What Does That Mean?

A/A - action/adventure - the genre of fiction emphasizing action and daring-do characters.

ABA - American Booksellers Association - a large nonprofit organization founded over one hundred years ago. They claim their core membership is independently-owned bookstores.

ACRW - American Christian Romance Writers - an organization of published and pre-published Christian romance writers. Their rapidly growing membership reaches outside America.

Author intrusion - when an author inserts information into the story that drags readers' attention away from the story world. Example: She dropped her head into her hands and sobbed, oblivious to the lapping water three yards away and the salty breeze. If the character is oblivious to the water and wind, then the information is coming from the author. Another example: "Honey, your older brother just called. You know, the one who graduated from Harvard law school at the top of his class, married his highschool sweetheart, and lives in Los Angeles with their two fraternal twins, Jennifer and Justin?" If both characters already know this information, then the need to insert it into the story through dialogue is the author's.

BIW - book in a week - a writer commits to write as many pages or words as possible in one week without any self-editing. Sometimes the writer sets a minimum page/word-count goal, sometimes not. Book-in-a-week challenges can be done by oneself, but are most often organized by groups for daily accountability and mutual encouragement.

CBA - Christian Booksellers Association - a large international association of Christian retailers, publishers, and other product suppliers.

Character arc - the interior change the main character experiences from the beginning to the end of a story, regardless of genre. It is the process by which the character grows and learns to apply a specific lesson about life.

FBP - floating body part - descriptions that dissociate body parts from the character performing the action/reaction. Example: Her eyes flew around the room.

GMC - goal, motivation, and conflict - the three building blocks of good fiction. Goal - something the character wants; when the character pursues a goal, it creates forward momentum in the story and gives the reader an objective to root for. Motivation - the reason the character wants the goal and cannot quit until she gets it; motivation makes the story believable and helps the reader sympathize with the character. Conflict - something that makes it difficult for the character to reach her goal; it tests the character's determination and makes the story interesting. The term "GMC" was popularized by romance author Debra Dixon's how-to book GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict.

H/H - hero and heroine - the main male and female characters of a novel, particularly a romance novel.

Inspy - inspirational - a novel published in the inspirational genre. May include any subgenre. The hallmarks of the inspirational genre are a "sweet" read (emotional, but not explicit), and characters who experience a meaningful relationship with God.

LI - Love Inspired - the Christian romance line published by Harlequin/Silhouette publishers' inspirational imprint Steeple Hill.

McGuffin - a unique object of desire whose possession is in contest, and which inspires the main characters to external and internal action. Made famous by director Alfred Hitchcock.

MM - mixed metaphors - noun-noun, noun-verb, or phrase-phrase combinations that erroneously attempt to pair up dissimilar images. Also applies to similes. Example: The music soared through the sanctuary like warm honey. (Honey can't soar.)

MS - manuscript - the written 8-1/2" by 11" pages of a pre-published book. This term is used whether the pages are printed on paper or are the digitial "pages" of a computer file.

MSS - manuscripts - more than one manuscript. See "MS" for further description.

One sheets - A single 8-1/2" by 11" sheet of paper usually containing the writer's bio, contact information, photo, and single-paragraph summaries of several unpublished book ideas. Often used as a handout (only upon request) for agents/editors at conferences.

OOP - out of print - when a book is no longer printed and becomes unavailable for purchase through first-sale outlets.

Outline - written in present tense, it is a vividly-told chapter-by-chapter condensation of a full-length novel. Example: In Chapter Three, Jane begs her uncle to...

PAL - published authors loop - an e-mail group specifically comprised of published authors. Often these groups are themed by genre or a specific publisher.

Partial - partial manuscript submission - a synopsis/outline and sample chapters (typically the first three), submitted to an agent or editor.

Proposal - the synopsis/outline of a novel idea, submitted by request to an agent/editor instead of a query letter.

POD - print on demand - a method of publishing that prints a book when the reader purchases it (market > sale > print), rather than investing in thousands of unsold copies (print > market > sale).

POV - point of view - an entity or persona (narrator or character) through whose senses and thoughts the reader experiences the story.

PP - paragraph - the unified collection of thoughts in the form of complete sentences addressing one common subject.

Query - a business letter sent to an agent/editor, presenting them with a novel idea condensed in 1-2 pages, projected word count, and credits summary.

Q trick - the question trick - combines the principle of "show, don't tell" with RUE in interior monologue. Example: She wondered if he still loved her. "She wondered" is a redundancy telling the reader who is thinking, when the intimacy of the thought already suggests whose point of view it is in. The "Q trick" deletes the attribution and turns the sentence into a question. Did he still love her?

RC - romantic comedy - the subgenre of romance fiction that emphasizes humor in the characters' relationships, dialogue, and/or plot.

Red Shirt Syndrome - a term derived from the science fiction genre and referring to Star Trek, meaning that only supporting characters ever get killed off in a story.

Romcom - romantic comedy - the subgenre of romance fiction that emphasizes humor in the characters' relationships, dialogue, and/or plot.

RUE - resist the urge to explain - an admonition to avoid redundancies in dialogue and description. Example of a sentence that needs RUE: "I hate you!" she yelled, her face turning purple with fury.

RWA - Romance Writers of America - a large nonprofit advocacy organization of published and pre-published romance writers around the world.

SDT - show, don't tell - the Golden Rule of creative writing. It encourages writers to use specific words instead of abstractions to shape a rich reading experience. Example of telling: She was angry. It relies on the reader's subjective experience of anger to form a picture. Example of showing: Her hands clenched with the urge to lash out. It takes command of the imagery the reader is experiencing by using concrete words like "hands" "clenched" "urge" and "lash."

SOTP - seat of the pants - an approach to writing, particularly plotting and story structure, that relies on instinct over planning. Successful writers who use this approach include RITA award-winners Robin Lee Hatcher and Deborah Raney, and also Patricia Rushford.

Synopsis - written in present-tense, it is a short-story-like condensation of a full-length novel.

TBR - to be read - used in the phrase "my TBR pile" or "my TBR stack," referring to a person's collection of unread books.

WIP - work in progress - the story the writer is currently working on.