month (write 50k in January)
FAWM: February Album Writing Month (write 14 songs in 28/29 days in February)
NaNoEdMo: National Novel Editing Month (edit 50 hours in March)
Script Frenzy/Screnzy: Write 100 pages of any type of script in April.
SoCNoc: Southern Cross Novel Challenge (southern hemisphere writes 50k in June)
JulNoWriMo: July Novel Writing Month (write 50k in July)
AugNoWriMo: August Novel Writing Month (write your chosen word count in August)
SeptNoWriMo: September Novel Writing Month (write and/or edit your chosen goal in September)
GothNoWriMo: Gothic Novel Writing Month (write a 50k Gothic novel in October)
NaNoWriMo / NaNo**: National Novel Writing Month (write 50k in November)
NaNoFiMo: National Novel Finishing Month (add 30k to your NaNo novel in December)
WriYe: Writing Year (write your chosen word count in a year)

** I should add that “NaNo,” while it could technically be referring to almost any of the writing months, is strictly used to refer to NaNoWriMo. NaNo is the mother of all these. Although many NaNoers will be participating in any one of these events, being a NaNoer is an identifying factor. Even on the Script Frenzy site, which is run by the same people, you will find forum sections for NaNoers. It’s like the initiation, so to speak. If you’re laughing right now, I don’t blame you, but if you’re a NaNoer you know this is true

Acronyms:

MC: main character
FMC: female main character
MMC: male main character
WIP: works in progress; stuff you’ve started and haven’t finished
WIM: works in mind; ideas/plot bunnies you haven’t started on yet but want to
WC: word count

Other terms:

NaNoer: this is what you are if you’ve participated in a NaNoWriMo. Whether or not you won, the second you sign up, you can call yourself a NaNoer. Of course, generally speaking, this term is not applied to those who cheat or who are not at all involved in the forums. It identifies you with the community of insane people who don’t have lives during November.
plot bunnies: those little wisps of ideas for stories and novels that hop crazily around your head and confuse and/or distract you when you’re already freaking working on something else!!!*!*!*! *ahem*
logline: applies to scripts; not, as some people think, the tagline/slogan; the logline is essentially a one-sentence description of the movie.
OLL: the Office of Letters and Light. These guys invented NaNoWriMo, and both NaNo and Screnzy are run by the OLL. They’re a nonprofit and rely on donations to survive; that’s what all those halos and ticket stubs above the usernames on the websites mean. If you donate to NaNo, you get a halo, and if you donate to Screnzy you get a stub.
planning: Wait, wait, don’t shoot me for being obvious. Obviously we all know this means planning, but I just wanted to explain. Planning is optional but allowed for all of these events. For some you can count planning in your WC, but most you can’t. It includes everything from outlining to brainstorming to character sheets to extra scenes you write for character development but don’t actually include in the story.

the fourth wall: The fourth wall is a term used to refer to the imaginary “wall” the separates the play/novel/piece of fiction from the real world; for instance, you as the author. You’re usually not in your book; your characters don’t talk to you off the page. Breaking the fourth wall means you talk to your characters on the page and they hear you, and/or respond. This often happens during NaNo because it’s the only thing you can think of to write at times

That’s all I’ve got for now, but trust me, more will come.